Quote:
Originally Posted by AnemicOak
They don't require it necessarily, it's what the publishers and Apple came up with when they started the agency system. Also traditional book stores generally make more than 30% on the books they sell (unless the store is choosing to discount).
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Retail markups are generally 50% or more, but that is based on a very low wholesale price. So they may sell a bestseller for $16, but they only paid $8 for it. How much would an eBook have to cost for a publisher to get $8? Because 30% is lopped off the top, it's $11.42. Shockingly close to what most bestseller eBooks sell for.
In one sense, eBook sales raise the costs of printing traditional books - because the cheapest book to print is the last one off the line. Because fewer print books are sold, fewer get made and economies of scale don't come into play as readily. However, physical book prices are already as high as the market will bear. So they take the savings of producing the eBooks and use it to cover the increase in printing costs. Is this fair? Not to the eBook buyer, but it is what keeps printed books affordable.
The real dinosaur is the publishers. Many writers are going it alone, selling their work directly for $2.99 or less, but making more per sale than ever before. I read of one eBook author who was offered an advance of $250,000 to sell the digital and print rights to their books to a traditional publisher. Problem was, they were making $150,000/month from eBook sales. No need for the pittance the book publisher would give them per sale.
If you want cheaper eBooks, read the ones that aren't in print to begin with.