MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Discussion: eBook Publishing Model proposals

sanders · 12-20-2007, 08:25 AM

I am about to publish a non-fiction book (a computer programming manual) and I'm considering an ebook version of it as well.

A few things to note (which most of you probably alreay know): the printing/paper costs are not the bulk of the price you pay for a book in the store. The store usually gets books from the publisher at a "deep discount" of 55% (and can even return unsold books to the publisher for a refund). Out of the remaining 45%, the publisher pays the author, the editor, the printer, the cover designer, etc. A 300-page book in large numbers costs only a dollar or two to print.

Using print-on-demand and a short discount of, say, 30%, I incur higher printing fees (about $4 for a 300-page book) but no stocking costs; in the end, this leads to higher net per book (say, about $10 for a $22.99 book).

However, ebooks do not need to be stored in brick-and-mortar stores. I could publish the pbook and offer the ebook for download from my own site, at the same price I would get for the pbook; yet the consensus on this forum seems to be that an ebook should only cost a few dollars, tops. Include the risk that an entire class of students will buy one single copy of my ebook and put the pdf on their Iliads, and this makes me hesitant to go that route. Especially for technical/textbook material, the "share copies of the PDF" problem sounds like a real risk.

Can you say anything to convince me? :-)

12-20-2007, 08:25 AM	#78
sanders Connoisseur Posts: 66 Karma: 918 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: iRex Iliad	Non-fiction I am about to publish a non-fiction book (a computer programming manual) and I'm considering an ebook version of it as well. A few things to note (which most of you probably alreay know): the printing/paper costs are not the bulk of the price you pay for a book in the store. The store usually gets books from the publisher at a "deep discount" of 55% (and can even return unsold books to the publisher for a refund). Out of the remaining 45%, the publisher pays the author, the editor, the printer, the cover designer, etc. A 300-page book in large numbers costs only a dollar or two to print. Using print-on-demand and a short discount of, say, 30%, I incur higher printing fees (about $4 for a 300-page book) but no stocking costs; in the end, this leads to higher net per book (say, about $10 for a $22.99 book). However, ebooks do not need to be stored in brick-and-mortar stores. I could publish the pbook and offer the ebook for download from my own site, at the same price I would get for the pbook; yet the consensus on this forum seems to be that an ebook should only cost a few dollars, tops. Include the risk that an entire class of students will buy one single copy of my ebook and put the pdf on their Iliads, and this makes me hesitant to go that route. Especially for technical/textbook material, the "share copies of the PDF" problem sounds like a real risk. Can you say anything to convince me? :-)