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dsvick · 02-12-2010, 09:47 AM

I am not jumping in on either side of the whole eBook price argument that are going on all over the place but I do have a question that I'm hoping some of the people more in the know can answer - or we all just argue over this too

People keep mentioning Baen as the model that all other publishers should aspire too - ok maybe not quite that way but still they are often referred when people argue pricing.

I like Baen, love their price structure, the authors, and what I perceive as their corporate philosophy. I have to wonder though if it isn't that they aren't worried about eBook sales reducing pBooks, as much as it's simply a moot point right now in that eBooks are such a small percentage of sales that it doesn't matter and they can almost be treated as a loss leader.

What happens 10, 15, 20 years from now and eBooks are a bigger percentage of sales? Can they still sustain those low prices and continue to deliver a quality product? If the answer is "no" then raising prices now, as some publishers are doing (or trying to do), makes more sense and would be less painful than doing it after 10 or 20 years of readers being used to lower prices.

02-12-2010, 09:47 AM	#1
dsvick Wizard Posts: 2,737 Karma: 635747 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Northeast Ohio, USA Device: PRS-900	20 years from now I am not jumping in on either side of the whole eBook price argument that are going on all over the place but I do have a question that I'm hoping some of the people more in the know can answer - or we all just argue over this too People keep mentioning Baen as the model that all other publishers should aspire too - ok maybe not quite that way but still they are often referred when people argue pricing. I like Baen, love their price structure, the authors, and what I perceive as their corporate philosophy. I have to wonder though if it isn't that they aren't worried about eBook sales reducing pBooks, as much as it's simply a moot point right now in that eBooks are such a small percentage of sales that it doesn't matter and they can almost be treated as a loss leader. What happens 10, 15, 20 years from now and eBooks are a bigger percentage of sales? Can they still sustain those low prices and continue to deliver a quality product? If the answer is "no" then raising prices now, as some publishers are doing (or trying to do), makes more sense and would be less painful than doing it after 10 or 20 years of readers being used to lower prices.