Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
Bestseller print lists are made by sales to distributors, not customers; returns are not considered.
Bestseller ebook lists at Amazon are calculated using free samples downloaded in addition to sales; getting a few hundred people to download a sample will cause a spike in the numbers--the thousands who download samples of new advertised books will drive highly-advertised books up the charts.
Bestseller NYTimes ebook lists refuse to count self-published books that are a substantial portion of popular ebook sales.
I'm not saying it didn't sell, or didn't sell well--just saying that "top of the charts" is a matter of publicity and hype as much as it's a matter of copies sold.
And yes, there are plenty of people who'll pay those prices. Those aren't the majority of readers. Stross pointed out that 75% of an author's fans--readers--never contribute financially to the author. The majority of readers don't buy new books full price, and the big publishers are oblivious to them as a viable market for ebooks, because our purchase levels are below their sales point.
Doesn't mean we're not purchasing; we're just not purchasing their wares.
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With all due respect, a fan who isn't willing to buy an author's book isn't really a fan, IMO. Note also that Stross doesn't set his prices for his books arny differently than anyone else.
Publishers are certainly aware that people buy books used and borrow them from the library, but so what? No business sets new product prices based on used product prices. I can get a used car for the fraction of what a new car costs, but if I walked into a new car lot and demanded that they sell me a new car at the used car price, I'd be laughed off the lot.
The fact that the markets are clearing at the prices that the publishers are setting is an indication that the publishers are (mostly ) getting it right. If they get it wrong, then the ebooks won't sell and the publishers will be moving to "paperback" and promotional prices.