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Old 05-30-2008, 10:47 AM   #62
Shaggy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnemicOak View Post
But you do have more costs than most people think. The only cost you really don't have is the actual printing (which isn't as much as some people think, about 10-15% of the cover price). You still have all the traditional production costs, plus the distribution costs just like pbooks. What they need to do is get rid of the old style distribution model where wholesalers & retailers get 70% of the books cover price divided between them (yes, they even use this for ebooks)
Why though? What possible reason is there for a retailer/wholesaler getting paid the same amount for selling an ebook as they do a pbook? If you can't run an online store with much less overhead than a traditional brick and mortar store, then there's a big problem there.

I definitely agree that the distribution model needs to change. They should be able to greatly reduce that 70%, which will go a long way towards making ebook purchases more attractive compared to copying/sharing via other means.

I suspect that it's more a case of the contracts that publishers have with retailers are the same whether it's for a pbook or an ebook, and that profit margins on ebooks are a lot higher than the same priced pbooks. In other words, the distribution chain is being treated the same whether it's physical or digital. That seems to me like the biggest problem with the current pricing.
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