Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonist
I agree that e-books take time to make right.
And they will probably take as long as paper books to design, once e-readers are more advanced and support richer design features.
But, the cost of professional designing, illustrating, proofreading and otherwise preparing an e-book for publication, pale compared to the costs of printing, distribution and storage of paper books.
Thus, e-books should be cheaper.
If the publishing industry tries to gouge the market, they'll just lose sales to piracy. The more they gouge, the more sales they'll lose. Simple as that.
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You said it simply and correctly.
The posts here that point out that converting takes "work" and "time" and "cost" are wholly self evident. No one that I can see on this form has claimed otherwise.
The point is that a) a similar process is already incurred when preparing for paper books that is at least as challenging and costly, and b) it is a one off cost that can be spread over the sales of the book. The inevitable conclusion being that the "preparation" phase for ebooks is no more expensive, and probably quite a bit less expensive, than that for paper books. And when we remove the multiple margins paid to distributors, retailers, storage and transport costs then it is a no brainer that e-books should be a fraction of the cost of paper books.
. . . . that is, of course, IF the profit of the publisher and author stay the same. IF the ebook is sold at the same or slightly less than the paper book . . . then it is clear and self evident that the publisher and author are making super profits. Considering that most authors, I understand, do not have contracts distinguishing between paper books and e-books, then it is the publisher who is creaming it in this phase of the development of the market.
However as I and others have suggested, I believe that if they continue to do so, they will spark a disintegration of the ebook market including a massive illegal sector that will take a decade or more to recover from.
As an aside - Last week I was at a work seminar in a city nearby and this topic came up. Three guys had bought the new Sony e-reader at Xmas, and all had abandoned them because they were angry at the cost of ebooks. One offered to sell his to me for 50 dollars. I declined as I am happy reading on my iPhone.
Saoir