eBook sales are down 17%

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

I’ve heard that same comment many times...but how many people really sell their used books?

I've sold some at the used book stores. But usually I just loan them out or give them away. Can't do any of these with an eBook.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Another advantage of ebooks - if you have a backup copy of your books and your ereader is damaged or lost, once you replace the device you can install the books on your new device. If a paper book is damaged or lost, you would have to buy a new one to replace it.

I can count the number of paperback books I've lost on the fingers of less than one hand.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

For that matter, if you are using the device as the manufacturers intend (buying your books from their store) and your reader is damaged or lost, once you replace the device all your books are there, synced to the last page read.

That's never really been that big of a deal to me. I usually read a book from start to finish anyhow. And in the "old days" we used these things called "bookmarks."

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

You keep talking about price points. What should those price points be based on?

Your GQ – gouge-ability quotient.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

You keep talking about price points. What should those price points be based on?

Originally Posted by DNSB

A WEG at the price at which the reduction is sales will not overbalance the increase in profit per unit?

Since the title of this thread is "eBook sales are down 17%" and per the history of this thread, those numbers are likely focused on BPHs and this is the second year of declining eBook sales, it would seem that the price point of their eBooks is too high, no?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by PeterT

My wife and I have definitely taken paperbacks to second hand book sellers and church bazaars as well as donating them to places such as seniors centers and long term care facilities.

My daughter found a book in the rest stop at the Lincoln Memorial in Wyoming this summer (the Laramie library maintains a small bookcase of free books for travelers). She subsequently bought every book in that series (paper books, she doesn't like eBooks).

In my opinion, the tighter a corporation grasps at their profits, the more it slips through their fingers. That's greed's normal progression. It short-circuits companies.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Since the title of this thread is "eBook sales are down 17%" and per the history of this thread, those numbers are likely focused on BPHs and this is the second year of declining eBook sales, it would seem that the price point of their eBooks is too high, no?

The real question would be how are the overall corporate profits doing?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rcentros

My daughter found a book in the rest stop at the Lincoln Memorial in Wyoming this summer (the Laramie library maintains a small bookcase of free books for travelers). She subsequently bought every book in that series (paper books, she doesn't like eBooks).

Sounds much like one of Eric Flint's comments about the Baen Free Library. Give them the first book in the series. If it's good enough, they'll come back and buy the rest of the series and more.

[gweeks]

Originally Posted by darryl

This article and the comments discuss this issue:

http://www.davidderrico.com/cost-bre...printed-books/

Print costs are a fraction of the costs to a Big 5 publisher, but not a small insignificant fraction. And, of course, other costs unique to a print book are shipping and warehousing, and the costs associated with accepting returns (for full credit) of unsold books by bookstores. Unlike ebooks, these costs are incurred for every book printed, sold or unsold. The marginal cost of producing ebooks is negligible.

You also have to look at the discounts between the paper and ebooks. I don't know what the discounts for Trade paper and Hardcover are, but the discount for mass market is typically 55% while the discount for ebooks is now typically 30% at least in the $3.00 to $9.99 with Amazon.

Greg

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by darryl

This article and the comments discuss this issue:

http://www.davidderrico.com/cost-bre...printed-books/

Print costs are a fraction of the costs to a Big 5 publisher, but not a small insignificant fraction. And, of course, other costs unique to a print book are shipping and warehousing, and the costs associated with accepting returns (for full credit) of unsold books by bookstores. Unlike ebooks, these costs are incurred for every book printed, sold or unsold. The marginal cost of producing ebooks is negligible.

And as pwalker pointed out in post #218:



Adopting pwalkder's above analysis, historically big publishing has been in control of those very factors, availability and price point. The growth of ebooks and the Indie market, together with Amazon's discounting, deprived them of that control. Agency has given them back control over ebook prices, which they are using in the same old way to perpetuate so far as possible this historical "pricing model". However, their books no longer make up the whole market. There is a significant and growing competitive part of the market where they control neither price nor availability. In the Indie segment of the market it is largely supply and demand which determine the price points for ebooks, not manipulation of price or availability. Indie ebook pricing is therefore a much better reflection of what a proper price for an ebook should be, as it is set by the market without artificial interference or a bias towards protecting and old "price model" for print books.

This leaves large publishing in somewhat of a quandary. If they price an ebook correctly, that is at a point to maximise overall revenue, they risk destroying their paper sales of the particular book. Naturally, like all of us, they would like to have their cake and eat it too. The best of all possible worlds for them is to either "window" the ebook, which has proved to be unpopular and ineffective, or price the ebook at a level so as to preserve paper sales in successive formats. This is what they are doing at the moment. It is, as I said previously, not irrational and currently seems to be working reasonably well for them at the moment.

If you have a few moments, do read the above linked article and comments. It is quite an interesting read.

Once again, I really don't think the evidence supports your "price to preserve paper sales" theory given that they are priced less than the paper books. You seem to have the assumption that ebooks should be priced at the price _you_ want then to be, rather than the price the market will support. As I pointed out eariler, indie prices seem to be approaching the price point of mid-tier major publisher books. Economics says that is the price that the market will support.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

You keep talking about price points. What should those price points be based on?

Basic economics says that the price should be what the market will support. Obviously, the price point can't be less that it cost to produce. Contrary to the old joke, you can't lose money on each sale and make it up with volume. Past that, it comes down to what you think will maximize your profits. Publishers (and most major companies) do a lot of research into this sort of thing.

From the outside looking in, prices of an item category tend to converge over time. That is what appears to be happening with ebooks, at least for ebooks that I buy. There are, of course, a number of price categories for ebooks, new best sellers aren't priced the same as backlist.

Look at a current best seller, Artemis by Andy Weir.

It just came out this week, so it's in hard back. The list price is $27.00 with the actual price being $16.20 at Amazon. The Kindle version is priced at $14, i.e. a bit over $2 less. The Martian, which came out a bit over 2 years ago is now in paperback. The ebook price is $10 as is the paper price. After a year or so, that price will probably drop down to the backlist price (somewhere between $5 to $8).

My guess is that Artemis will be the sort of major seller that supports the publishing industry. Apparently The Martian has sold over 3 million copies. Don't know if Artemis will reach that figure, but I'll bet it's on the best seller list for more than a few weeks.

There is a lot of psychology involved in setting price points. Car prices are a prime example of this. Cars have a list price, which almost no one actually pays. In general, car price points don't go down, but rather, car manufacturers add new features. Car price points have very little to do with the actual price of manufacturing. That is what the big pricing battle between the publishers and Amazon was all about.

The interesting thing about indies and backlist is that there is a lot more freedom and experimentation going on. If a particular author finds a new price point that generates more money, then other authors will follow.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Once again, I really don't think the evidence supports your "price to preserve paper sales" theory given that they are priced less than the paper books. You seem to have the assumption that ebooks should be priced at the price _you_ want then to be, rather than the price the market will support. As I pointed out eariler, indie prices seem to be approaching the price point of mid-tier major publisher books. Economics says that is the price that the market will support.

The correct market price for an ebook is not what I want it to be. It is what is determined by the free market. The correct market price for ebooks is the Indie price, which is set by market forces without regard to the effect of such price on print books. The Big 5 are trying to force ebooks into their previously existing tiered price model for print books. If they priced from publication so as to maximise revenue from ebook sales they would have few print sales. If Amazon was correct and the optimal price for an ebook of a new release expected best seller is $9.99, they are going to sell far fewer Hard Covers and far fewer paper backs. Surely you can see that the ebook must be priced at least initially at a higher level to preserve these print book sales. If only ebooks were produced, or they didn't care about print book sales, the initial ebook price would be $9.99. Mind you, I think the optimal price for an ebook has decreased over the years since Amazon proclaimed it was $9.99. The Big 5 are competing with Indies who essentially prefer to sell ebooks or at least care little about print. Do you really believe that their desire to sell paper books is not a factor taken into account when the Big 5 set thier agency price for a new release ebook?

[darryl]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

It just came out this week, so it's in hard back. The list price is $27.00 with the actual price being $16.20 at Amazon. The Kindle version is priced at $14, i.e. a bit over $2 less. The Martian, which came out a bit over 2 years ago is now in paperback. The ebook price is $10 as is the paper price. After a year or so, that price will probably drop down to the backlist price (somewhere between $5 to $8).

I bought the ebook of The Martian from Amazon back in 2014 for $3.00. This was the market price of the ebook at the time, obviously before considerations of trying to sell print books came into play when Random House came onto the scene.

[Cinisajoy]

Guys,
While your argument is interesting. I think your theories are slightly flawed.
Ebook pricing has nothing to do with trying to get people to buy another format. That doesn't even make sense. What it boils down to is " what are the MASSES willing to pay"? That is all. No hidden motives.
Other points. The reason the BPH set their ebook prices is because Amazon pays them 70% of the price and they didn't want Amazon to be able to cut their prices.
If Indies price their ebooks $10 or higher, the indie only gets 35%.

Been fun and I am still not real sure about this article since the exact same percentage was said last year.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Ebook pricing has nothing to do with trying to get people to buy another format. That doesn't even make sense. What it boils down to is " what are the MASSES willing to pay"? That is all. No hidden motives.

So eBook pricing is set to what the masses will pay. Yet we are told eBook sales are falling, year after year. Why is that?