Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Robin
This. When I saw the article give ebook sales as around 20% of the market, I thought, "how is this a failure?" That's as absurd as the other extreme I saw on a video review for an ereader in which the host breathlessly prophesied the certain end of paper books. I'm sure a healthy marketplace can sustain several content delivery options.
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You have to understand that the article was written based on what the reporter was being told by a writer trying to pimp his book based on the idea that if only eBooks had been priced at $9.99 then everyone would be buying eBooks rather than paper books or audiobooks. So, he's pimping a narrative that ignores any evidence to the contrary.
Of course, it turns out that many people who read eBooks prefer to only carry one device and thus read on a tablet or smartphone. Others prefer reading paper books. We also see that ebook prices track the current paper prices fairly closely for books on the Times best seller list
David Baldacci - A Minute to Midnight - Kindle ($14.99) Paper ($14.98)
John Grisham - The Guardians - Kindle ($9.99) Paper($10.56)
Stephen King - The Institute - Kindle ($14.99) Paper ($14.96)
James Patterson - Criss Cross - Kindle ($14.99) Paper ($14.50)
Lee Child - Blue Moon - Kindle($9.99) Paper ($17.25)
So, the narrative falls apart rather quickly. Heck, even the $350 dedicated ebook reader narrative falls apart when you look at the actual prices of the various kindles. $350 is the price for a maxed out top of the line eBook reader. One can buy a basic kindle for $120.
What we are seeing is that quite a few people still prefer reading paper books (my SIL falls in this group, even though she has both a tablet and an ebook reader, she buys paper books), and audiobooks is the growing industry, even though audiobooks are generally much more expensive than the eBook or paper book versions. That doesn't include the vast array of cheap eBooks available when talking about PD books, or indies. When one examines indie ebook prices, one sees that those prices tend to hover around a couple of different price points ranging from $1-$3 for some writers to just under regular publisher ebook prices for others, and those price points tend to follow the author's business model, i.e. releasing a book a month to releasing a book or two a year, rather than some idealized price.