Originally Posted by rhadin
I think he is right about the long-term. I look at the change in my own book-buying habits and do not see good things for the publishing world, i.e., both authors and publishers.
Until I received my first ereading device (Sony 505) 4 years ago, I spent $5,000 and more each year on books, nearly all hardcovers. During the first year of my 505 ownership, my hardcover purchases declined but only by about 10%. I was still finding my equilibrium. During that first year, MR introduced me to Fictionwise and Baen and between Sony, Fictionwise, and Baen, I spent close to $1,000 on ebooks.
In my second year of 505 ownership, my visits to the local bookstore, which occurred in previous years as frequently as weekly, declined to a couple of times a month, and sometimes once a month. My hardcover purchases declined by at least 25% from the year before but, more importantly, my ebook purchases for money declined as well. I had discovered the world of free ebooks.
This past year, my first year with my upgrade to a Sony 950 and the giving of my 505 to my wife, hardcover purchases have declined dramatically. I spent about $1,500 on hardcovers and I visited the local bookstore on average once a month.
But an even steeper decline occurred in ebooks. In 2011, I spent less than $200 buying ebooks, yet I increased my ebook library by more than 650 ebooks. Obviously, most of them were free. Of the ones I did buy for dollars, nearly all were purchased at either Baen (a couple only) or Smashwords (99% of them) and the price was $2.99 or less with but a couple of exceptions where I splurged and spent up to $4.99.
It is not that I am reading less -- I'm not; I'm actually reading more than ever thanks to my Sony 950 -- but I am spending less because so many books are available at no to very little cost. I do not even look at ebooks that are sold for $7.99 or above. In my first year as an ebooker, I looked and occasionally bought $7.99 and up priced ebooks; now, I do neither.
I simply do not see the value in ebooks to warrant pricing at $11.99, $12.99, or higher. If I strip the DRM or cleanup the formatting or scanning errors, I increase the value, but that is me doing the work that the authors and publishers should be doing. Consequently, I do not see ebooks as value laden. I see them entirely as read once and delete, which doesn't warrant high pricing.
Am I missing out on some of the better authors? Yes, but there are more than enough very good to excellent indie authors at $2.99 or less to read that I see no sense in spending higher sums. I suspect that Amazon will ultimately make free the ebook the price point; it certainly is doing nothing to encourage high price purchases but is doing a lot to encourage free.
|