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Old 08-28-2008, 09:36 PM   #1
raybayer@zoomint
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Cost Of Kindle Books

I've just joined this site and have a question. Why the huge price difference in Kindle books? I've seen some books on Amazon in the Kindle format for $14.80 and others for just over $3.00.

Just curious.

Ray
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Old 08-28-2008, 09:45 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by raybayer@zoomint View Post
I've just joined this site and have a question. Why the huge price difference in Kindle books? I've seen some books on Amazon in the Kindle format for $14.80 and others for just over $3.00.

Just curious.

Ray
Are you talking about the same book?
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Old 08-28-2008, 09:47 PM   #3
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I see the same discrepancy when I walk into a book store for the same kind of reasons. Publishers charge more for some books than others. New releases tend to be more. People are eager for them and will pay more to get them now rather than later. Technical & text books take a lot of work to produce and sell in low volumes so they tend to be more. Books that have been out a long time in paperback are less. They are easy to come by and have to compete with used prices. Books that are in the public domain can be resold by anybody hence they are typically quite cheap unless there is some marked added feature. Just because these books are in digital format at Amazon doesn't remove the concept of market value. Print is just one cost variable. Content has it's own value.

Last edited by Alisa; 08-28-2008 at 09:49 PM.
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Old 08-28-2008, 09:54 PM   #4
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Agree with what Alisa said. You will often find best sellers way up there in price when they first come out.........wait a week or two, and the prices invariably go down. I learned that lesson the hard way! I have so much to read already loaded on my Kindle, it isn't hard to wait a bit for a certain book.........
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Old 08-28-2008, 10:00 PM   #5
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Many of the very inexpensive Kindle ebooks are in the public domain (i.e. you can get them legally and for free on the internet). Some are individual short stories.

If you see multiple ebook versions of the same ebook at different prices, the work will again often be in the public domain. Sometimes the more expensive version will have "value added" (e.g. extensive notes), but often not.

Kindle books priced above $10 typically have a list price (set by the publisher) tied to the price of the hardback version. Amazon often provides a substantial discount on the list price though.
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Old 08-29-2008, 06:37 AM   #6
raybayer@zoomint
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Most new releases on Amazon are around $9.99 like a poster has stated but this one is $14.85 on Amazon and it's also a new release....The White Mary.

I'll be buying the hardback instead for only $16.50. The Kindle price is way too high a price. It defeats the purpose of owning a Kindle.

Thanks to everyone for the answers.

Ray
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Old 08-29-2008, 08:02 AM   #7
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Keep in mind, for popular fiction titles that are new releases, the price generally drops a couple of weeks after release. So if it starts at 16 bucks, next week it may be 14, then 12, then finally about 9.99 or lower.
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Old 08-29-2008, 09:36 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by raybayer@zoomint View Post
Most new releases on Amazon are around $9.99 like a poster has stated but this one is $14.85 on Amazon and it's also a new release....The White Mary.

I'll be buying the hardback instead for only $16.50. The Kindle price is way too high a price. It defeats the purpose of owning a Kindle.

Thanks to everyone for the answers.



Ray

Are you sure you want to spend that much money for a hardback, when if you just wait a bit like suggested, you can get it for $9.99 when the price drops? And it will drop..........
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Old 08-29-2008, 09:38 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by raybayer@zoomint View Post
I'll be buying the hardback instead for only $16.50. The Kindle price is way too high a price. It defeats the purpose of owning a Kindle.
Does it? For me, the primary benefit of eBooks is the fact that they use (essentially) no storage space. That's true regardless of what they cost.
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Old 08-29-2008, 10:23 AM   #10
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Does it? For me, the primary benefit of eBooks is the fact that they use (essentially) no storage space. That's true regardless of what they cost.
Exactly. E-books provide for the ultimate guilt-free shopping experience - especially if you live in Europe and buy all of your books in English. *happy sigh* The amount of pleasure-reads I buy per month has increased in leaps and bounds since I got my Cybook.

~*~

Ray, have you looked whether the book you want is available and cheaper in another format? Then you could convert it to a DRM-free Mobipocket file (the Kindle reads these, too, doesn't it?)
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Old 08-29-2008, 10:30 AM   #11
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I do the ebook thing because of portability and cost. I'd much rather have, and make room for, a real book.

Ultimately, of course, I'd prefer to buy a book for the price of the "real" book and get a free copy of the ebook version.
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Old 08-29-2008, 12:53 PM   #12
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Quote:
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Does it? For me, the primary benefit of eBooks is the fact that they use (essentially) no storage space. That's true regardless of what they cost.
Yes, the main benefits to me are no storage space required and the ability to read in my preferred font size.

That said, I do feel a bit uncomfortable paying near-hardback prices for ebooks...especially where they are officially DRM-laden use licenses rather then true purchases.

(And yes, I know how to remove DRM.)
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Old 05-11-2011, 06:07 AM   #13
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Cost of E-books

I too have wondered why e-books are priced so high. That's their perogative I suppose. For my part I am exploring the use of e-book accessed by multiple users whether singly or in a network environment. This is a different ball-game. Anyone looked into this?
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Old 05-11-2011, 06:38 AM   #14
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Welcome to MobileRead Telstar!

With a thread on ebook pricing on the first page of the News section, why did you resurrect a thread that has been dead for almost 3 years?

And in what environment are ebooks accessed by multiple users?
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Old 05-11-2011, 07:41 AM   #15
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I think Telstar might be thinking of how some ebooks (some Kindles for example) can be on multiple devices and/or loaned out within set limits.

Quote:
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Welcome to MobileRead Telstar!

With a thread on ebook pricing on the first page of the News section, why did you resurrect a thread that has been dead for almost 3 years?

And in what environment are ebooks accessed by multiple users?
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