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Originally Posted by rlauzon
*Sigh*
Author writes book (probably on a word processor). Provides file to publisher. Publisher clicks twice and - viola - eBook.
Where's the "amortized fixed costs" for an eBook?
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I don't wish to belittle you, but your concept of "publishing" an ebook is ...um... a little simplistic.
But I think you know that, and at this point your are arguing for argument's sake.
If you really don't know what is entailed in the publishing process, well, I just can't help you. I'm not up for delivering a graduate seminar in publishing.
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Originally Posted by rlauzon
I'm sorry, but are we in the same reality?
There is no such thing as an "unsold copy" of an eBook. Copies are made as people buy them - for almost no cost. Reducing the price of an eBook is as simple as going in to the web interface to the database and changing the price.
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I guess you didn't grasp the concept I was trying to highlight. With pbooks, because there
ARE unsold copies, you will often see the titles on sale since it is cheaper for the publisher to drastically reduce the price and have the retailer sell them ("remainder in place") as opposed to shipping them back to the publisher for credit ("remainder return"). You do know, I trust, that most physical bookstores operate on something of a consignment system?
What I was trying to point out is that since that issue doesn't pertain to ebooks - i.e. there are
no unsold copies to be shipped back - there is often no incentive to radically reduce the price. Since leaving the book out there floating in the ether costs so little, why bother reissuing an ISBN number for a new lower-priced version, or giving the retailer a huge discount in hopes that a few more copies would sell. The marginal profit on the new copies would need to recoup costs and time spent, and, until the market grows, those additional sales are not particularly spectactular.