Quote:
Originally Posted by Highroller
Sorry. I don't buy it. Any publisher selling e-books for as much as hardbacks or in some cases more are money grubbing.
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Where "money grubbing" is defined as "Charging more than
I want to pay"?
Quote:
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I expect an e-book to at MOST to be priced about the same as a mass market paperback. As long as the book is published in paper AND e-book format, the e-book is going to have lower costs. You don't have to proofread and edit the book 2 times, one for the paper release and one for the e-book. No paper cost, no warehousing cost, no extra advertising cost, no shipping cost. A website to sell e-books is rather unlikely to cost more than the distr. and retailer cuts for paper books.
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A noble desire, and if all that existed were mass market paperbacks and ebooks, one that might be possible. The problem is hardcovers.
Most of this sort of discussion is colored by them. The hardcover makes the most revenue and carries the highest margins. The presence of hardcover bestsellers may make the difference between a publisher showing a profit for the year or taking a loss.
Let's say a new book is out in both hardcover and ebook format. What do you think the price should be for the ebook? If you say "No more than the mass market paperback", expect people involved in the process to point at you and laugh.
It's reasonable to expect no more than MMPB prices for an ebook of a book that
is out in MMPB format. Expecting it for a book out in hardcover, competing with the hardcover is going some, even for wishful thinking.
For pure print books, people who don't want to pay the higher price for the hardcover wait for the MMPB. Expect the same with ebooks. Want it cheap? Expect to wait for it. Want it
now? Expect to pay a premium for early access.
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Dennis