Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Maltby
Oddly I think with ebooks the limiting factor is on the demand side not the
cost of production or your PED. For most books, there are only so many
that are interested in purchasing the book, at any price. Generally people
who read have demands on their time and where they have a choice of
reading material they are often looking for something that they know they
will enjoy. They have a limited number of authors or genre that they will
even consider reading. Without some mass appeal, generated outside the
circle of the normal reading addicts, by TV personalities or a Movie, there
is a real limited demand.
Luck;
Ken
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That's an interesting point Ken. If I read you correctly you're saying that ebooks are pretty *inelastic* (the PED is low). My feeling (as I said in my post) has always been that it's high, but your argument makes sense and I may well be wrong.
I see your point about a limited total number of potential readers of a book, but I do wonder if the price would still affect sales by changing the distribution of those readers between purchases, illegal copies and library borrowings.
Also, of course, books are competing with each other for readers' attention, so while the elasticity of the market as a whole may be low, it may be high for a given book or publisher (people will buy it instead of the more expensive competing title or publisher).
If you are right, of course, the publishers are doing exactly the right thing (in business terms) by keeping the price high.
/JB