Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemurion
Once eBooks become the main sales channel, prices are going to have to be revisited, and brought lower. But until that happens, the publishers are going to have to play things cautiously now so they can still be here later.
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I wonder if that's really the case, or whether being cautious and reactive, rather than proactive, in the face of a technological frame-break is the way to slow death?
For one thing, by keeping prices of even old old backlist titles at the price of a new paperback (or worse!), I suspect that they are missing big chunks of potential additional revenue from avid readers who would like to "format-shift". I have many authors whose complete backlists I would happily buy in e-book at a modest price, just to be able to re-read at a whim since I can carry all my e-books around with me...and also, I admit, to be able to clear some space off my shelves.
For example, I bought all of Steven F. Havill's older backlist titles when they first came out, at a very reasonable price (then) of about $3 each - can't remember exactly now, and they've since gone up. And these sales were "pure additional income" to the publisher and author since I had already bought these books once in paper, and certainly wouldn't buy again in paper for any reason.