Comparing ebook vs pbook prices

[MerLock]

Sorry, guess I'm just a bit confused.

"Assume we're talking about a book that you are interested in buying, and if there was no paper edition to compare to, you would indeed be buying the ebook at the offered price."

The poll seems to suggest a comparision of my buying habit based on paper back vs ebook pricing but what you quoted suggest that we're talking about a book where a paper edition isn't available for me to compare.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by MerLock

Sorry, guess I'm just a bit confused.

"Assume we're talking about a book that you are interested in buying, and if there was no paper edition to compare to, you would indeed be buying the ebook at the offered price."

The poll seems to suggest a comparision of my buying habit based on paper back vs ebook pricing but what you quoted suggest that we're talking about a book where a paper edition isn't available for me to compare.

"IF."
The purpose was to clarify we are talking about a book that you would nominally be choosing to buy as an ebook, not, say, a rare first edition, or a coffee table book of high quality artwork.
The purpose is not to see what format people like, but to see a certain aspect of how people who buy ebooks people determine their value.

[MerLock]

Originally Posted by ApK

"IF."
The purpose was to clarify we are talking about a book that you would nominally be choosing to buy as an ebook, not, say, a rare first edition, or a coffee table book of high quality artwork.
The purpose is not to see what format people like, but to see a certain aspect of how people who buy ebooks people determine their value.

Then lets go back to my #74 post.

The choice for not buying an ebook not based on principal isn't on the poll. Again, the example of someone not buying a paper edition because they lack space but are also unwilling to buy the ebook because it cost more than the paper edition.

So they aren't buying a book based on principal, it's because they don't have room for the cheaper paper edition. Yet they determine the value of the ebook by making a price comparison of the ebook against the paper edition.

In a way it is about the format because this type of buyer is only considering ebooks, but the way they put a value to ebooks is by comparison to paper back version. So does this still fall into choice #2 on the poll or should such an individual not be voting in this poll? (Basically this person with be buying the paper edition of they had room for it). So maybe choice 1 or other? /shrug

[ApK]

You are seriously over complicating this. Apply Occam's Razor.

It doesn't matter WHY you are not buying the pbook. You're not buying it.
Yet you are choosing to not buy the ebook because of the pbook's price.

That's option 2, cut and dried.

The principle behind that choice doesn't need to be a grand political statement.
It can be simply the pricinple of "I don't buy ebooks if they cost more than the paper editon." Which is exactly what this poll is about.

If, as you said in #74, you are not buying the eBook because the eBook price is too high, period, then you did not understand the assumptions laid out in the OP.
When I say "assume you would otherwise be buying it at the offered price" there is no need for a poll option saying "I wouldn't not be buying it at the offered price."

Similarly, I elected to not include poll options like "I can't read" etc.

[Namekuseijin]

I voted number 2, but it's still wrong: if they (the editorial world mob) see that ebooks are not selling because consumers perceive it as wrong for paper books to cost less, that simply means they have to artificially raise paper books prices.

way to go is really self publishing: the Wool guy being a nice example of this. Give old leech publishers the finger and get it on stores for the right price for media which doesn't require anything even remotely close to tons of paper, ink and press + storage + trucks driving all way down the country + shelf space. digital goodies and replication are terribly cheap compared to that. You'll do just fine...

[KayLee]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

I buy ebooks only. It doesn't matter what the price of the paper book is, I'm not going to buy it. My limit for ebooks is $10, if it is more than that it goes on my wish list until the price comes down.

1+ I have to really love a book to spend more than 10.

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

My impulse buy limit is around $6 - below that, I'm willing to take a chance on a new author, new genre, something I haven't tried before. If it's an author I follow and really like and want to support, I'll go up to around $10 - no hard and fast rule, just that's about my threshold.

I resent paying more than $10 for something I only license, don't own.

there are a couple of authors that I collect, and will buy in hardback (I'm looking at Lois Bujold here). There's one author I used to collect in both paper and audio, but his new publisher has really jacked up the prices for ever slimmer volumes so high that I'm only getting them in audio these days (I really like the way that they're narrated - to me, on these books, the narrator is so perfectly matched to the "voice" of the book that they're inseparable to me.)

I just remove the DRM from my e-books or buy from places that don't use them. I don't like paying more than 10 for e-book either.

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

I voted number 2, but it's still wrong: if they (the editorial world mob) see that ebooks are not selling because consumers perceive it as wrong for paper books to cost less, that simply means they have to artificially raise paper books prices.

way to go is really self publishing: the Wool guy being a nice example of this. Give old leech publishers the finger and get it on stores for the right price for media which doesn't require anything even remotely close to tons of paper, ink and press + storage + trucks driving all way down the country + shelf space. digital goodies and replication are terribly cheap compared to that. You'll do just fine...

I agree the middle men (publishers) are the main reason we have 12.99 e-books, compare their e-book to that of most independent authors 5.00

[dkb]

If I really must have the book, I buy a used copy, especially if it's a penny plus $3.99 postage.

[Tarana]

I will pay the same for an ebook as I do a paperback for novels. However, the cost of some of those paperbacks is outrageous. $12 or $14 for a paperback when most sell for $4 or more less? A reference work or similar, I don't have a price 'limit' per se - just a decision about how high I want to go. Unlike many other pollsters here, my vision problems require me to buy ebooks to adjust type size, so the OPTION of having a paperback is no longer there.

I have more than enough ebooks, so unless I'm working on a series where I'm missing a book, I'm restricting most buys to sale prices.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by KayLee

I agree the middle men (publishers) are the main reason we have 12.99 e-books, compare their e-book to that of most independent authors 5.00

Yes. Comparing you see that most independent books are crap. And you see that the middle men actually do important work.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by tompe

Yes. Comparing you see that most independent books are crap. And you see that the middle men actually do important work.

Sometimes. But that utter-dreck filter gate-keeping function can be replaced by other mechanisms. That baby can be saved without keeping the filthy, fetid bathwater.

ApK.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by ApK

Sometimes. But that utter-dreck filter gate-keeping function can be replaced by other mechanisms. That baby can be saved without keeping the filthy, fetid bathwater.

ApK.

For me a dreck filter is not enough. I do not want to read books that are just OK. I want to read the very good books. This assumptions that books are interchangeable and therefore should cost the same is very strange. I am willing to pay to get access to the very good books.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by tompe

For me a dreck filter is not enough. I do not want to read books that are just OK. I want to read the very good books. This assumptions that books are interchangeable and therefore should cost the same is very strange. I am willing to pay to get access to the very good books.

There are shelves full of evidence that coming out of a BPH is no guarantee of quality by any stretch, even if 'very good' was some how an objective measure.

A reviewer with tastes in line with yours would provide the same assistance in finding very good books without the downside of raising prices, censoring, etc.

The question of what price to charge for the content based on the 'quality' of the content applies equally to paper and ebooks, of course.

These are issues for other threads, though. I should probably not drag my own thread too far off topic.

[Rbneader]

Originally Posted by ApK

There are shelves full of evidence that coming out of a BPH is no guarantee of quality by any stretch, even if 'very good' was some how an objective measure.

A reviewer with tastes in line with yours would provide the same assistance in finding very good books without the downside of raising prices, censoring, etc.

The question of what price to charge for the content applies equally to paper and ebooks, of course.

Publishers vs. self-published is strongly related to pbook vs ebook prices for me. I find that if publishers and a bookstore to agree that a book is worth selling, it's more likely to have a basic level of readability. Not a hard and fast rule, but a general guideline. So I'm more willing to pay more for a physical book, because a higher level of scrutiny has gone into it than a self-published ebook.

Publishers also do help with discovery, even if it's just a basic genre-filter and grammar check. I'm willing to pay more for that convenience, since I haven't had good luck finding hobbyist reviewers whose taste consistently matches mine.

[eschwartz]

I thought the question is comparing the same book at a certain pbook price vs. a possibly higher ebook price.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I thought the question is comparing the same book at a certain pbook price vs. a possibly higher ebook price.

It is.
Although, to my mind, deciding the price you are willing to pay for an eBook because of the price of one pbook you have no interest in buying is as rational as comparing it to any other. Or to a lamp.