Why are ebooks so expensive?

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by odiakkoh

Ok, on topic. The book I really want to read right now is The Postcard Killers by James Patterson. Ebook is $14.99, paperback is $9.14. $15 is way too expensive (for me) for an ebook but even more so when the pbook version is almost $6 cheaper.

And under $8 new-with-shipping, or $4 used-with-shipping, which makes the ebook extra-ridiculously priced.

*Those* are the books publishers should be competing with, not their own hardcovers. What's killing mainstream publishing isn't the ebook market; it's putting used books right next to new ones on the listings so anyone who's particularly price-conscious can buy the royalty-free version.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

And under $8 new-with-shipping, or $4 used-with-shipping, which makes the ebook extra-ridiculously priced.

*Those* are the books publishers should be competing with, not their own hardcovers. What's killing mainstream publishing isn't the ebook market; it's putting used books right next to new ones on the listings so anyone who's particularly price-conscious can buy the royalty-free version.

If you are saying that the price of a new ebook should always be lower than the price of a used pbook, well, that's just an unsustainable standard. Hey, if price is my only issue, then I'll just go to the library or shop the yard sales , where I can get a box of paperbacks for a buck. Or I'll just go Darknet and risk downloading malware and crap in return for free.
No matter how much publishers lower prices, they will never satisfy the "something-for-nothing" crowd.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Or it just depends where you are. While I wouldn't call those books "cheap" in the US they aren't horrible.

The Crippled God $9.99

Towers of Midnight $12.99

Dust of Dreams $9.99

Two of them are less expensive at Amazon UK:

The Crippled God £9.76
Towers of Midnight £9.49
Dust of Dreams £5.50

[Elfwreck]

[QUOTE=stonetools;1569705]If you are saying that the price of a new ebook should always be lower than the price of a used pbook, well, that's just an unsustainable standard. [quote]

Not lower than, just competing with. Publishers need to realize that their ebook editions aren't just being compared to their own hardcovers & paperbacks, but to the used book market, *especially* for backlist releases.

Many people will pay more for the official new version, but often not 200% more. If the used hardcovers are $4, and ebooks are $15, publishers are going to miss a lot of potential sales. If used hardcovers are $4 and ebooks are $6, a lot more people will opt for the instant Kindle delivery.

It's a part of basic market awareness: what's right next to your product on the shelf, and will people buy it instead? How do you make your product appealing if it's shelved next to something much cheaper?

Since they refuse to offer more flexible usage (non-DRMed books) or better quality (apparently, some marketing group told them typos will make their ebooks look "more personal, like blogs"), price is about all they have left to bargain with.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I seriously doubt that, but either way, you can't assume it from what I've said previously.

I buy many, many cheap books—indie and otherwise. I also make extensive use of free classics. I pounce on B&N's Free Fridays. I look for Amazon specials. I scour this forum's "deals threads" for free and cheap books. That's what I'm reading 80% of the time. I do that so when my absolute favorite author(s) does release a new book, I don't even have to look at the price. I can just buy it; because I've been so frugal with the rest of my purchases during the year, that my average cost per ebook is ridiculously cheap. Literally pennies per book.

As long as you're not trying to read every new book that's released—the moment it's released... ereading is still the cheapest form of entertainment going. Trust me, I couldn't afford it if it weren't.

+1. And believe me, when DD and I agree, that's pretty much a sign of the end times .
TBH, the people who belly ache about ebook prices seem to be people who don't know HOW to shop for ebooks. Here are the rules:

1. Establish a budget.
2. Never, ever buy a new ebook-unless its a favorite author.
3. Regularly trawl the bargain sites and take advantage of bargains.
4. Take advantage of the numerous free classics available. They are called classics for a reason.
5. Be patient.Use the wishlist feature available at every major bookseller site. Eventually the prices of the books you want to buy will fall, and you can buy your book then.
6. Try indie writers and publishers. They are generally cheaper.
7. Don't be the kind of parasite who expects something for nothing all the time. There is a technical term for such a person. I believe its Homo assholus.

Follow those rules , grasshopper,and you should have a long, happy, and comparatively inexpensive ebook reading life.

[DiapDealer]

+1. And believe me, when DD and I agree, that's pretty much a sign of the end times

Holy crap... can I change my stance?!

J/K... We do disagree a lot, but we're on the same page here. I wish all ebooks were cheaper, but I have a lot of wishes that are never granted.

[anamardoll]

Well, pardon me for not thinking much of the OH IF YOU SILLY GRASSHOPPERS WOULD STICK TO A BUDGET high horse.

This isn't -- to me, anyway -- about oh my gawd, Miss Scarlet, however will I buy my ebooks? I DON'T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT NO FREE FORUM DEALS! *breathy panic*

It's about being irritated when I want to replace my copy of "The Sound and the Fury" with an ebook version only to zip over to B&N and have a $10 ebook and a $8 paperback listed on the same page. For a book whose author died -- what? -- 50 years ago? 60? I've lost count.

Sure, I can choose not to buy the ebook. (In fact, I have. ) I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. But next week Knopf is going to choose NOT to publish a backlist book that I actually WOULD buy at $10, and they're going to say it's because backlist publishing isn't profitable -- after all, not a single person was interested enough to buy their Faulkner stuff!

So all this smoke and mirrors about BUT SO MANY BOOKS ARE FREE and IF YOU NINNIES JUST KNEW HOW TO BUDGET is all just a moral high horse that distracts from the issue:

Publishers are, in my opinion, deliberately making ebook publishing a lot less profitable than it needs to be. And then using that lack of profits as a justification to drive down availability and drive up profits even more. (Because we have to price even higher to make a profit on the few who will buy!)

Does it keep me up at night? Heck no. I rock the Free Forum just as much as everyone else on Mobile Reads. (Like, seriously? You know where the Free Forum is? That's nice. Yeah, you are not special. Everyone else sees that forum too. Just saying.) But it's danged annoying. I won't cry a single tear for the big publishers if they accidentally price themselves out of business.

(Oh, and for the record, the term for someone who likes to post condescending posts on the internet about how people should manage their money as if we've all been blowing it all on sweeties this entire time? It's Homo Ignorus.)

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Publishers are, in my opinion, deliberately making ebook publishing a lot less profitable than it needs to be. And then using that lack of profits as a justification to drive down availability and drive up profits even more. (Because we have to price even higher to make a profit on the few who will buy!)

what in tarnation.

[anamardoll]

@OtterBooks,

What I mean is that if they want to make X profit on an ebook and price it at Y dollars and only Z people buy, then if they didn't make their X profit, next time they post a backlist book, they will post it at a price of Y + A where "A" is meant to make up the difference given an estimated Z number of buyers.

In other words, if they were counting on me and you buying Faulkner at $10 a pop (for $20 net profit), and only you bought (thus, a $10 profit), then when they publish the Hemmingway backlist, they'll use those number to justify an increase to $20 per book because they already figure they won't get money from me, but they might get money from you.

This is my fear -- that the marketing and pricing divisions at Knopf are run by insane bean counters who don't understand their customers.

[OtterBooks]

Oh. Seems like they should just skip right to the higher price and not worry about justifying it. But if they're run by insane people then I suppose they're prone to all sorts of shenanigans.

[MikeB1972]

Of course the main problem with publishers pricing back list books to match used paperbacks is that it's commercial suicide, before you start frothing at the mouth please read on and feel free to point out the error in my reasoning.

I'm going to read a book this week (and next etc), I'm not going to get an eBook that is a hardback equivalent release (About £12 in the Uk for agency titles) but I've no problem with a paperback equivalent (About £5-8 for agency titles).

Before eBooks I generally wandered into a waterstones every so often and grabbed a stack of paperbacks that looked intersting (Generally about £8 per book).

So someone is going to get about £5-8, thats fine by me, I have no problem paying that.

Now at the moment at Waterstones the publishers Allison & Busby have a £1.99 sale on certain books and as I wanted to read one of them anyway I bought it.

Now here is the flaw in the argument that if you price it at half the price you sell more than twice as many.

I now have a book, I don't need another, I'm not going to read twice as many books because they are cheaper. My addiction is sated for another week

Now I'm not saying that Allison & Busby are not going to sell twice as many books while this promo is on, in fact, I suspect they are. But if all publishers drop their paperback equivalent eBook price to £2 all they are doing is losing £3 per book - because for most of the people buying new books (especially the ones buying hard covers) the main thing that limits how many books they buy is time, not money.

Now I know that some people are going to flame me here for this and generally the people here read a lot more than most so price is more of a factor, but the (possibly sad) fact of the matter is, I can't think of a single person I know, that doesn't spend more money on beer/eating out that on books (myself included).

Ok, I've rambled on a bit - let the flames commence.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

i don't get that reasoning. why would you pay for a book, then turn around and upload it so everyone else can get it for free? @_@ what happened to self-preservation? it's like those students who take an exam then tell their friends who are taking the same exam at a later time what was in the exam. it's just...well, i don't get it.

For some it's a way of making friends. A bit like the kid at school who would bring in sweets for everyone else. What happens when he stops bringing sweets doesn't really matter because the sweets don't cost him much. Harlan Ellison's original ebook lawsuit victim said that was his motivation.

For others it's a community thing. People with a common interest come together and help each other out. You get that more with minority interest speciality stuff than mainstream stuff, especially with music where there is already an inbuilt tribalism.

Then there's the ego thing. Individual or group fame is the motivation. They are the ones that attach names to things and call it a "release". There is competition between them to see who can bring it out fastest (and best if there is any analogue to digital conversion).

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by stonetools

If you are saying that the price of a new ebook should always be lower than the price of a used pbook, well, that's just an unsustainable standard.

Minimum price for a second hand paperback including post on Amazon is £2.81. Most of the ebooks I buy are in the £1.70 to £2.50 range. Some of those writers are able to support themselves financially through writing full time, so it's obviously not unsustainable at all.

Originally Posted by stonetools

I'll just go Darknet and risk downloading malware and crap in return for free.

Unfortunately for people with a financial interest in ebooks, that is what a large number of people are doing. The real question would be if there is enough of them who would pay £2.50 for a new ebook instead of £2.81 for a second hand paperback to cancel out the loss from the people who are prepared to pay £7 for an ebook or £10 for a new paperback. That would be where staggered ebook pricing would make sense. But then of course the pirate version would be released long before your affordable ebook.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

Now here is the flaw in the argument that if you price it at half the price you sell more than twice as many.

That doesn't mean that you have to buy twice as many books, but other people will. I for one am simply not prepared to pay egregious prices for backlist books. So I read something else (my TBR pile is not shrinking, no worries), go to the library, or simply take my disposable income elsewhere.

[DMB]

One of the splits I detect here is due to people's reading habits. I don't think it follows that 100 ultra-cheap books are better than 10 expensive ones. If one is a voracious reading addict and a book is simply a notch up from a cereal packet as something to feed the addiction that may be so. The fact that I can buy 100s of books for next to nothing is irrelevant if the books I really want to read are very expensive.