Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadoe
It's not that an ebook takes more in the way of servers and employees and computers and internet. The publisher only has to make ONE copy of the book electronically, and that's little more work than adding some links and clicking Save As. Then upload the one copy to multiple sites. It's the work of a day or two, tops, for some hapless clerk that gets paid a pittance.
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To be fair--making an ebook starting from a digital file for a new book is a matter of an hour's work (if there's a streamlined workflow ready for it) or up to about 5 hours work (if there's not, and the publisher is doing each one from scratch).
Making one from an out-of-print pbook is more work. They generally don't have the digital files anymore (once it's out of print, there was no need to keep them, and it's a liability hassle if anyone gets & distributes those files), so they have to scan, OCR, proofread, and reformat from scratch.
Call it 3-5 hours for a slapdash pathetic version--like most public domain Google books. 15-50 hours for a good version, depending on how long the book is and how many words the OCR flubs on. (Romance novels: a few names need checking. Science fiction: confirm that "alien" isn't read as "allen," and check all special-to-this-novel words. Nonfic chemistry text: line-by-line proofing and making sure the italics are all correct.)
Then they have to find/make a new bookcover, because the old one probably isn't authorized for a new edition, format differently for each store it's being submitted to, and arrange for billing info & other accounting details.
Which, admittedly, only gets done once per title, and even if those expenses are above $2,000--once they're paid off by book sales, it's all gravy. There's no $1-$3-per-book cost of printing & delivering; after the initial creation cost is covered, cost-per-book is pennies. (Bandwidth costs something. Accounting & other overhead costs something.) After 500 sales of $4 each, they'd be free to experiment with the price until they find the sweet spot that gets the most profit.