Quote:
Originally Posted by rhadin
In the long-term the costs will decline. Some things are one-time investments. But until ebooks and their devices become commonplace among his readers, the per unit cost will remain high. The question becomes how much of that initial high cost can he absorb in order to reduce the price of the ebook? In the end, his margins have to remain at least the same, if not be greater, for ebooks as for pbooks in order for him to remain in business.
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The thing with these costs as you mentioned is that many are one time costs.
Also the time and effort that goes into designing a work flow now, will not only benefit the books already published, but will significantly help in the future.
The question I have is why should the publisher expect to need to recover the costs immediately? Trying to do say may as well shoot themselves in the foot as it works to restricts the number of sales.
The benefits of selling eBooks really materialise when you can increase the volume, as once made the MARGINAL cost of selling each additional book is minuscule.
Its kind of like the publisher saying that the cost of the printing press has to be recovered in a the first 200 books. This investment in software and equipment is a capital investment, similar to them putting in another printing press which will pay off over time not an expense.