Thread: Backlash against Author Douglas Preston
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Old 02-25-2010, 10:40 PM   #105
Kali Yuga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck View Post
Paper costs don't include shipping, storage & inventory costs, all of which take a cut out of the profits and therefore are figured into the price.
I think they do, actually. Though storage, inventory and shipping are split between publishers, distributors and retailers.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
The agency model is likely to wreak havoc on publishers, as they can't react to consumer trends fast enough.
Why, do retailers have a crystal ball that publishers don't?

I concur they aren't terribly experienced at it, and there may be a learning curve. But it doesn't take a genius to know that one of your authors is going to be on Oprah or that a movie version is coming out next weekend. It also remains to be seen if retailers will have some latitude to discount every now and then, I expect the full details of the contracts will remain obscure for awhile.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
I think it does cost 2-3x as much to print. I've heard costs as low as $1 each for printing paperbacks; I'd be surprised if hardcovers cost less than $2.50 to print. But it doesn't cost that much more to ship, store, and track sales of.
I wouldn't. But I doubt most people realize that it only costs $1 (or less) per copy to print a book.

Or perhaps more precisely: Let's say a hardcover has a cover price of $30, the trade $15, the mass market $10. The hardcover does not cost $10 or $15 more per copy to publish etc than the paperbacks. The pricing here is not determined by the cost to print the book; that perception is a veil over the fact that the demand is higher, thus allowing the retailer and publisher to charge more.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
Paperbacks have all those, and manage to sell at under $10.
Sure. But a paperback-only release is almost certainly going to have a smaller advance and lower royalty rates, lower marketing costs and so forth. Paperbacks also have thinner margins, so they are making less per copy than they do with the hardcovers.

I would agree that some new ebooks can undoubtedly be sold at a $10 price point -- notably genre works
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