Quote:
Originally Posted by crossi
True there is no such thing as surplus ebooks, still if you've spent money producing an ebook and no one is buying it you might as well try selling it at surplus prices in the hope of at least getting something back. Or even giving it away and writing it off as a tax loss in the hopes that someone would read it and like it enough to buy your next book.
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I tend to agree. HarryT is absolutely correct as far as his technical assessment goes re: the realities of physical inventories vs. digital reproduction technology. But, IMO, the big mistake that publishers are making is to do
exactly that: view a digital commodity the same way they view a physically tangible commodity.
People KNOW that once a book is in digital form --and except for editing, it is already in digital form when an author submits it to the publisher!-- the costs to the publisher for reproduction and distribution are almost negligible.
To even try to equate the "fair and just" price for an eBook with the price of the same book in print form is not just a futile exercise like trying to "compare apple with oranges." It's more like trying to compare apples with sounds or smells or colors.
A fundamental change in thinking, and a fundamental change in marketing and distribution is urgently needed.