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Originally Posted by JSWolf
One of the major issues besides the price is that there the Agency Model will not allow sales or discounts.
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To be more precise, the agency model does not allow
retailers to hack n' slash prices at will, e.g. no specific retailer has a price advantage. The publishers can discount any book they like, at any time, for any reason. And I might add, they often do -- e.g. NYT Bestsellers, plus prices do decrease, there's tiered pricing based on how long the book is out etc.
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Originally Posted by JSWolf
Also, the publishers fail to realize something important. People who want the eBook DO NOT WANT the hardcover. They do not want to pay hardcover price.
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No, what people want is to pay next to nothing, as they curse at the people who are risking their money to get the work to the public in a presentable fashion.
However, the reality is that hardcovers are
not more expensive because they cost more to produce. The premium price is actually due to the mechanics of supply and demand; the different form is merely a thin veneer on this process. If you want the book as soon as it's released, you pay a premium for that -- and there is absolutely no reason why this dynamic should change just because the product is digital instead of physical.
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Originally Posted by JSWolf
Also, according to the terms and conditions, the eBook has less going for it the then pBook and thus should be priced less due to these restrictions.
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No, it doesn't. It has a
different set of abilities and restrictions than paper.
You can't duplicate a paper book for free, instantaneously, at no cost; you can't get a paper book sent to you instantly in any location you have an Internet connection; etc etc. Paper has its
own set of restrictions that are built into the medium itself.
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Originally Posted by JSWolf
All of this nonsense undermines the value of an eBook vs a pBook. So why are we paying the same or more? Where is the value in that?
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Because in a medium where supply is essentially unlimited, you're paying based on demand, value, industry norms and the like. Cost merely sets the ground floor for the price.
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Originally Posted by JSWolf
You have a book out in hardcover that say goes got $25. the eBook is priced at say $14.99. The think is, would you rather have say 5 sales of the eBook at $14.99 for a grand total of $74.95 or say 10 sales of the eBook at $9.99 for 99.90?
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That depends entirely on the distribution of revenues and the margins.
If the publisher is making $10 from the $25 hardcover, and $3 from the $10 ebook, they need to sell
3.3 times as many copies just to break even. And of course, in the process you are not merely giving consumers a massive price break, you're cheapening the value of your product and giving authors a much lower royalty per book.
As is the case in most businesses, Margins > Volume. If you don't believe me, start your own ebook publishing business with cut-rate prices and let us know how it works for you.
