MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Amazon's $9.99 eBook Attacked as "Predatory Pricing"

samstod · 12-21-2009, 05:32 PM

Part of the issue here is the business model for the publishing industry. Something like 80% of books don't make any profit, or at least not enough to cover the advance to the author. The industry makes some money on these, but the lion's share on the other 20%, and a good amount of that from a few top names selling millions of hardcover books (JK, James Patterson, Stephen King, Tom Clancy, etc). While the publishers would still make money on a 9.99 Harry Potter book, it wouldn't make enough to pay for all of it's other costs. That means either charging more for the Harry Potters of the world, or taking fewer risks on new authors, and IMHO, damaging the industry as a whole.

12-21-2009, 05:32 PM	#140
samstod Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 20 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: none	Part of the issue here is the business model for the publishing industry. Something like 80% of books don't make any profit, or at least not enough to cover the advance to the author. The industry makes some money on these, but the lion's share on the other 20%, and a good amount of that from a few top names selling millions of hardcover books (JK, James Patterson, Stephen King, Tom Clancy, etc). While the publishers would still make money on a 9.99 Harry Potter book, it wouldn't make enough to pay for all of it's other costs. That means either charging more for the Harry Potters of the world, or taking fewer risks on new authors, and IMHO, damaging the industry as a whole.