Are Attitudes About E-Book Prices Changing?

[John F]

Originally Posted by stonetools

...

Now if you are not a Martin fan, that's not your right price, but I like many others will probably go ahead and buy it, because I would prefer to have it right away at that price than not have it. Again, it's what the market can bear.

Could you post your thoughts on it once you've read it? I'd like to here your thoughts.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The eBook is a superior product for me personally. Resale value is irrelevant for me, since I never resell books, whereas physical space is a very important consideration, since I live in a small house. The books I buy have, on the whole, been well-formatted. If a book was poorly-formatted, I'd return it.

+1. You know, the resale point is always brought up as a reason ebooks are inferior, but like you, I have almost never resold books, other than textbooks. Indeed, I have just given away far more than I have resold. In reality, I think most folks don't resell their books, so I think this is more a talking point rather than an actual advantage of physical books.
I think whether you think ebooks are superior or not is up to the individual consumer and may even vary as to the type of book. A person may like some books in hardcover, others in paperback, and still others as ebooks. It is nice to have that choice .

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by stonetools

I think whether you think ebooks are superior or not is up to the individual consumer and may even vary as to the type of book. A person may like some books in hardcover, others in paperback, and still others as ebooks. It is nice to have that choice .

Definitely. I still buy (and prefer) reference books as hardbacks, for example. But novels, I'll take an eBook over a paperback any day.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by John F

Could you post your thoughts on it once you've read it? I'd like to here your thoughts.

Will do. The entire Westeros forum, dedicated to all things ASOIAF, will be going nuts come July 16, so if you want to join in the fun, head on over to www.westeros.org then.

[jbcohen]

I would like to add to the current conversation on this issue that based on my background as a grad student in experimental psychology who did polls all the time, this is similar to the polls that I did all of the time. I think that my proffs would except this as a scientific poll.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I think that my proffs would except this as a scientific poll.

Do you mean "accept"? It means the exact opposite to "except".

[MV64]

Originally Posted by apbschmitz

It could be that everyone is in for a little price adjustment. Publishers are probably shooting too high, and readers who expect professional covers, editing and proof-reading are probably dreaming if they think all that is typically going to happen for $2.99.

You're right, but somehow I think that increased prices will not yield a better product. Companies have become to beholden to the "do more with less" option in this economy, which means they won't have the staff size to proofread and do all the nice stuff, while they need the money so they'll charge out the wazoo for books.

[ilovejedd]

Imho, ebooks should be priced at most, the same as the cheapest (new) printed version available. What sucks is I can usually buy paperbacks and hardcovers with at least a 25% discount from Amazon but with the new agency pricing model, similar discounts and promotions don't exist for ebooks.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why do you say that? The eBook is clearly a superior product - it requires no physical storage space, and won't get "dog-eared" like the paperback will. I'm happy to pay the same price for an eBook as a paperback.

It's clearly superior to you. But not necessarily for everybody. It is a different product with different aspects, which may or may be be superior to paper books.

As mentioned, you can't resell them. Also, you can't give them away, either. They may be more durable, but only if you work at maintaining their durability. Paper can last for centuries. They require working high-tech equipment to use, paper does not. Clearly a mixed bag.

To me, as to you, I consider them a superior product - for my uses. I can't speak for other people, though...

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But the choice is yours: pay $25 and get the hardback now, or wait a year and get the paperback (or a cheaper eBook) for $10, or less.

That might have been a viable business model in the days before the internet, but it won't work now. Within a week of going on sale Amazon will be putting second hand copies on the same listing as the new one, and within a month there will be pirate versions showing up in Google searches. By the time the cheaper option becomes available most of its target audience will have already read it one way or another.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

That might have been a viable business model in the days before the internet, but it won't work now. Within a week of going on sale Amazon will be putting second hand copies on the same listing as the new one, and within a month there will be pirate versions showing up in Google searches. By the time the cheaper option becomes available most of its target audience will have already read it one way or another.

I must respectfully disagree; it DOES still work - that's why publishers still release hardbacks, and why many people still buy them.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The eBook is a superior product for me personally. Resale value is irrelevant for me, since I never resell books, whereas physical space is a very important consideration, since I live in a small house. The books I buy have, on the whole, been well-formatted. If a book was poorly-formatted, I'd return it.

Resale value is very relevant to me, because before I started buying ebooks, 80% of my book purchases were used books, usually around half cover price. Now, thanks to Apple and the Agency 6 publishers, I generally have to buy ebooks at full price, even though the paperbacks are routinely discounted 10% at my preferred book retailer. Worse yet, instead of lowering the price of mid-list ebooks (to compete with the used book market) when the paperback goes out of print , the publishers switch to on-demand trade paperbacks and raise the price of the ebook.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by stonetools

+1. You know, the resale point is always brought up as a reason ebooks are inferior, but like you, I have almost never resold books, other than textbooks. Indeed, I have just given away far more than I have resold. In reality, I think most folks don't resell their books, so I think this is more a talking point rather than an actual advantage of physical books.
.

Even if you don't sell them they do still retain some value, and the value of some books does increase over time. They become something you can leave to your children when you're dead, and they can sell them if they have no interest in them. Whereas with ebooks it's just some more stuff to delete before they throw your computer in a skip.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I must respectfully disagree; it DOES still work - that's why publishers still release hardbacks, and why many people still buy them.

Those people would be buying hardbacks regardless of whether there was an ebook available. The market for hardbacks is entirely different to the market for ebooks, just as it was different to the market for paperbacks and the market for second hand/library books.

[Leyor]

Not sure this poll is indicative of anything.

But want to say that in general, it'll be good for all of us if we can drive the prices on ebooks down. It's a growing, very lucrative market, that the publishers are feeling their way through and the more we as consumers can influence them towards a good healthy model, the better it'll be.