Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Let me ask those people who think that eBooks are too expensive a question:
The standard price for a paperback book in the UK is £7.99 (about $12.30); that's what you'll pay in any physical bookshop.
What would you consider to be a reasonable price for the corresponding eBook, assuming it to be nicely formatted, error-free, etc?
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Generally speaking, buy US paperbacks as they are $4+ cheaper? Only your lot thinks in pounds I believe.
So $7.99 - a 'reasonable price' is $6.00. It it was DRM free then the dead tree price is probably reasonable, too.
A friend used to have a rating system for potential partners. They start at 10/10. If they smoke, you take 5 off. That is sort of how I see ebooks. If they are DRM crippled they are only worth getting when they are on massive sale or free unless you really, really, really like them to start with. So if they cost more than $3-4, forget it, generally speaking.
Now we have the Hachette ripoff, so even the 'hot' ones like Alastair Reynolds that might be worth it at a not so good price and DRM crippled have had prices hiked 65% from $8.50ish to rather more than your English paperback example above. No one's worth that, for fiction. And Neal Asher at Macmillan for example will be 25% higher again for the standard range.