Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
However, even among people on this forum who buy e-books, there still seems to be an opinion among many that an e-book is essentially worthless, specifically because of the extremely low (virtually zero) cost of producing them, the essentially "invisible" nature of an electronic file, and despite what work the author put into writing it.
This idea disturbs me greatly, more than any other idea presented here. The opinion that an e-book is, for all intents and purposes, "insubstantial," threatens to lessen the value of e-books in any form or concept, and that will only hurt the market and its potential over time. I believe the value of e-books to disseminate information farther, faster, cheaper, at less environmental impact and beyond physical boundaries, is great. Applying to them a value of zero will only hurt their ability to be recognized as legitimate.
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I don't think this is the argument that has been posted, at least not the one that I have posted. What I have said, a few times, is that e-books are similar to software, in that there are sunk costs (R&D in software, editing, etc. etc.) in e-books, and that this makes up most of the costs of publishing. Once you have the book, production costs are close to zero. When your marginal costs are close to zero, absurd profits are possible.
What bothers me, and seems to bother others, is that what we are seeing in many cases is NOT an attempt to sell ebooks at a fair price, but attempts to sell e-books at almost the same price as paper books, thereby reaping enormous profits. E-books have value, but that value depends on many factors. Is it DRMd? Well, that removes a customer's freedoms, and decreases value of the product. Can the e-book be resold? No? Again, reduction in value and loss of consumer rights. Is the book locked to a single format, and thereby a single reader? Yes? Decrease in value again.
What isn't a fair price at $19.99 may well be if the publisher lowers the price to $3.99.