Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
Counter-example:
Baen Books produces two $25 hardbacks each month. All their hardback releases for the past ten years have also been available for $6 as an ebook, two weeks before the hardback hits the shelves. Indeed, their entire output each month (6 books on average) is available in ebook form for a total of $15.
Baen are profitable, and continue to sell hardbacks, paperbacks and ebooks.
There's no reason why other publishers couldn't do the same, if they stopped wasting money on DRM, and told Amazon and other retailers that insisting on the same cut for ebooks as for paper books was ridiculous.
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The couterexample is not really a counterexample to the discussion. It doesn't matter what Baen does because Baen is both publisher and retailer. However, Random House, for example, doesn't adhere to the Baen formula and the bestsellers under dscussion don't come from Baen, then come from publishers like Random House.
Also, as a niche publisher, which is what Baen is, its costs are less than those of the major publishers. Dave Freer, for example, is asking for donations to help him move (see
Teleread). John Grisham gets paid a significant advance so he doesn't have to ask for donations. Dave Freer's books costs are less so Baen can work a different model.