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I personally am a big Fan of Baen Books. They have pursued the Ebook model for a good many years and have stated unequivically that it has bosted their print sales. Their free library introduces people to many of their story lines and their prices have always been reasonable. Yes they charge 15$ for certain titles but they are almost always books that aren't even available in print yet. I have looked at other publishers efforts and the fact that they want the same price for an E-book that they get for a Hardcover is wrong. Do I expect a large difference? Not really but removing the printing, warehousing, and physical distribution costs from a title should remove the equivelant cost from the book. The majority of the pricing should come from the writers royalty as well as the publishers non-printing and distribution costs. Yes websites cost too but they would have them to sell their print books and as someone that works on the web for a living they are not that expensive compared to physical handling and stores.
Baen Books and Webscriptions have always sold their e-books at a considerable discount compared to their print books and shows a good profit margin from it. I see no reason that it shouldn't be the same from others. I have yet to by a book from one of the other publishers or retailers that want to sell them at the same price as print books. Digital versions are always cheaper to produce and the savings should be spread around not just pocketed by the big corporations. They worry about piracy. Good point but irrelevant in the grand scheme. Copy protect a file and you really only inconvinience the honest customers, not the pirates. What can be locked is usually easily unlocked and once one person unlocks it the means spreads faster than the e-books can be sold.
Look at MP3's. They are sold at say 1$ each. to buy each song from a whole album costs more than the CD. But! You only buy the songs you want. 2-3$ intead of 14$ I'll buy the individual files and come out ahead and the performer gets his $$$ for the songs that I want not for ones I don't. Books are a bit different I realize but the parallels are there. Higher prices for a new release book that people really want? Supply and demand. If not just wait for it to come down the same as waiting for the paperback.
To me it is a balance. 28$ for a hardcover/ 15$ for an E-book or wait for the next run when paperback pricing will drive down the E-book to something more appropriate. Same timeline different method.
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