Ebook prices

[Pinecone]

ARRRGGGGHHHHH.

I AM NOT ARGUING THE PRICE OF EBOOKS.

I am arguing that if ebooks sell for X% of the pbook (that is currently INPRINT), then why would the OP think that just because the book was written a long time ago the ebook should be cheaper than other ebooks.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE PRICE OF EBOOKS VERSUS PBOOKS IN GENERAL.

[Pinecone]

[QUOTE=cHex;1737769]Why? The same reason I expect that same book still in hardcover to cost MORE--production costs and the I-like-the-smell-of-ink market.

There is a portion of a book's cost that goes to support the author, provide a profit to the publisher, pay editors and marketers and administrative assistants etc.; fine, spread that over all versions of the book, regardless of format. But there is also a portion of the cost that goes to support loggers, paper manufacturers, the development of printing presses, printers, ink suppliers, truckers, delivery services, warehousing, etc.--subtract that from the price of an eBook (and add on the portion needed to support the development of ereaders, internet providers, data warehouses, etc., why not).

If you're worried about cutting into sales of hardcovers and paperbacks, I can understand that. So how about releasing the eBook after the dead tree formats have had their day (or perhaps drop the price below their cost after some length of time). But to charge MORE for the eBook than for a new paperback (other than to clear inventory)?! I don't get it.

Up until this discussion thread, I've been pretty lazy about checking out independent authors/publishers; but this has motivated me to "vote with my dollars" (nod to another thread somewhere on these forums) and see if I can't find some of them I enjoy as much as (or more than) the mass-market giants I've been buying. Just as Amazon helped put Borders out of business, and Borders helped put mom-and-pop bookstores out of business, and books helped put scribes out of business, I'm wondering if independent publishers might someday put the Agencies out of business.[/QUOTE}

THIS WILL BE ABOUT GENERAL EBOOK PRICING.

It has been stated elsewhere that the production cost of a hardback is about $2 more than a paper back. So you support them WAY overcharging for hardbacks?

I agree, the ebooks should be cheaper, as they do not have to print, warehouse, ship, handle, etc physical objects.

And based on pre-Agency pricing, they are. If Kobo could sell an ebook for $5, then Agency pricing requires that same book to be sold at $12 (based on the numbers from another thread), doesn't this say that it really does cost less to get an ebook out to a buyer? And who gets that extra money now?

Also isn't price fixing or collusion to fix prices illegal in the US? Didn't the courts strike down the ability of a supplier to set the prices for items, like about 45 years ago?

OTOH, as 3G readers become more common, the ebook price has got to cover the cost of the 3G connection. At least wifi don't cost the seller anything. If you root a Nook Color and use it as a tablet, who pays for the data?

[dixieknits]

I read alot of light novels, not really romance, but cozy mysteries, southern novels, Charlaine Harris, Mary Kay Andrews, Dorothea Benton Frank etc and when an e-book that I want is 12.99 to 14.99 and hasn't come down in price in months. I go on the wait list at my local library or buy it in paper. Either way, I hope I'm contributing to saying no to overpriced ebooks. Also, when I'm finished with a hardcopy book, I can legally leave it off at the free lend library at the rec-room of our condos' clubhouse and maybe pickup another in it;s place. We had an unpleasant incident where one woman was found to have 68 (donated) books hoarded in her condo and only was caught because she broke her ankle and someone went to drop off cookies and another book for her and found them. all. Management was very polite in reminding her to please return them , when she was on her feet again, which she did... Anyway, yes, 12.99 for an ebook I will read once then delete is over my budget..

[tompe]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I'm always rather astonished at the idea that paper/mass-market/e-Books cut into hardcover sales. Maybe they do, but I agree with Elfwreck that in most cases, it's a different market. I've never, EVER bought a hardcover new. Wouldn't want one even if it was offered to me. I can't stand hardcovers, and that's just me, but I'm very rarely a unique special butterfly and I doubt this is one of those rare cases.

It cutting into the bestseller hardcover market. The hardcover that people that usually do not buy hardcover books buy.

[stonetools]

With the introduction of Kindle Singles and then of Quick Reads at the iBook store, the major publishers may have another way to appeal to the cheap reads buyer: offer shorter and intermediate length works by established writers at the indie book price point. If they offer a Steven King short story , a John Scalzi novella, or a long non fiction article by Mark Bowden at 2.99, then that will compete with works offered by indies at that price.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

ARRRGGGGHHHHH.

I AM NOT ARGUING THE PRICE OF EBOOKS.

I am arguing that if ebooks sell for X% of the pbook (that is currently INPRINT), then why would the OP think that just because the book was written a long time ago the ebook should be cheaper than other ebooks.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE PRICE OF EBOOKS VERSUS PBOOKS IN GENERAL.

Jumping in to say that I've seen this answered about 5 different times now. I get that you don't feel it's answered, and I'm not sure what to do about that, but Elfwreck's comments seem very clear to me. I'm sorry that there's some miscommunication going on.

[rxmom03]

[QUOTE=Pinecone;1738513]

Originally Posted by cHex

OTOH, as 3G readers become more common, the ebook price has got to cover the cost of the 3G connection. At least wifi don't cost the seller anything. If you root a Nook Color and use it as a tablet, who pays for the data?

Are 3G readers more common? I have a Nook Color and it doesn't have 3G--I don't think that was even a choice.

Mary

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Jumping in to say that I've seen this answered about 5 different times now. I get that you don't feel it's answered, and I'm not sure what to do about that, but Elfwreck's comments seem very clear to me. I'm sorry that there's some miscommunication going on.

It's just the usual entrenched positions, my viewpoint's correct (why can't you see this) and other mistreatments of deceased horses...

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Jumping in to say that I've seen this answered about 5 different times now. I get that you don't feel it's answered, and I'm not sure what to do about that, but Elfwreck's comments seem very clear to me. I'm sorry that there's some miscommunication going on.

The point is, people are answering a point I was not making.

I was talking aqbout a very specific case, not that, in general, ebooks shold be cheaper because they are cheaper to produce.

But if you look at the thread in the News section, the cost of a hardback is only about $3.25 for printing, warehousing, shipping, etc. So not a huge difference in price.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

The point is, people are answering a point I was not making.

I was talking aqbout a very specific case, not that, in general, ebooks shold be cheaper because they are cheaper to produce.

But if you look at the thread in the News section, the cost of a hardback is only about $3.25 for printing, warehousing, shipping, etc. So not a huge difference in price.

And I am saying that Elfwreck's answer to you makes perfect sense to me in this particular specific point. Just my 2 cents since you seemed to be getting frustrated.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

And I am saying that Elfwreck's answer to you makes perfect sense to me in this particular specific point. Just my 2 cents since you seemed to be getting frustrated.

Remind me. What was the answer? I do not remember any answer that was convincing.

[anamardoll]

Why still-in-pBook-print-run-but-still-"backlist" ebooks should be cheaper than recently-printed-ebooks:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...4&postcount=77

If the book has maintained its popularity all this time, then publishing the backlist isn't the risk that backlist publishing often is. The publisher doesn't need to spend money marketing the book or reminding people that it exists -- the market already exists and is known.

Because the publisher has to invest less marketing, they can bring the price down relative to other, lesser known works. The publisher isn't taking a risk that they'll lose their eBook conversion investment, and thus they can bring down the price to lower than BOTH comparable ebooks AND the print run of the same book.

By keeping the price artificially high (i.e., to capitalize on the LESS marketing for MORE profit), they lose sales to the existing backlog of used paper copies of the same book. (Which will be HUGE if the pBook has been in such high demand that it's been in print all these years -- there will be tons of available copies).

[Hellmark]

While I agree with most of Elfwreck's comments, I disagree with him on pricing. From what reports I've seen, it is about 30-70 cents to print a book, and shipping costs to the stores are often mere pennies due to the volume they're sending at any given time. Say it costs $5k to ship a truck load, but you're sending 20k books on that truck. End result, you have up to a dollar extra in costs that you don't have with ebooks. Factor in DRM cost (which usually is carried by the retailer, even though it is the publisher that requires it), and the difference in expense is even smaller.

[JimKal]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

While I agree with most of Elfwreck's comments, I disagree with him on pricing. From what reports I've seen, it is about 30-70 cents to print a book, and shipping costs to the stores are often mere pennies due to the volume they're sending at any given time. Say it costs $5k to ship a truck load, but you're sending 20k books on that truck. End result, you have up to a dollar extra in costs that you don't have with ebooks. Factor in DRM cost (which usually is carried by the retailer, even though it is the publisher that requires it), and the difference in expense is even smaller.

You make a good point as long as you consider traditional publishers. Those publishers must cover the cost of production. That is more than the cost of printing a particular book. The cost of production involves legacy costs as well - the printing presses and the people who run them, the buildings housing the presses(land, taxes, mortgages), shipping, handling, and overstock returns. The traditional publisher has to cover those costs whether or not he publishes an e-version of the book. Even though many argue that these are different markets, I know that I buy e-books, paperbacks, and hardbacks. I assume others do so as well.

I just get a bit stubborn when I see an e-book selling for the same or more than a paperback. I expect that others react the same way. As e-readers grow in popularity, I suspect some publishers will come to the same realization or some new publisher will take advantage of the new technology. I think we have seen the beginning of this change in genre fiction.

We are seeing this happening in magazine publishing as well. I've subscribed to the Atlantic for more than 30 years and they now offer subscription for the iPad (if you subscribe to the print version you can get it for free).

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Why still-in-pBook-print-run-but-still-"backlist" ebooks should be cheaper than recently-printed-ebooks:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...4&postcount=77

If the book has maintained its popularity all this time, then publishing the backlist isn't the risk that backlist publishing often is. The publisher doesn't need to spend money marketing the book or reminding people that it exists -- the market already exists and is known.

Because the publisher has to invest less marketing, they can bring the price down relative to other, lesser known works. The publisher isn't taking a risk that they'll lose their eBook conversion investment, and thus they can bring down the price to lower than BOTH comparable ebooks AND the print run of the same book.

I believe I said this earlier; Some author's estates or big name living authors can negotiate more favorable terms. I've read several reports of estates receiving 50% royalty net. One or two required agency-like pricing; no discounting allowed. The estates can sign contracts with the "highest bidder."