Stars fall in Amazon protest about ebook prices

[Steven Lake]

Originally Posted by Kris777

I cannot agree with it. What about cost of paper, printing, delivery, distribution? Publishers just want to get extra profit from ebooks...

I fully agree with this. Yes, there is a "value" to every book. But then there is also a realistic cost, and more times than not, the "value" of a book is widely disproportional to the actual cost of it. First there are one time costs which are figured into the short term life of the book (2 years typically). Then there are recurring costs of marketing, maintenance (not download cost, but rather the cost of personnel to monitor the books, make changes, adjust prices, monitor feedback, etc.), overhead (every book has that figured into it), author royalty, distribution costs (IE, Amazon's "per sale" fee for example), and other such expenses.

So on an ebook, the cost of doing this can be upwards of 95% of the shelf price for the ebook over the baseline 2 year run period, which then drops proportionally (both price and cost) over time as the book ages and less money is put into it. However, interestingly enough, this rule of 95% only applies to big houses, as they tend to have a LOT of overhead. Now small house press on the other hand have a much smaller cost baseline, as they are obviously smaller in size with considerably less overhead.

So for a small house, the average overhead for a book is somewhere between 35% and 55% on average depending on a wide range of factors. 75% would be the extreme top end. So for a $10 book, the big houses would spend $3.50 on delivery (ie, amazon sales fee for example), and $6 on other expenses leaving just 50c for profit. Now a small press on the other hand might only have $2-$3 in expenses per ebook sold, meaning they can rake in $3-$4 per ebook. That $3-$4 will also go a LOT farther than it will in a big house.

So in short, the big houses actually hurt themselves by being as big as they are, because it's considerably more expensive to run their operations. Yes, they get economies of scale that small house presses don't, which makes them the preferred publishing means for raw profits on print items. But when it comes to digital media, small house presses beat them hands down and then some.

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

Recently I've been buying most of my e-books from Baen and Smashwords. Amazon has gotten very little of my money.

I hope that Amazon continues to get less and less of people's money. They're one company that I won't lose sleep over should they fold some day. In fact, I'd probably pop a bottle of champaign and celebrate. But alas, there are too many gullible people who fall for their schemes.

[FF2]

Originally Posted by Fabe

Ultimately we are paying for the value of the content, not the cost of the packaging. There is no reason what-so-ever electronic books should cost less or more than a hard or paperback edition. It comes down to what the market will bear.

Besides what Kris777 said, there is also the difference - you can lend others your pbook and you can resell it or give it to charity. Those options are foreclosed with the "same-priced" ebook. So, paper, ink, printer presses, cover art, delivery to store, stocking shelves, selling at cash register - same price for the ebook. Someone is not playing fairly - but I admit, so far, it is their ball and they can walk away or sell at a premium.

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by Kris777

I cannot agree with it. What about cost of paper, printing, delivery, distribution? Publishers just want to get extra profit from ebooks...

The cost of paper, printing, and delivery is not as big of an expense as the cost of acquiring the manuscript, editing it, proofreading it, copyediting it, creating the cover artwork. All of those costs also apply to the e-book. Ebooks still cost money to produce.

[Kali Yuga]

I gotta say, for a "concerted effort" I don't think they're doing a good job. E.g. one title cited in the article (Surface Detail) had a whopping 18 price-related one-star reviews. Woah.

By the way, people have been doing this for months. I seriously doubt it's going to change much.

Originally Posted by Ken Irving

Here's the basic problem. When I pay for a digital edition, I neither own it nor control it in the way I do a copy of the print edition....

Uh huh. You also can't back up your paper edition a hundred times at virtually no cost and with perfect fidelity in a matter of seconds; you can't restore your backup an unlimited number of times; you can't have your paper book instantaneously sent to you via a cell phone connection; you can't do a keyword search on your paper book; you can't alter or hide the annotations you make to a paper book.

They are completely different formats, with their own pros and cons. And price, by the way, has very little to do with cost. Sorry to say that the belief that "price" has a necessary reliance on "cost" is a naïve view.

Originally Posted by Ken Irving

They shouldn't let Amazon fix the prices (as Apple did with iTunes)....

Uh. So you don't want the publishers or the retailers to set prices....?

By the way, a) retailers actually make a higher percentage of the sale in the agency model, and b) publishers are, in fact, talking about giving authors a higher percentage of the sale, due to the upcoming lower prices for many books.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Steven Lake

I hope that Amazon continues to get less and less of people's money. They're one company that I won't lose sleep over should they fold some day....

Why, did Jeff Bezos kick your dog?

I assure you, whatever company supersedes Amazon will tick off someone (probably you) just as much. Once upon a time it was B&N that was King of the Hill in the US, and they pulled just as much crap as anyone else.

Not to mention that some of their "schemes" are dragging the publishing industry into the transition to digital. Ebooks probably wouldn't even be on the radar right now if it wasn't for Amazon pushing so hard.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Uh huh. You also can't back up your paper edition a hundred times at virtually no cost and with perfect fidelity in a matter of seconds; you can't restore your backup an unlimited number of times; you can't have your paper book instantaneously sent to you via a cell phone connection; you can't do a keyword search on your paper book; you can't alter or hide the annotations you make to a paper book.

The more backups you do, the more space you need for them. And buying flash drives, external hard drives, and/or space online costs money. Plus time; and time is money, isn't it?

You shouldn't need to restore your backup that many times, since seriously, how many times do you reread a book? If you are going to want to read it a few decades later, the original format will most likely be useless. Of course you can convert the file in the meantime, but that is just extra time spent on this.

I don't get the great appeal of instantaneously getting your book. I mean what serious reader doesn't have a few books on a “to be read” list? Does everybody see a book title and decide that they want to start reading it immediately?

And you are right, search and annotations are advantages of ebooks, but those sound like something work-related to me.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Do you have backup for that comment? I've been hoping that it would hurt publishers enough for them to back down, but the only comment about decreased sales I've read was Amazon's to its UK customers, and that could have been rhetoric to get people incensed about the idea.

Other than that, I just keep seeing statements that ebook sales are increasing more and more each month.

I wonder how much of this is due to all the people with new e-readers, looking to buy their first e-books with stars in their eyes. Sooner or later, the new car smell will be gone from their devices, and they'll start to consider what they are involved in. And also, sooner or later, the numbers of new buyers will start to diminish. Only then will we be able to make long-term predictions based on short-term trends.

[Piper_]

Something that should be considered in all this is that Amazon agrees that ebooks should be cheaper than pbooks. They fought the agency model, and have eagerly advertised the fact that ebooks would save money, especially before they were forced into accepting it last spring.

They also penalize pricing of ebooks that aren't at least 20% cheaper than the pbook version.

Jeff Bezos gave many of the same reasons as people have in this thread.

Just something to consider.

[JaneD]

While I do agree with the spirit of this movement, I would never give an author a 1-star rating for a pricing decision that is not in his power to change. I do "vote" with my credit card, however, and I don't purchase books that seem unfairly priced.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

The book will really have to interest me if I'm going to buy it for the same price as the paper-book. I'm not at all pleased with the publishers setting the prices. What happened to competition? All of a sudden Amazon is not allowed to set there own prices.

It is almost tantamount to price fixing.

The ACCC here in Australia would certainly take a good hard look that was the case and the Agency 5 were based here.

Mind you, the incumbent government here is still in committee in regards to opening up the book industry here.

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/171693...egy-group.aspx

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I wonder how much of this is due to all the people with new e-readers, looking to buy their first e-books with stars in their eyes. Sooner or later, the new car smell will be gone from their devices, and they'll start to consider what they are involved in. And also, sooner or later, the numbers of new buyers will start to diminish. Only then will we be able to make long-term predictions based on short-term trends.

I think that a lot of the increase in sales has to do with ereader prices dropping so dramatically, which has significantly opened up the market. But, yeah, at some point growth will slow. Although it is hard for me to see ebook owners going back to paper books.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Although it is hard for me to see ebook owners going back to paper books.

I was in one of the local bookstores (Dymocks) yesterday with my 16 year old daughter and once again got the feeling that paperbacks seem large and bulky.

I guess my conversion to ebooks is complete.

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

The cost of paper, printing, and delivery is not as big of an expense as the cost of acquiring the manuscript, editing it, proofreading it, copyediting it, creating the cover artwork. All of those costs also apply to the e-book. Ebooks still cost money to produce.

Are you telling me that most authors these days are still using a typewriter or pencil and paper?

[shanghaichica]

Why wouldn't I buy an ebook for the same price as the paperback?? The content is the same and it's the content that I'm after. Plus an ebook is the prefered format for me now as a physical book will just add to the clutter in my house.

[El_Nino_Brian]

I don't understand all this commotion about the prices of e-books. We the readers, the consumers, drive the market, not Amazon. If we're not happy about e-book prices from Amazon, there's only one clear thing to do: BOYCOTT AMAZON. After all, there are thousands and thousands of books yet to appreciated and read on Project Gutenberg. Put your money where you mouth is and do something about it.