Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob
That's is a well written letter and very eloquent. My question would be, where do you come up with "half". That seem arbitray to me. My thought would be that if you remove the "cost" to the publisher of printing, binding, layout, distribution, wholesale (if they sell the ebook direct) of a printed book then from there they can determince the price for the ebook. For example, if the make "$5" per printed book (assuming they sell 100% of the) then the ebook price should start at "$5".
Anyway, this could be less or more than half... but think it is maybe a more reasonable way to come up with a "suggested" retail. Also, remember retailers can price stuff as they want, they do not have to follow the suggested retail.
BOb
|
where do i come up with half... well, to be honest it *is* arbitrary ; in the manifesto of the site
mozambook (free public domain ebooks in french) they propose this as a reasonable compromise for the price of ebooks and their logic seems completely defendable to me, so i'm spreading the word. if the *actual* production costs were greater than 50% of the pbook price, i agree with you, it is reasonable to modify this figure (i doubt we could ever hope to see a publisher sell an ebook for *less* than half of the pbook price). however i find it frankly kind of insulting when a publisher releases a hardcover at 20€ and the ebook at 19€. what is even the point of that reduction ? it almost seems like they are taunting us.
as for retailers, obviously they don't have to follow the suggestion of the publisher, however they are subject to competition, and i don't mind checking 2 or 3 different sites to see which is the least expensive when i buy...
you know the expression, "vote with your pocketbook"...