Stars fall in Amazon protest about ebook prices

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by tompe

It depends on how many you sell. The infrastructure needed to distribute the book and put DRM on it cost money.

Why would I want to pay for something that restricts me? If an ebook is more expensive than a pbook because of DRM...

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Why would I want to pay for something that restricts me? If an ebook is more expensive than a pbook because of DRM...

Well people are buying DRM infected books so they do not seem to care. Personally I buy the paper book since I refuse to buy a book with DRM.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Why would I want to pay for something that restricts me? If an ebook is more expensive than a pbook because of DRM...

That's a reasonable question. I can totally understand why DRM reduces the value proposition of ebooks, and for some people, it's a deal breaker.

For me, though, physical books have limitations as well. I have never like reading large hard back books. I do like to read large books, so with ebooks, I get to read large books without the hassle of holding a large book while reading, nor carrying it around with me.

Even with paperback books, large books can be a hassle. Tiny words, the need to break the spine to fold the book in half.

Plus, with books, I have to go to the book store, library, or WAIT while I order from online. With ebooks, I have instant access.

So yeah, books have their upsides -- but there's enough value proposition in ebooks that I buy them, DRM or no.

Lee

[Russell Brooks]

Originally Posted by tompe

It depends on how many you sell. The infrastructure needed to distribute the book and put DRM on it cost money.

But as a whole, the point I'm trying to make is that it cost far less to publish and distribute ebooks than it does for print.

[AHMavrick]

Figuring the cost to "print" regarding an e-book is a bit fallacious.

The print costs have already been amortized in the printing of the book whether it goes HB to PB or straight to paperback. That cost, including the art content, has already been taken care of when the book was first printed. In the case of translating it to an e-book format those costs do not really apply. The regular book is already stored by the publisher in an electronic format so converting it to a reader format would be a one time pennies on the dollar situation for each format chosen by the publisher. Once converted the storage is simply an electronic file, hardly costly to maintain.

The e-book also has costs amortized by the website normally set up for the publisher to sell their wares already. Once the website is up the maintenance costs are minimal absent repetitive hacking or loss of the original files. Can we say back up? The website costs incurred are also minimal for transmission of the book once it is selected for download. As already stated the website is part of the normal cost of business now. The internet ain't new tech here.

As for me I am looking at going with the E reader for a couple reasons but mostly because as an RVer I do not have large storage capacity for books and we do read a lot. I buy used books almost exclusively but even those prices are getting high. When you buy about 100 to 150+ books every 3 to 6 months it adds up fast. Trading helps to lower the cost but it is still steep.

The bottom line is that I am willing to pay 50% of the normal cover price for a paperback for an e-book. That's what I pay for used books now. If the price is such that it is significantly higher for me to get an e-book than a used paperback, I'll ignore e-books or borrow them from a library. I see no reason so far that a publisher cannot maintain a reasonable profit margin selling e-books for that rate.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Russell Brooks

But as a whole, the point I'm trying to make is that it cost far less to publish and distribute ebooks than it does for print.

And I really do not believe that that is true. How do you defined the cost in each case?

[Eastlondonboy]

This is the advantage of being an independent author. No need to follow any set prices from a publisher

[jhempel24]

I think as a whole, it costs less to make....once the software is written to put DRM on, then the publisher should own the right to the DRM for a particular book, and software can be duplicated infinitely for no charge. But I do think that the folks the provide the DRM are gouging publishers as well.

Either way, we are all complaining about it, and lets face it....we are less than 1% of the reading community, nothing we say is going to change anything.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by AHMavrick

The print costs have already been amortized in the printing of the book whether it goes HB to PB or straight to paperback.

Are you talking about new or backlist?

If it's backlist, perhaps the book broke even back in the day. Releasing it as an ebook incurs its own costs, including conversion, formatting and proofreading; it's not necessarily a huge sum, but it does have to be earned back. Plus the retailers and authors get their cut. So if you spend $10k on the conversion, price it at $10, and make $3 profit per ebook sold, you still need to move over 3300 units just to break even -- actually more, once you start figuring in taxes.

If it's new, and you release the ebook at the same time as the initial printing, then the ebook -- in addition to incurring its own costs -- is cannibalizing paper sales. Nor is there any sort of guarantee that a specific paper book is going to break even.

Plus, the reality is that the printing part is currently a small part of the costs of the book -- ballpark is 10-15%. The rest is the author's advance, royalties, editing, proofreading, marketing, taxes, overhead, retailer's cut, etc etc

Originally Posted by AHMavrick

The bottom line is that I am willing to pay 50% of the normal cover price for a paperback for an e-book. That's what I pay for used books now.

Sorry, that's not going to happen. New ebooks are almost certainly going to stay in the $10-$20 range. Backlist will likely stick to $7-10.

The cost savings are nowhere near significant enough to slash book prices by 50-75%.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

So if you spend $10k on the conversion, price it at $10, and make $3 profit per ebook sold, you still need to move over 3300 units just to break even -- actually more, once you start figuring in taxes.

If converison would cost 10k we wouldn't have pirates.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

If it's backlist, perhaps the book broke even back in the day. Releasing it as an ebook incurs its own costs, including conversion, formatting and proofreading; it's not necessarily a huge sum, but it does have to be earned back. Plus the retailers and authors get their cut. So if you spend $10k on the conversion, price it at $10, and make $3 profit per ebook sold, you still need to move over 3300 units just to break even -- actually more, once you start figuring in taxes.

How do you figure $3 for the publisher from a $10 book?
Under agency agreements retailers take a flat 30%, and handle all dsitribution costs. So the publisher receives $7. Are you saying the author would get $4, leaving only $3 for the publisher?

[Zyzomys]

So if you spend $10k on the conversion, ...

The ePub of Towers of Midnight, a 900+ page book, was available on the Internet in less than seven days of release of the hard cover. I noticed very few errors, probably the same amount I noticed in the purchased version of The Gathering Storm. I really doubt the fan that did this spent $10k on the conversion.

[NickBuzz]

The convertion is almost free, it just costs you time. If you have the digital document containing the book, converting to an ebook format can be done in maximum 1 hour, if you care very much about the details...

[leebase]

The value of a book is not the cost of the paper, never has been. It's like when folks complain about the cost of photography saying "I could get a print at WalMart for $1.99". You aren't paying for the paper, you are paying for the art.

You can calculate the cost of paper vs. digital until you are blue in the face -- and you'll STILL not change the fact that the cost to make the book has very little to do with the price of the book.

Most all of the folks who post here have never been first run, hard back, book buyers. So just continue on using your library, buying books at yard sales, and borrowing your friends books. Pick up the occasional paper back as, gasp, they aren't $5 any more either.

Publishers don't care about you and your expectations about the price of a book now -- nor did they ever. You have never supported the art of writing before, and you aren't going to now.

Lee

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by leebase

Most all of the folks who post here have never been first run, hard back, book buyers.

So like the vast majority of people then?

Publishers don't care about you and your expectations about the price of a book now -- nor did they ever. You have never supported the art of writing before, and you aren't going to now.

a) Take your attitude somewhere else. You aren't 'supporting the art of writing' by overpaying for hardbacks, that just makes you sound pretentious and a little silly.
b) Really, publishers aren't interested in paperback sales?
What proportion of books even get a hardback edition?