Quote:
Originally Posted by whitearrow
Here is what drives me crazy.
Turn Coat (The Dresden Files, Book 11) (Hardcover)
by Jim Butcher (Author)
List Price: $25.95
Price: $16.52 & eligible for free shipping with Amazon Prime
You Save: $9.43 (36%)
Turn Coat (Kindle Edition)
by Jim Butcher (Author)
Digital List Price: $25.95
Kindle Price: $14.27 & includes wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: $11.68 (45%)
Assuming that the quoted list prices are correct, then the publisher's list price for both the digital and print edition is $25.95. That is simply batpoo INSANE. Not $9.99 vs. $14.27 -- but the fact that the publisher actually thinks that the retail price of the print and ebooks should be identical, despite all the additional costs associated with a print book and all the disadvantages of an ebook (particularly and especially as compared to a hardcover, the lack of resale value). I'm not blaming Amazon, I'm placing the blame squarely where it belongs -- the publisher.
Now with that said, the bottom line for me is that I think an ebook should cost some significant amount less than the print book, and experience shows me that within a couple of weeks of release, the ebook price will probably drop to $9.99. So I'm going to wait -- not to participate in a boycott or make a statement, but to satisfy myself that I'm actually getting a decent value for my money, and in this particular case, the price point for that is $9.99.
Next time? Well, that may be different.
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Heh, I'm picking that one at the library.
I think they put that price up as a guideline (like, hey, here's the pbook cost). And, slightly sticking up for the publisher here, it's been discussed how "hardcover" is kind of an arbitrary thing. Books don't need to be published in hardcover, they do it to make more money on books they expect to be popular. So they use the same scheme with ebooks.
If that particular book, while it was still in hardcover, was available for 10-12 dollars, I'd be on it. But I can't justify spending that on an ebook. So I'll be picking it up at the library. I was more angry that the publisher fed Sony and fictionwise bad info on book 6, which both places were charging hardcover prices even though it's been in paperback for years. But of course, it's the right price for Kindle. That ticked me off big time.
Penguin, S&S, I hate you guys. Harlequin, I love you forever.