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View Poll Results: What is an e-Book worth to you? | |||
$0 (I get it for free!) | 8 | 7.69% | |
$5 (must be cheaper than paperback) | 37 | 35.58% | |
$10 (equal to paperback price) | 53 | 50.96% | |
$15 (has more functionality than a paperback is hence worth more) | 6 | 5.77% | |
Voters: 104. You may not vote on this poll |
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12-17-2009, 03:42 PM | #31 |
Wizard
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Yeah, the problem is that most paperbacks from big name authors tend to come out in those larger books that go for $12-16 cover price. i.e. I've never seen a Chuck Palahniuk book in cheaper, smaller mass market paperback.
So I have little problem paying $10 for an e-book of something like that. |
12-17-2009, 04:18 PM | #32 |
Wizard
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Calvin, my whys are mostly about the nature of a real book. I can loan a paper book indefinitely. Some look swell on my bookshelves. I can even sell it. But I am also in the camp who does not believe it costs publishers as much to 'make' given a paper version already produced. Bottom line, an e-book has less value to ME than a p-book.
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12-17-2009, 04:36 PM | #33 | |
Wizard
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Quote:
But I value the convenience of an e-book that I don't have to hassle with finding room for, packing up every time I move, or selling/giving away since most I'll only read once anyway. So I'm fine paying up to the cost of the paperback for an e-book for convenience alone. In fact, that is the only reason I bought I Kindle in the first place. I read more now that it's much more convenient. |
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12-17-2009, 05:01 PM | #34 | ||
Wizard
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Quote:
Quote:
And since you only need to do all that ONCE per book, the costs of doing that are spread over all copies sold, making those costs very small - per book. |
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12-17-2009, 05:48 PM | #35 | |
Guru
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Perhaps the problem is that publishers are spreading their costs over all books. maybe if the costs were allocated according to sales it would be more fair-but it seems to me that pricing a new author's book at, say $1000/copy would result in far fewer new authors being published. |
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12-17-2009, 06:31 PM | #36 | |
Wizard
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But I believe your idea that well-known authors sell only about 10,000 books is very low. I would put the number more toward 1,000,000 for best-selling authors. 10,000 would seem more for the lesser-known authors. I can't seem to easily find sales numbers on the web (quick search before I head out for tonight). But, you do make a valid point about the costs resulting in far fewer new authors being published. I've had new authors tell us that they paid for their own print runs. Also, I'm sure that many publishers do an analysis to see if the new author's book would sell enough to make it worthwhile. Which makes eBooks all the more attractive. Since many of those costs simply aren't there, new authors will have a much easier time of getting ePublished. |
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12-17-2009, 06:49 PM | #37 |
Wizard
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$10 max, but ideally cheaper than a paperback until it can offer superior functionality compared to a paperback.
As it stands, ebooks offer LESS functionality because I can't lend them to friends like I would a paperback so they should be cheaper. |
12-17-2009, 06:51 PM | #38 | |
Wizard
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Quote:
Derek |
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12-17-2009, 07:34 PM | #39 | |
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However, I've skimmed all the EF articles I could find on Baen's website and can't find any where he says that 80% of the cost is in printing & distributing a book. I did find (Prime Palaver #7) where he says the author only gets 20% of the sale (paraphrasing here) but his other comments in that article seem to me to support my contention that a substantial portion of the cost of a book goes to the startup expenses. (No, he didn't say 80% goes to startup, only that 80% goes to publishing, distribution, and selling. Which includes editing & proofing the book, as well as promoting it. And other costs as well.) |
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