Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinisajoy
I will concede part of the argument. Now my question is, if you sell a $10 book for a dollar will you sell enough to make up that difference? Or even say a $5 book for a dollar.
More people will pay under $10 than over $10 for a book.
So in my argument will you sell an extra 9 million copies to make up the difference?
|
Dollar books are a separate issue since those extreme prices tend to be short-term promotions, shorts, or PD titles.
They are no more representative of the economics of ebooks than perma-free titles when taken alone. (Perma-free works as a loss leader entry into a ladder-priced series.)
Amazon discourages $0.99 ebooks as much as they discourage $20 ebooks, maybe more.
Amazon explained their view on the non-linear price elasticity of books way back in summer 2014:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/...r-9-99-prices/
Quote:
|
“For every copy an e-book would sell at $14.99, it would sell 1.74 copies if priced at $9.99,” the company wrote. “So, for example, if customers would buy 100,000 copies of a particular e-book at $14.99, then customers would buy 174,000 copies of that same e-book at $9.99. Total revenue at $14.99 would be $1,499,000. Total revenue at $9.99 is $1,738,000.”
|
Fundamentally, the BPHs and their apologists don't believe in price elasticity but they do believe in the divine infallibility of BPH execs. In that worldview the BPHs only publish great books and people will pay any price to buy those books because only those specific books will meet their needs.
The idea that somebody might see a book priced at $20 and choose instead to buy two other books at $9.99 each is alien to them. Of course, the reality is that a more typical reader with buy two $6 books and a month of Hulu or Netflix.
