Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
The marketplace (in the broadest sense) defines demand and set price. Looking at the e-book marketplace today, $4-$10 US is the market clearing price for e-books (at least in the US). Either you can compete at this price zone, or else you'll be out of the business in a few years. This holds true for publishers, and authors as well.
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I don't think that anyone has figured out the ebook market yet. But it seems to me that a lot of what is going on for the consumer has to do with the psychology of comparing the ebook with the paper book and in general, thinking that an ebook is a limited subset of the set of rights a buyer gets from a paper book, so the ebook should cost less.
In that context, I can understand what you are saying.
It seems to me that publishers have to reorient the buyer to think about ebooks in a different fashion if they want to stay in business. Instead of decoupling ebooks from paper books - which is where the consumer mindset is heading - they need to link the two formats in the consumer's mind.
So I think that if I were a publisher, I'd do two things.
First, I would sell the hardback copy with a courtesy copy of the book in ebook form. It would be DRMed, but in every format so that anyone buying the hardback could simultaneously have the ebook.
Then, I'd wait until it became time to issue the paperback. At that point, I'd sell the paperback and the ebook at the same price, but separately. At this point, the ebook would not be DRMed. Note that this would be pretty near your "clearing price" range.
Here's my reasoning. At the hardback level, we are dealing with a different set of economics than at the paperback level.
For people who buy hardbacks, the buyer is paying a premium for immediacy or permanence - which is what the hardback represents. The coupling between the ebook and the paper book at this level is a "bonus" value represented by getting the ebook for free.
But at the paperback level, we are dealing with the throwaway culture. The prices are low enough that most people won't bother with trying to get pirated copies, so DRM just becomes a nuisance. The coupling at this level is suggestion that the paperback and the ebook are the same thing. Get it on throwaway paper, or on throwaway electrons. Get the paper if you are taking it to the beach. Get the ebook if you are going to fly somewhere.
I base this scheme on my personal experience, so as they say, your mileage may differ. But since buying my ebook back in January, I find that I still buy hardbacks, because I'm willing to pay hardback prices if I actually get a hardback which I can keep or sell, mainly because I want the book right now. Getting it in ebook format as well might get me to buy more hardbacks.
But with paperbacks, which I frequently buy used, I find that I prefer to read the ebook version and will pay a couple or three dollars more for an ebook version over the cost of a used paperback. Which tells me I'll buy the ebook version over the paperback if the prices are the same.