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Originally Posted by wgrimm
I don't think this is the argument that has been posted, at least not the one that I have posted.
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I would say from the overwhelmig majority, I haven't seen this either, but it seems to be the "take away" that Steve comes up with in almost every case.
People (here anyway) WANT TO BUY eBooks from th authors they enjoy. There is little doubt about this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wgrimm
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.
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As this is my business, software, I can tell you that it is more than merely similar. It is the same process, when taken for what it is. An eBook is a Software Product, Literature Sub-genre.
What happens when it becomes a software product? Its valuation is determined by the market by indicators for software products AS WELL AS literary ones. One of those factors is utility.
And if this product is produced and sold with no analog capabilities, attachments or media/medium? Automatic market value reduction. But I believe you make this point below...
Quote:
Originally Posted by wgrimm
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.
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...and so you did. These are ALL valid considerations for a digital SOFTWARE product in a market where the consumer is quite saavy about these things.
I think $3.99 might be a bt on the low side, maybe, but its is a damned site more in line with the perceived value for what you "get" than $10 or $15.
I don't think that publishers OR authors really, truly "get" that an eBook is a software product. Look at what a typical $10 or $15 dollar piece of software "does" as opposed to a book, which for people in the eBook market is really a "one-shot" purchase as unlike music for example, most people don't read books cover to cover over and over again. They may refer to them from time to time, or re-read a really beloved book again, but honestly, "collecting eBooks" isn't like...at all having shelves and shelves of books to look at and walk by.
Hell, if they let the "fools" that wished to blow their own ink/toner and paper print out a copy of the thing if they wanted to, this ALONE would add so much more "perceived value" while costing nothing to the publisher (they already sold the book)...but even this obvious thing seems to escape them.
*shrug*