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Tazling · 10-02-2020, 08:21 PM

I haven't been into ebooks for all that long, so I'm more or less a n00b. Tried the early "book readers" like Hanlin way back when, underwhelmed; don't care for the Kindle reader very much (prefer Marvin)... Kindle UL is a nice idea but I just don't like the reader and resent being shackled to it... but over the last year or so I've got quite fond of Marvin esp for evening reading (at lowest brightness in Night Mode). So Marvin has become a close 2nd choice to a Real Book. And when I'm travelling light, it's nice to be able to bring a whole library with me :-)

So, I'm becoming habituated to ebooks and no longer consider them weird or meh. But... anyone but me find the pricing of epub books (Kindle and otherwise) absolutely bewildering? I mean, in the real world of bookstores, a trade paperback has an average price, a mass market pb has an average price, a hardback has an average price... so you know pretty much what to expect based on the format you're buying. But in the world of Kindle books, one book (by comparable authors) might sell for $2.99 and another for $12.99 or more.

Is it just "what the market will bear"? It seems a little odd to me because I think of ebooks as inherently lower in value than paper books. For a start, they contain no paper! And there's not the great publishing gamble of a print run, the risk of remainders. They are utterly safe for publishers to offer, and the cost of producing a million copies is approximately the same as one copy. So... How are these prices set? I have to confess I find it hard to justify spending more on an ebook than I would pay for the same book in paper form, used, from Abebooks... given that paper books are, on balance, nicer... and still work even when the power's out for several days!

I can see that for OOP books for which no camera ready layout file exists, there's an investment in scanning, converting and proofing an extant copy -- not a trivial undertaking -- but surely, spread over X thousand sales, that's only a buck or two?

Anyway, I find the pricing of ebooks about as comprehensible as the pricing of airline tickets :-) does someone else find it logical? And if so, can you explain the rules of the game that result in such divergent prices for what is, essentially, just a data file?

10-02-2020, 08:21 PM	#92
Tazling Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2020 Device: iPad, Marvin	I haven't been into ebooks for all that long, so I'm more or less a n00b. Tried the early "book readers" like Hanlin way back when, underwhelmed; don't care for the Kindle reader very much (prefer Marvin)... Kindle UL is a nice idea but I just don't like the reader and resent being shackled to it... but over the last year or so I've got quite fond of Marvin esp for evening reading (at lowest brightness in Night Mode). So Marvin has become a close 2nd choice to a Real Book. And when I'm travelling light, it's nice to be able to bring a whole library with me :-) So, I'm becoming habituated to ebooks and no longer consider them weird or meh. But... anyone but me find the pricing of epub books (Kindle and otherwise) absolutely bewildering? I mean, in the real world of bookstores, a trade paperback has an average price, a mass market pb has an average price, a hardback has an average price... so you know pretty much what to expect based on the format you're buying. But in the world of Kindle books, one book (by comparable authors) might sell for $2.99 and another for $12.99 or more. Is it just "what the market will bear"? It seems a little odd to me because I think of ebooks as inherently lower in value than paper books. For a start, they contain no paper! And there's not the great publishing gamble of a print run, the risk of remainders. They are utterly safe for publishers to offer, and the cost of producing a million copies is approximately the same as one copy. So... How are these prices set? I have to confess I find it hard to justify spending more on an ebook than I would pay for the same book in paper form, used, from Abebooks... given that paper books are, on balance, nicer... and still work even when the power's out for several days! I can see that for OOP books for which no camera ready layout file exists, there's an investment in scanning, converting and proofing an extant copy -- not a trivial undertaking -- but surely, spread over X thousand sales, that's only a buck or two? Anyway, I find the pricing of ebooks about as comprehensible as the pricing of airline tickets :-) does someone else find it logical? And if so, can you explain the rules of the game that result in such divergent prices for what is, essentially, just a data file?