Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
"Very High Price" is quite a loaded statement--regardless of the presence (or lack) of competition. It's a statement that's typically only uttered by the "Ebooks should be much, much cheaper than they are" camp. A camp that no one has sufficiently proven to me represents a) a very significant portion of the reading public; and b) a very realistic portion of same.
The publisher sets a price. Most of the reading public seem willing to pay it (for one format or the other). If they weren't, those prices would change.
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I plead guilty to the loaded language. And to believing that Big 5 ebooks are overpriced as a general rule. This is not to say that keeping Big 5 ebook pricing high is an irrational decision, though I suspect that it is doomed to fail in the longer term. It is hardly irrational for publishers whose main focus is on print books to take account of the likely effect of cheaper ebooks on sales of their print books. In fact, it would be irrational for them not to.
I see no justification for the statement that "most of the reading public seem willing to pay it" in reference to Big 5 agency prices. That the Big 5 have not lowered prices yet says nothing more than that there are sufficient purchasers at their present price points (combined ebooks and print books) for them to remain viable. However, it seems that the Big 5 are losing market share so far as ebook sales are concerned, and have effectively ceded entire genres to Indies. The large and growing ebook Indie market are also part of the reading public. I don't know about "most", but certainly a very significant part.