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Originally Posted by barryem
I'm sure that's part of the reason for high ebook prices but I suspect the publishers major reason for high ebook prices is concern about devaluing books. If you can buy the latest ebook for less money the price of print books will decline too, and that's probably pretty scary to the publishers.
Likely the publishers worry about a future where books sell for a lot less than they do now. And that's probably a realistic fear.
Barry
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We go through this discussion on a regular basis. Some people seem to struggle with the idea of there being a cost associated with publishing a ebook.
Ultimately, in economics, businesses charge what the market will bear. The current business model in the publishing industry is that best sellers support the cost of books that don't make back expenses.
One of the big lessons I've learned over the years is that a business needs multiple streams of revenue to stay healthy. I tend to see paper books and ebooks as complementary streams of revenue rather than competing formats. If the publishers were wise, they would be looking at going into the audiobook industry as well as looking at trying to encourage new ebook stores.