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wildstar · 12-11-2010, 11:05 AM

What is going on with the prices of many books on the Kobo and Kindle stores? They are now almost the same or more than the actual hardcover sold through Chapters or Amazon.ca

Examples, the first price is for an ebook, the others for hardcovers.

Harperland: Kobo 23.99, Chapters 23.10, Amazon 21.95
Illustrado: Kobo 20.99, Chapters 22.44, Amazon 21.32
The Death of Donna Whalen: Kobo 23.49, Chapters 22.44
Cigar Box Banjo: Kobo 17.39, Chapters 19.80

Admittedly these are extreme examples, and there are still many bestsellers which go for 9.99, but there appears to be an upward trend in ebook prices. I suspect this is the work of the publishers, which leads to me ask what are they thinking? Am I really going to want a particular title so badly that I'll pay 23.49 when there are hundreds of other titles at 9.99 I would be just as happy reading?

Publishers and authors are entitled to price their work as they see fit, but it seems that their pricing is simply to going to lead to lost sales. That is unless every publisher moves to this price structure in the future. It will be interesting to see where ebook prices end up, but it looks like they won't be going down.

12-11-2010, 11:05 AM	#1
wildstar Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 631 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Vancouver, Canada Device: Kobo 1, Kindle 3	Kobo Store Price Increases What is going on with the prices of many books on the Kobo and Kindle stores? They are now almost the same or more than the actual hardcover sold through Chapters or Amazon.ca Examples, the first price is for an ebook, the others for hardcovers. Harperland: Kobo 23.99, Chapters 23.10, Amazon 21.95 Illustrado: Kobo 20.99, Chapters 22.44, Amazon 21.32 The Death of Donna Whalen: Kobo 23.49, Chapters 22.44 Cigar Box Banjo: Kobo 17.39, Chapters 19.80 Admittedly these are extreme examples, and there are still many bestsellers which go for 9.99, but there appears to be an upward trend in ebook prices. I suspect this is the work of the publishers, which leads to me ask what are they thinking? Am I really going to want a particular title so badly that I'll pay 23.49 when there are hundreds of other titles at 9.99 I would be just as happy reading? Publishers and authors are entitled to price their work as they see fit, but it seems that their pricing is simply to going to lead to lost sales. That is unless every publisher moves to this price structure in the future. It will be interesting to see where ebook prices end up, but it looks like they won't be going down. Last edited by wildstar; 12-11-2010 at 11:20 AM.