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Originally Posted by MGlitch
Aside from pricing and DRM what other factors are within the publishers ability to control which would affect ebook sales.
I'd also point out piracy of ebooks, with or without DRM, is likely a factor in the declining sales.
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Bold claim that remains to be proven!
I would like to remind everyone that before, ebooks piracy even existed, there was printed book sharing which was always huge in my environment & completely legal + libraries.
Anyway I don't really want to start a debate on this, I don't have numbers either so I'm just giving out my opinion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MGlitch
The costs of ebook versus pbook have been debated before and while ultimately pbooks are more expensive the difference is less than what many tend to think. Up until printing and shipping the costs are, essentially identical. Thanks to bulk rates printing costs are kept lower than what the general public would spend. And shipping costs are often offloaded to whatever seller is procuring the books for sale.
So how would publishers better adapt to ebooks?
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Shipping costs are offloaded to the seller ?? how is that important ????
I mean the problem we have in the shop is the FINAL price of both products, ebook or pbook who cares which business pays for the shipping costs ?
Whats-more whoever pays for the shipping costs, those are not to be shrugged off, the weight of paper is huge, so transport actually cost a lot
also don't forget that all parties involved actually get a cut, and don't forget storage & their costs, in case of unsold copies
In the gaming industry, Brad Wardell (Stardock) once published results on a game saying that he approximately sold 10 times less copies of a particular game, online compared to retail, yet he gained as much money in his company pocket from both . Do the math ...
Sure the advantage he has is that he sold the games online with his own online shop so he gets one less intermediary that gets a cut
but still I think it gives something to think about.
When a publisher sells a book online, there's only 1 intermediary to deal with between the publisher to the consumer, at the very least twice that number for printed books.
To conclude, in my humble opinion, it is a given that the publisher gets more money out of an ebook sale than a pbook sale.