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Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
Publishers pay people to pour over statistics to see what would be optimum prices. It slightly mystifies me why people here would think they know better.
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Not very logical reasoning, Steve. This is another area where publishers seem to be behind the times. They seem to be pretending that books without ISBN's don't exist and rely on sources that do the same. Their actions speak for themselves. They are pricing in accordance with a strategy that seems to me and many others to be doomed to failure.
fjtorres hit the nail on the head. Their bloated cost structure is a huge problem, and they don't want to make the necessary adjustments. But if they want to stay in the business long term they are going to have to hold their noses and compete with those grubby upstart Indies.
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Why do you want them to make money? I just want them to do well enough to stay in the business of improving manuscripts I will want to read.
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I too hope they can continue to provide the books that you like. Unfortunately, the authors who write them sell their souls for editorial services that have never been more reasonably priced and available on the open market. Few of them will make a living from these books. Publishers can live off their backlist for a long time, but unless they get rid of the fat, or at least most of it, I expect that they will have increasing trouble attracting new authors. I expect even Academics who must, as the saying goes, publish or perish will abandon them when the current exploitative system changes, which it must. Unless they stop burying their heads in the sand and face up to reality.