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@leebase. I strongly agree that reading is indeed competing with other forms of entertainment, though some do seem to be in denial about this. And yes, the cost of producing a product is relevant to determining how low a price can be set and still make a reasonable profit. In theory the more competitive the market is the lower the price will be. I am presently in the fortunate position that I can afford to pay $14.99 for e-books, though I choose not to. There are enough people like you who are prepared to pay that price for e-books from favourite authors. Big 5 e-book pricing is showing signs of a very rational strategy to maximise their revenue by making sales to both people like you and people like me. You pay a higher price and get the book immediately. I wait, sometimes for a long time, for them to lower the price or have a sale, or I borrow from the library. However most of the tradpub authors I used to follow religiously have been replaced by Indie authors. There is, after all, only so much I can read. It is, as you say, a great time for readers. Possibly the best time ever. It is wonderful that we are both currently being catered for. Yes, I would like to have every new tradpub release at Indie prices, but the world is not tailored to what I would like. Yes, one of you paying $15 is worth 2.5 of me paying $6. But with later price reductions etc. the only readers lost are those who would have bought the book initially but are not interested later when the price is reduced, and those who obtain pirate versions.
@binaryhermit. I too am interested in this question, but there seem to be no reliable studies. Some people who want a book now but are not prepared to pay resort to piracy. Some would have bought a legitimate copy if the price was lower. Some would not have acquired the book at all if it was not available to them for free. The only conclusion I think we can draw is that piracy rates are sufficiently low at today's prices to allow a flourishing e-book retail industry to exist, despite the fact that as I understand the situation obtaining a pirate copy is trivially easy.
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