Quote:
Originally Posted by mr ploppy
I think the official publisher line is that printing, warehousing and returns amounts to about 10% of cover price. Another major cost is distributor's discount, which is 50% of the cover price. Amazon's cut of an ebook's cover price is 30%, I would guess that other ebook distributors take about the same.
And with print books, of course, there is the cost of shoplifting and people who buy them second hand to take into consideration. Say 5% for shoplifting, 20% for second hand sales (the second hand market is actually a lot larger than 20%, but not everyone will resell them).
So with ebooks they get a 10% saving on not having to print it, plus 20% saving in lower distributor cut, plus 5% because there are no shoplifters, plus 20% because there is no second hand market.
I'm sure all those savings would equal ebook prices that everyone would be happy with.
|
Remember, though (and keying off the main point in my original post): Printing, shipping, warehousing and returns is at least 20% of the cost because you have a 50% return rate -- you have to pay to print, warehouse and ship two books for every one book you sell.
I know from my experience in publishing in the 90s is that printing alone is close to the 10% figure...there is no way that the 10% figure includes returns unless paperbacks are a lot cheaper to print than the 8 x 11 RPG books we used to sell.
Plus the retailer is getting 70% of retail, not 50%.
So, on a $15 mass market paperback (if I recall correctly, most books go straight to trade paperback or mass market paperback). Publisher gets $7.50. Physical production (print, warehouse, shipping, returns), 20%, is $3.
That leaves publisher gross at $4.50, out of which comes author advance/royalties (would be $1.50 at most for a $15 p-book; more likely it's less than $1). So you have $3.50 to cover editing, cover, marketing and of course profit.
Now, an ebook at $6. Publisher gets 70%, which makes it $4.20...so the publisher is losing .30 cents...if he only sells the same exact number of ebooks as pbooks.
But with ebooks, especially if you go DRM free, are available instantly to anyone with an internet connection. The reach of ebook stores is much vaster than physical book stores.
And again, the main point: only 9% of people *admit* to using torrents. So 91% either lie (possible) or actually get the whole "artists gotta eat, too" angle.