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But of course for books now the market is very very different. Costs are, as we have discussed on Mobileread many times, only one factor in setting price. Often costs are pretty well irrelevant for pricing purposes, except when there is real competition and margins are being squeezed. Traditional publishing is now facing real competition from Indies. They have now, at great cost, seized control of retail pricing and seem to be attempting to come to grips with it. It is taking a while, and there are various signs of experimentation. It seems to me that the fiction market is such that most readers who baulk at the prices of initial releases will happily purchase the books concerned later when they are available at a lower price. Given this it seems to be a very rational business decision to pick up the demand successively at each price point rather than release a book initially at a low price to compete with Indie titles. Of course I'm not thrilled with this because I am rarely prepared to pay more than a certain amount for an e-book, and naturally I prefer instant gratification at my price. I would prefer not to wait, but let's face it, it's not as if there is not plenty of other books to read. With a very few exceptions my favourite authors now are all Indie. However, the strategy of a premium price at release seems to be such an obvious one that I will not be the least bit surprised if some of my favourite Indie authors at least experiment with it. Now there is competition I'm happy to let Supply and Demand work it out.
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