MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - interesting NYT article on "copyright morality"

Steven Lyle Jordan · 12-27-2007, 04:47 PM

Neko, I follow what you're saying. What I'm not sure about is what this says about the e-book... whether it is intrinsically worth something, or not.

You seem to suggest that, if the e-book is created after the work has been done (and paid for) to create the printed books, then the comparatively miniscule cost and effort involved in e-book production renders the e-books to be a zero-cost item, and essentially should be free. It's similar to the issue with CDs, being that they only cost about 3 cents each to make, the markup to $15 or more seems outrageous to the consumer. But that's an oversimplification of the production process... if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it.

Whatever the cost of producing books, whether they are on paper or electrons, they are still a product. The creator/publisher is within their prerogative to charge for anything they produce, in order to make a net profit from their efforts. The consumer shouldn't be concerned with any of that... merely whether the cost they are asked to pay seems fair for what they are getting. And the publisher needs to allocate a price that will be considered fair to the consumer, so they will buy the product and make them their profit.

In other words, I couldn't care less how much money Michael Crichton makes, how much his editor makes, or how expensive it is to run the printing presses that print his books. I just care whether or not I want to spend $8.00 on his new book, based solely on whether or not I will enjoy reading it. It's the publisher's job to make sure I think $8.00 is worth it for MC's book, so I'll buy it with everyone else and they'll make the profit they want. Everything beyond that should be immaterial.

Maybe an e-book shouldn't cost the same as a print book, since paper-based costs are out of the picture. However, it's reasonable to expect it to cost something. After all, they are a business, and businesses have costs. Our sweating about their costs does little good, since we really don't know what their costs are, anyway, and therefore we tend to oversimplify.

12-27-2007, 04:47 PM	#38
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	Neko, I follow what you're saying. What I'm not sure about is what this says about the e-book... whether it is intrinsically worth something, or not. You seem to suggest that, if the e-book is created after the work has been done (and paid for) to create the printed books, then the comparatively miniscule cost and effort involved in e-book production renders the e-books to be a zero-cost item, and essentially should be free. It's similar to the issue with CDs, being that they only cost about 3 cents each to make, the markup to $15 or more seems outrageous to the consumer. But that's an oversimplification of the production process... if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it. Whatever the cost of producing books, whether they are on paper or electrons, they are still a product. The creator/publisher is within their prerogative to charge for anything they produce, in order to make a net profit from their efforts. The consumer shouldn't be concerned with any of that... merely whether the cost they are asked to pay seems fair for what they are getting. And the publisher needs to allocate a price that will be considered fair to the consumer, so they will buy the product and make them their profit. In other words, I couldn't care less how much money Michael Crichton makes, how much his editor makes, or how expensive it is to run the printing presses that print his books. I just care whether or not I want to spend $8.00 on his new book, based solely on whether or not I will enjoy reading it. It's the publisher's job to make sure I think $8.00 is worth it for MC's book, so I'll buy it with everyone else and they'll make the profit they want. Everything beyond that should be immaterial. Maybe an e-book shouldn't cost the same as a print book, since paper-based costs are out of the picture. However, it's reasonable to expect it to cost something. After all, they are a business, and businesses have costs. Our sweating about their costs does little good, since we really don't know what their costs are, anyway, and therefore we tend to oversimplify.