Do Amazon and the Publishers want to Kill Digital Sales ?

[fjtorres]

Book publishing has their superhero: adult coloring books.
It saved 2015 for them.
Might save 2016...

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

"We're from the government. We're here to help."

Never true in the business world.

But the government at your door is extremely helpful --- to your competition.

Amber

[murg]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Book publishing has their superhero: adult coloring books.
It saved 2015 for them.
Might save 2016...

My guess is that the fad will burn itself out. With lots of new product on the shelves for Xmas.

I'd be interested in seeing statistics on completion percentages of adult colouring books.

[disconnected]

I don't have the patience for printed coloring books but I have become at least temporarily addicted to coloring apps on my Android tablet. The paper versions have much more variety though. I wish publishers would convert some of them to work with a digital app -- sort of like the NYT crosswords that can be downloaded to a puzzle app.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by murg

My guess is that the fad will burn itself out. With lots of new product on the shelves for Xmas.

I'd be interested in seeing statistics on completion percentages of adult colouring books.

So they'll find a new fad: sparkly vamps, mommy porn, teen dystopias, coloring books, surely something will pop up...
Hmm, that might be it: adult pop-up books!!

That'll be their next hero.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

So they'll find a new fad: sparkly vamps, mommy porn, teen dystopias, coloring books, surely something will pop up...
Hmm, that might be it: adult pop-up books!!

That'll be their next hero.

Brain bleach please.

[whismerhill]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

For BPH's their costs are rather reduced, and they are generally smart about print runs if they get unique paper for a book. As to the material cost otherwise, remember these companies are ordering in mass bulk amounts and thus are getting discounts. Transport, while a cost, is typically pushed to the retailer. So yes it costs someone something, but not the BPHs.

Up until the book is printed, the costs are the same.

Pbooks, generally, cost more than their ebook counterparts (there are exceptions). These exceptions crop up with discounted on new physical books, or when a backlist title is made into an ebook when there was no digital file.

again all I'm seeing is the final price paid by the user
who pays for the actual transport doesn't matter


all I'm seeing is that if I go buy an ebook it's generally more expensive than it's pbook counterpart, don't know where you live to see otherwise

As for the discounts on printing, depends on volumes, it's still a cost which doesn't exist for ebooks.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by whismerhill

again all I'm seeing is the final price paid by the user
who pays for the actual transport doesn't matter


all I'm seeing is that if I go buy an ebook it's generally more expensive than it's pbook counterpart, don't know where you live to see otherwise

As for the discounts on printing, depends on volumes, it's still a cost which doesn't exist for ebooks.

Hi. Are you looking at newer books or older books.
I live in the US and usually the books I look for are cheaper in ebook.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Hi. Are you looking at newer books or older books.
I live in the US and usually the books I look for are cheaper in ebook.

Same here, and as has been discussed the cost for older books as ebooks has to do with the lack of a digital file being readily available to the publishers in a format (or at all) that they can work with in creating an ebook. Some authors use rather outdated computers because that's what they've always used, others use typewriters, and of course there are plenty who were writing before the advent of the home computer.

This means the publisher has to either work with the file they have, or scan a copy of the book and then edit it for OCR errors, then format it. This basically makes the ebook a new book, but without pbook sales to bolster it as it's not likely the backlist of any given author is going to increase randomly in popularity. The price, thus, is going to be higher since there is added cost.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Same here, and as has been discussed the cost for older books as ebooks has to do with the lack of a digital file being readily available to the publishers in a format (or at all) that they can work with in creating an ebook. Some authors use rather outdated computers because that's what they've always used, others use typewriters, and of course there are plenty who were writing before the advent of the home computer.

This means the publisher has to either work with the file they have, or scan a copy of the book and then edit it for OCR errors, then format it. This basically makes the ebook a new book, but without pbook sales to bolster it as it's not likely the backlist of any given author is going to increase randomly in popularity. The price, thus, is going to be higher since there is added cost.

I have a pdf cookbook. It was typed on a brother word processor. I sent a copy to a professional formatter to get a price for a usable epub. Minimum price was $350.
Needless to say, I won't be publishing it.
So yes, major cost involved.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by Scarpad

I mean I love Ebooks, I love my Readers. But I can preorder the Paperback version of my Latest Star Trek Novel in paperback for $5.92 plus Free shipping, or I can preorder the Kindle version for $6.99. Both have a RSP of $7.99. I'm left scratching my head. Should'nt it be the other way around ? I mean it costs them nothing to push it to my kindle. It makes no sense

I'd gladly pay $1.07 more for an ebook

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Hi. Are you looking at newer books or older books.
I live in the US and usually the books I look for are cheaper in ebook.

A lot of ebooks I see are more expensive are more expensive than pbooks. I looked at the first two pages of SF books on Amazon and saw these. I didn't check every book, but I only saw one that was less than the pbook. I didn't look at the cheaper books for obvious reasons.


http://www.amazon.com/Voyager-Outlan.../dp/B000FC2L1E
Ebook $9.99
Pbook $7.04

http://www.amazon.com/11-22-63-Steph.../dp/B005K0HDGE
Ebook $8.99
Pbook $7.81

http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Son-Ris.../dp/B00I765ZEU
Ebook $9.99
Pbook, $8.92

http://www.amazon.com/Drums-Autumn-O.../dp/B000FC2L1Y
Ebook $9.99
Pbook $6.09

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-S.../dp/B0192CTMYG
Ebook $8.99
Pbook $7.34

[MikeB1972]

I thought royalty rates on ebooks were higher? I read somewhere that the industry standard was about 25% (7-12% for paperbacks).
That probably wipes out any difference in cost from the publishers point of view.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

I thought royalty rates on ebooks were higher? I read somewhere that the industry standard was about 25% (7-12% for paperbacks).
That probably wipes out any difference in cost from the publishers point of view.

I believe that publishers have been trying to get authors to sign up for 25% of the publisher's net.

The big difference, apart from the cost of the physical item, is the wholesale discount. For paperbacks, the discount is between 50 and 60%. For ebooks, it's around 30%.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

A lot of ebooks I see are more expensive are more expensive than pbooks. I looked at the first two pages of SF books on Amazon and saw these. I didn't check every book, but I only saw one that was less than the pbook. I didn't look at the cheaper books for obvious reasons.


http://www.amazon.com/Voyager-Outlan.../dp/B000FC2L1E
Ebook $9.99
Pbook $7.04

http://www.amazon.com/11-22-63-Steph.../dp/B005K0HDGE
Ebook $8.99
Pbook $7.81

http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Son-Ris.../dp/B00I765ZEU
Ebook $9.99
Pbook, $8.92

http://www.amazon.com/Drums-Autumn-O.../dp/B000FC2L1Y
Ebook $9.99
Pbook $6.09

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-S.../dp/B0192CTMYG
Ebook $8.99
Pbook $7.34

Examine the hardcover prices

http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Light-Boo...=fall+of+light

ebook $14.99
pbook $20.25


So perhaps the issue is the ebooks aren't getting as big a price reduction once the pbook format changes to a less expensive one. Note the example I pulled is an as of yet unreleased book, it comes out tomorrow. I know at one point ebooks would release at around the $14 mark when the hardcover was released, and later when the trade paper or mass market editions were released the ebook price would typically drop. Perhaps that's changed.