Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Without putting too fine a point on it, this is key. People who believe they are being treated fairly, generally treat you fairly. Yes, there are exceptions, but rarely are those exceptions so large that they negate the value of the rule.
Fair price is obviously a bone of contention. But sometimes, you have to accept the idea that you can't pay as little as you'd prefer, and/or make what you'd like. Or, you have to work harder to get it... like adding something of additional (or perceived) value to an e-book to justify the price to others.
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People will always want it cheaper. But the vast majority of folks will pay for content they like, if they feel they are being fairly treated. I know an assortment of folks, for example, who buy a lot of music CDs -- from the band, at a show. That way, they know the musicians who created the music they like are getting the money. They don't buy CDs in a store, because they know that music contracts tend to be structured so that it's lucky if the
artist sees a dime from the sale. (I've even run into folks who downloaded ripped copies through bit torrent or whatever, and then tried to find out where they could send money to the band to pay for it. They were happy to pay for content, but they wanted to pay the
artist.)
Fair price is relative. If the ebook of a current hardcover is priced the same as the hardcover, I doubt anyone will consider it "fair". If it's, say, half the hardcover price, you may have a completely different attitude. Price points will be a matter of experimentation by publishers to determine the sweet spot where the increased volume from the lower price makes up the margin lost by not charging a higher one.
First, of course, we need to get more publishers actually issuing electronic editions and making the experiments.
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Dennis