Quote:
Originally Posted by leebase
It DID happen with paper books. No one releases the paper back version at the same time as the hard back. Plenty of folks are like you and me and rarely bought new release hard backs. But MILLIONS of folks DID buy the hard backs. But there is a relatively small time window when folks don't have other options. Before too long there are used hard backs. Then come the trade paper backs, the more expensive version. Then finally the mass market paper back.
|
I think you've missed my point somewhat. HansTWN said that if ebook prices dropped too low, then "almost nobody would buy early, but everybody would wait for the price to drop". That didn't happen with paper books, or at least not to the point where there was no point in producing hardbacks. I'd have thought that, just as some people buy the hardback to get the book as soon as they can, some people will buy the ebook at the higher price in order to get it sooner.
Quote:
Originally Posted by leebase
At no point has the book industry priced the new books at the same price as used. Never have, never will.
With ebooks, there is no concept of "used". Each copy of an ebook is as good as the last. There will be no such thing as used ebooks. Nor will ebooks ever be priced to compete with someone's garage sale of used paperbacks.
|
I think I may not have been entirely clear. I don't expect ebooks to come down to the same price that I can get a battered paperback. Ebooks (with some notable exceptions) seem to generally go down in price as cheaper paper books become available (so price drops when the trade paperback is released, then again when the mass-market paperback is released). Why not reduce the price again at some point after the mass-market paperback is released?