Quote:
Originally Posted by richrock
I was specifying the content - I certainly don't buy books for the purty covers or whatever. I buy a book because the subject interests me, or the story seems compelling. However, I am not paying for natural resources used to create that book, so why pay the premium? Competitive pricing of ebooks compared to paper books irrespective of content would lead to greater sales of the e-version, and subsequently less damage done by piracy.
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Someone somewhere (publisher? someone really good at estimating things?) that the physical medium makes up only about 10% of a book's cost (my Google ability is failing me right now, but I read about it here on MR). If you're inclined to believe that, it's not a huge impact. And just because the publisher has fewer costs doesn't mean they're required to pass on the savings to the consumer.
I don't want to pay $15 for an ebook because I rarely paid that for a pbook. And I consider ebooks to be inferior to pbooks because I can't loan them to my family or resell them. However, they also are more portable and don't take up space in my house (so long expensive bookshelves!), so they're also superior to pbooks in some regards. And I can't get over how easy it is to search ebooks and highlight (without leaving physical marks in the book!!). I love it.