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This thread is interesting on many levels - here are my two cents worth:
Firstly, thank you Neil for providing a publishers perspective. I certainly didn't realise that many retail outlets required that prices be the same across all stores. It seems to me that this is shooting themselves (and the publishers) in the foot, as it removes the option to discount, and thus differentiate their retail outlet from others, and leaves the publisher in the sticky position of having to insist on the Agency pricing model.
Secondly, to Steven Lake, the price I am willing to pay for an ebook is entirely dependent on whether the author is known to me. I have bought several ebooks from favorite authors as either new releases or eARC's (thanks Baen) at around $15 US (admitedly, this is basically the same as a MMPB in NZ dollars). If I could by the next book of the Wheel of Time (due out in 2 weeks, geo-restricted to hell and back) I would be willing to pay upwards of $20US, but instead have to by as a DTB. However, for unknown authors I would generally consider $6-8US as a reasonable price if it has been through a publisher or <$5US if self-published.
Finally, in NZ as in Australia, the selection of ebooks that we can purchase has fallen by at least half in the past year due to geo-restrictions. So at the moment, all I can say is 'thank you' to the RedGroup for at least providing some content to those of us downunder, and a big hurry up for getting the remaining big publishers on board. Prices are an issue, but I will quibble over how much something is priced at when I can actually access it - until then, please just try and make more content available!
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