Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
People like to bitch about prices, they really do. At any point, there are three threads going on the site complaining about agency pricing, each with self-appointed experts proclaiming what the "right price" should be for e-books and how publishers are pursuing the "wrong strategy". These folks have never worked a day in the book industry and have never run their own business , but suddenly, they are experts on marketing, pricing, corporate finance, and other stuff that people go to business school to study.
What's interesting is that besides all this talk about "unconscionable" agency pricing, there is another forum where thousands of books are on offer for free or for cheap, often by those same publishers who are excoriated for "agency price fixing". Heck, on this very forum there is a thread dedicated to those who complain of the "addiction" of buying too many e-books. Of course, this makes a mockery of the idea that e-book prices are too high and that those too high prices are stifling demand. Indeed, since the bestseller lists are filled with those "overpriced" agency books, we can conclude that these "experts" are dead wrong about the demand-killing effect of agency pricing.
Oh well, think of this forum as a place where people can "blow off steam" about prices. In that way, it serves an important social function.
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Actually, there isn't a "book market" either e or p. There is a myriad of smaller niche markets, all lumped together.
You're seeing different people in different niches making niche relevant comments.
For example, I don't read "mainstream" fiction or celebrity/political/topical nonfiction. These are the mainstays of the big 6 publishers. Shrug - I'm not their customer, I could care less what they charge. Same for Romances, it doesn't matter if they charge .99 cents or $15, I'm not interested. But other people are, and make comments.
I get frustrated when publishers of books I'd like to have (out of print S/F- Fantasy) aren't made available because there isn't a market for 50 year old books for $15. And the attitude of "if they won't sell 100,000 copies, why bother" among the controllers of the copyrights.
There is a proven market for those sort of books, but only at $5-$6 dollars. (see Baen).
One publisher of the big 6 seems to have gotten it (Gollancz). Their prices are higher that I feel will sell the best ($8.66 and $5.33, and I don't know how they choose which price), and I can't buy 2/3 of the titles I want because of geo-restrictions, but I think they'll make a nice profit on the deal (if the e-books are well proofed).
But I won't pay over $10 for any e-book. And if I can't buy what I want, that's a sale that some company is just giving up...