[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Baen's history says that minimum is considerably lower than $14.99 for entertainment-oriented fiction. If other publishers aren't as efficient and profitable as Baen, that's a sign of their bad business planning, not consumer greed.

Greed, among other things, defines as "inappropriate expectations". The producer wanting to charge an exorbitant price for a product or service is greedy. The consumer who wants something for nothing is too.

I've talked elsewhere about what sets Baen apart, and how Baen's model isn't necessarily applicable elsewhere.

[*]Ability to re-download from different locations. (Most ebook stores don't promise this indefinitely.)

That's a retailer issue for the most part. How would you suggest a publisher address it? (The obvious answer is "sell direct", but this is something the large publishers will approach carefully. When you sell products through retailers, you can expect your retail partners to be unhappy if you sell direct, as you might be in competition with them. Since the retailers are your partners, and you need them, you'll think hard about just how you'll sell direct.)

[*]Author's notes not included in print editions for lack of space.

I haven't seen a book that omitted such things for space reasons in some years. It was possible back when when publishers were struggling to hold MMPB prices to under a dollar, and restricted page count and even had authors make cuts to fit to hold down costs, but I can't think of any instances recently.

Of course, you must have author's notes to include. Some authors create such things, and some don't. If the author does, do you suggest withholding them from the print edition but putting them in the ebook as a value add?

[*]Personalized cover page: "this book originally purchased by [name] on [date] for [purpose]," details selected at time of purchase.

Neat thought, but fun to implement, If you are selling direct, it's one thing. If you are selling through retailers, it's another, as they must implement the mechanism. It requires being able to patch the copy being sold at time of purchase, with the patch mechanism dependent in part on the ebook format.

[*]Multiple formats--some stores provide this; some don't.

Another retailer issue, I think. Though I think the publisher should provide ebooks in common formats (which at this point, for practical purposes, is Mobi, ePub, and PDF.)

[*]Previews of other books by the publisher, not just blurbs but first chapters of a few books in the same genre.

We see that now in some PBs, so I would expect to start seeing it in ebooks.

[*]Login code to a discussion site only available to paid club members & people who bought the book.

We're starting to see stuff like this, though not restricted in quite that fashion. Publishers are increasingly concerned about branding, and establishing connection with their readers and building communities. Baen's forums are an example, as is Tor.com, and Harlequin has active forums. Others are dipping their toes into those waters.

[*]"Suggested reading" list--collection of websites related to various topics in the books.[/LIST]

For non-fiction, that sort of thing tends to exist as a bibliography of the sources the authors used for the information they present.

For fiction, it's trickier. Who compiles the list?

A creative publishers can think of plenty of ways to add value to an ebook, even without getting into multimedia options.

I see multimedia as having limited application. An awful lot of what will be issued as "enhanced" ebooks will be failed experiments, as it will be grafting multimedia on to things where it doesn't add any real value.

There's been no evidence that filesharing reduces profits.

The folks selling music and movies might disagree. For books, I largely concur.

No evidence that the Agency prices have increased publisher & author profits.

Agency Pricing was intended to stem losses. It was designed to protect the hardcover bestseller, whose sales were being impacted by competing ebooks.

They cost *something,* which means pricing the ebook higher than the pbook is gouging--charging more just because they can, not because the customer gets more, and not because it costs more to produce.

Whether the customer gets more is a matter of perception. I've encountered a poster on MR who feels that having the book in electronic format adds value due to convenience and the ability to carry and read anywhere, and is willing to pay a premium for it. I might not, but I'm not going to say he's wrong in his perception.

Pricing the ebook higher on first release of the hardcover, and dropping that price to match the pbook later, is not gouging--the customer is getting a bonus: early access. But keeping that price higher than the paperback is no longer providing the customer with anything, and it's not necessary for profit, or the paperback wouldn't be worth printing.

That's what I expect pricing to eventually work out to: a higher price for the electronic edition sold at the same time as the hardcover, and a lower price once the MMPB comes out.

Plenty of businesses have price gouging. It's not always considered unethical; limited-appeal items generally charge all the market will bear.

So does any other business. Competition puts a limit on prices, but how much of a limit depends upon the product. Some products are "commodities", available from many vendors, with the only significant difference being the price charged, so prices will be lower. Producers of such products look for size and market share - if you are selling products with heavy pressure on margins and pennies per dollar in profit, you look to sell a lot of product to increase the number of dollars you make pennies on, and you look for economies of scale to lower your costs.

Competition for market share underlies a lot of the argument between Amazon and the publishers whose books it resells. Amazon uses price, selection, and service to get retail market share, and had been pressing the publishers for even higher discounts before the whole Agency Model thing came about.

Books, however, in any format other than special collectors' editions, are not considered limited-appeal items; people object to being informed "we've decided to make 15% more profit on this version because we think you'll pay for that." And they *especially* despise being lied to about it, which is what a lot of publishers are doing when they release their "how much it costs to make an ebook" statements to the press.

Books overall may not be limited appeal. Any individual title is a limited appeal item. Nobody reads everything, and each title will have a maximum number of readers it will appeal to.

People don't mind paying Baen $15 for e-arcs and also buying the book later--and Baen flat-out says: we're selling these because we can, because we think you'll fork over this much money. Think it's too much? Wait, and get get the improved version for less than half of that. E-arcs are *entirely* price gouging; the *only* reason to charge more for them than for the final ebook is "because we think you'll pay." And people do, and are happy with it--because Baen is transparent about their reasons, and doesn't treat its customers like thieves, not even if they got an unauthorized copy from somewhere else.

Baen is charging a premium for early access. An e-Arc is an electronic Advance Review Copy, created from uncorrected galleys. There are people who will happily read galleys to get the book sooner.

Some people don't think the $15 Amazon ebooks are overpriced. If there's enough of them, that'll be the eventual price-point for ebooks.

I think we'll see a two tier price structure: The more expensive volume available when the hardcover is on sale, and the cheaper version when the MMPB is released.

There will be publishers who will try to maintain the higher price of an ebook even after the MMPB is released, but I don't expect them to do very well.

I suspect there aren't actually enough of them, just as I suspect Baen couldn't support a substantial part of its company selling e-arcs.

I'm certain Baen couldn't support itself selling e-Arcs. Right now, Baen is still mixed mode, selling print and electronic editions, and the bulk of its revenue and profit are from print editions. If Baen only sold ebooks, and the electronic edition had to bear all costs instead of an allocated share, you can assume ebook prices would be higher.
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Dennis