Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
It's probably all but destroyed them.
The key question though is if the margins on the $6 ebooks are anywhere near those of the hardcovers. That would depend entirely on the advances, royalty rates, and other associated costs. It also depends on how much they're selling through their own site compared to other retailers. $6 bought direct from Baen means they don't have to cough up $2 - $3 to the retailer.
We can guess that it's working, but "how well" is not public knowledge.
|
Actually, it's probably saved them. The vast majority of Baen's success and growth has come since they started this policy of day and date release of cheap ebooks. It may not be working for anyone else, but it's definitely working for them.
Another thing to remember is that the cost of doing business through Webscriptions is much lower than the cost of doing business through the book trade. I wouldn't be surprised if Arnold Bailey (when he set up Webscriptions) took a much smaller share than most retailers do.
My guess is that by cutting out a few layers of middlemen, and saving on printing/storage costs, Baen is probably able to make more per copy on an ebook than they are on a mass-market paperback. And by eschewing DRM, they're able to eliminate the major per-unit cost of the ebooks.