Until now I've not particularly commented on discussions on MobileRead about ebook pricing, at least partly because a few of them seemed based more on wish-fulfillment and a misunderstanding of the skills required not only to write a book, but also to identify whether or not it's in fact publishable, then to edit it if it is (a process rather more complicated than crossing t's and dotting i's), design it, and ultimately find a way to get it to the people most likely to want to read it. But even lthough I'm part of the business, I have no great personal awareness of the actual related costs of the industry.
However, I stumbled across this
fascinating article co-written by the ex-CEO of Random House which does indeed seem to suggest ebooks at lower prices might become the way forward. I'm a wee bit wary since there are CEO's of major corporations out there who believe the internet is made of tiny tubes, nonetheless to hear someone on the business side of publishing at its highest level advocating lower prices strikes me as of more than casual interest and certainly worth evaluating:
Quote:
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"Publishers will not disappear, though their role will inevitably alter. Certain ancillary activities like warehousing, shipping and distribution, production, and inventory management will need to be stripped away. Other activities like editorial and consumer marketing will become, if anything, more important in the digital world. Lost in the doomsdayer debate about publishers’ future is that their unique role as intermediaries has always been about discovering and promoting talent and content—rather than printing and distributing. There is life after print death for publishers, but only in a streamlined and refocused configuration, working constructively with online retailers and authors to ensure that book reading is not the ultimate loser in the digital revolution."
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To my own mind there is the possibility that books might become too low in price (six to eight dollars strikes me as about right, and some of the prices on Fictionwise and elsewhere are indeed outrageous). Skilled people involved in publishing apart from just the writers - editors, promotional staff, literary agents, designers, artists, and so forth - need adequately compensated for their work. That means there needs to be a certain level of returns on books to reward their work. However, I have reason to believe the kind of digital revolution discussed here is still quite a ways off; ebook sales still represent only a tiny proportion of sales relative to those of p-books, but perhaps there's rather less excuse now or in the near future for $25 ebooks.