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Daithi · 08-31-2009, 10:35 AM

Rhadin,
Thanks for the response. It is nice to get a response from someone that is in the publishing industry. You had asked, why this question keeps surfacing and thought it should be laid to rest permanently. Well, at least I can give you the reasons it keeps surfacing in my mind. Bear with me here, it may be that I'm following some faulty premises so my reasoning can be way off. Anyway, the following is why I wonder if Amazon is losing money at $9.99 per ebook.

If I go to Amazon's site, and view the books section (not the Kindle section), I see that in the first 3 pages or so of newly released books that the price for hardbacks is between $13 and $16. Even at my local Barnes & Noble, Borders, Target, and Walmart, I rarely see books at the $26 range that publishers often indicate they receive. Whenever I actually buy a fiction hardback it is almost always between this $13 to $16 price point (usually at Walmart or the grocery store). The only time I've paid in the $26 range is for non-fiction.

I also know that hardback books have costs that are not associated with ebooks. The big three costs not associated with ebooks are distribution costs, printing costs, and remainders costs. If each of these costs were $1.50 per book then we go from a typical $16 price per book down to $11.50, and if you can get another $1.50 in savings from other costs such as storage, fulfillment, invoicing, collection, and sales reps then $9.99 would not be losing money. In fact, it would be delivering huge margins. Plus, ebooks never go out of print.

So that's why I'm sceptical of the claim that Amazon (or the industry) is losing money at $9.99 for an ebook.

08-31-2009, 10:35 AM	#23
Daithi Publishers are evil! Posts: 2,418 Karma: 36205264 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Rhode Island Device: Various Kindles	Rhadin, Thanks for the response. It is nice to get a response from someone that is in the publishing industry. You had asked, why this question keeps surfacing and thought it should be laid to rest permanently. Well, at least I can give you the reasons it keeps surfacing in my mind. Bear with me here, it may be that I'm following some faulty premises so my reasoning can be way off. Anyway, the following is why I wonder if Amazon is losing money at $9.99 per ebook. If I go to Amazon's site, and view the books section (not the Kindle section), I see that in the first 3 pages or so of newly released books that the price for hardbacks is between $13 and $16. Even at my local Barnes & Noble, Borders, Target, and Walmart, I rarely see books at the $26 range that publishers often indicate they receive. Whenever I actually buy a fiction hardback it is almost always between this $13 to $16 price point (usually at Walmart or the grocery store). The only time I've paid in the $26 range is for non-fiction. I also know that hardback books have costs that are not associated with ebooks. The big three costs not associated with ebooks are distribution costs, printing costs, and remainders costs. If each of these costs were $1.50 per book then we go from a typical $16 price per book down to $11.50, and if you can get another $1.50 in savings from other costs such as storage, fulfillment, invoicing, collection, and sales reps then $9.99 would not be losing money. In fact, it would be delivering huge margins. Plus, ebooks never go out of print. So that's why I'm sceptical of the claim that Amazon (or the industry) is losing money at $9.99 for an ebook.