Why are ebooks so expensive?

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

Plus, most publishers don't host the books themselves, just like they don't sell the books directly themselves. They leave it to the retailers, who must bear most of the costs you mention, yet those retailers are not the ones who set the cost anymore.

That's a good point I hadn't considered. On a different note, I noticed that ebooks on Amazon no longer say "Sold by Amazon," but "Sold by [X publisher]." At least ones from the big publishers. Unless it's always been that way and I never noticed, but I thought they used to say sold by Amazon.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

If everything is to be free, what incentive would there be to create new works? As things stand, people are able to create and have their work support themselves and their family. If they had no possibility of income, they would not be able to support themselves and would have to find alternative forms of work. Even if they did it for the pure enjoyment of it, they still would not have the means of sharing it with the world at large, since that still costs plus the companies that would ordinarily be there to provide services to share it would no longer be existing since they couldn't generate profit and couldn't afford to keep running while doing that type of work.

According to the entertainment industry, pirate websites are making $billions per year from free content. Are you suggesting that is not true?

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

That's a good point I hadn't considered. On a different note, I noticed that ebooks on Amazon no longer say "Sold by Amazon," but "Sold by [X publisher]." At least ones from the big publishers. Unless it's always been that way and I never noticed, but I thought they used to say sold by Amazon.

That is because technically speaking, Amazon doesn't directly sell those ebooks. Way it used to be, is they would more or less buy copies from the publisher, and sell those. How it is with some now, is that things are more or less a commission sale. Amazon provides the store front, the resources, etc to sell things that the publisher owns.

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

According to the entertainment industry, pirate websites are making $billions per year from free content. Are you suggesting that is not true?

If only that was the case. Only people making money from the piracy of digital goods, is the lawyers who work for the RIAA and MPAA.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

That is because technically speaking, Amazon doesn't directly sell those ebooks. Way it used to be, is they would more or less buy copies from the publisher, and sell those. How it is with some now, is that things are more or less a commission sale. Amazon provides the store front, the resources, etc to sell things that the publisher owns.

But Amazon still stores them on their own servers? I don't doubt it, but are we positive about this? With other products sold through Amazon that say "sold by X retailer," the item is shipped directly from the third party.

[Amera]

Most publishers set the price very high intentionally because they still prefer people to buy the Hardcover (if at all possible) or at least the paperback for a variety of reasons. It will change, though. The current revolution in publishing will almost assuredly drive prices down (and author royalties up).

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

If everything is to be free, what incentive would there be to create new works? As things stand, people are able to create and have their work support themselves and their family. If they had no possibility of income, they would not be able to support themselves and would have to find alternative forms of work. Even if they did it for the pure enjoyment of it, they still would not have the means of sharing it with the world at large, since that still costs plus the companies that would ordinarily be there to provide services to share it would no longer be existing since they couldn't generate profit and couldn't afford to keep running while doing that type of work.

There are some current experiments dealing with paying for books before the books are written, It could definitely work with popular authors.

As to the collapse of literature if everything is free, it's a concern but I feel that by making everything free, only the best literature would be supported monetarily and therefore promoted. People are willing to pay after reading, whether or not authors will still be able to make billions is irrelevant.

The cost of printing and shipping a printed book is marginal compared to the preproduction costs of a printed book published by one of the big 6, perhaps this means that the production methods of the big 6 are unsustainable in the new era (highly likely).

We are probably going to have to stop thinking about purchasing individual texts and start thinking about purchasing access to a system that contains texts.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

But Amazon still stores them on their own servers? I don't doubt it, but are we positive about this? With other products sold through Amazon that say "sold by X retailer," the item is shipped directly from the third party.

It seems unlikely that Amazon wouldn't keep the ebook on their servers. They have to be able to send the book to whatever Kindle device you pick from your account management, and maintain your bookmarks and notes, etc.

I somehow doubt that all the publishers have pipelines to Amazon Kindles, B&N Nooks, and Sony Readers.

[aktarian]

I think part of the problem is piracy. Once you get an ebook you can upload it to filesharing site 5 minutes later. Then everybody can get it for free. You can't do that with physical books. So I guess publishers simply set prices high specially for books they know will get read and pirated in order to get some money.

Tied to this is other gripe I have, that is availability. I have a pretty narrow field of interest (historic non fiction centered on few periods) so getting things from established authors is hard. That goes double for older but still relevant works.

[wyndslash]

Originally Posted by aktarian

I think part of the problem is piracy. Once you get an ebook you can upload it to filesharing site 5 minutes later. Then everybody can get it for free. You can't do that with physical books.

i don't get that reasoning. why would you pay for a book, then turn around and upload it so everyone else can get it for free? @_@ what happened to self-preservation? it's like those students who take an exam then tell their friends who are taking the same exam at a later time what was in the exam. it's just...well, i don't get it.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by aktarian

I think part of the problem is piracy. Once you get an ebook you can upload it to filesharing site 5 minutes later. Then everybody can get it for free. You can't do that with physical books. So I guess publishers simply set prices high specially for books they know will get read and pirated in order to get some money.

Tied to this is other gripe I have, that is availability. I have a pretty narrow field of interest (historic non fiction centered on few periods) so getting things from established authors is hard. That goes double for older but still relevant works.

I banish you to the Dead Horse Thread.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

i don't get that reasoning. why would you pay for a book, then turn around and upload it so everyone else can get it for free? @_@ what happened to self-preservation? it's like those students who take an exam then tell their friends who are taking the same exam at a later time what was in the exam. it's just...well, i don't get it.

We do this so that others may benefit from the knowledge contained within the book. Perhaps those others cannot afford the prices set by the writer of the text, perhaps their library cannot afford the prices set by the writer of the text, but these others can afford an ereader, once they are free. And then walk to a wifi spot and download all the texts to their device.

Or alternatively, it just feels right.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

i don't get that reasoning. why would you pay for a book, then turn around and upload it so everyone else can get it for free?

Think of the internet piracy scene as like a potluck dinner. You're willing to bring a few 2-liter bottles of Mountain Dew Code Red because you know someone else will bring a bucket of KFC (okay, that's my kind of a potluck dinner.)

It is like any other community-based internet project-- why contribute time to producing Project Gutenberg or Wikipedia or MobileRead libary data? Piracy groups are very little different than that in ideals or in motives-- the only thing different is that they are willing to overlook certain rules.

You are able to find files for free, but-- sometimes-- when you can't find a pirate version, you "take one for the team" and buy and contribute it yourself. Or even scan and OCR it yourself, if there is no digital version.

(Not that I would ever do that, says the owner of a Opticbook 3600.)

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

i don't get that reasoning. why would you pay for a book, then turn around and upload it so everyone else can get it for free? @_@ what happened to self-preservation? it's like those students who take an exam then tell their friends who are taking the same exam at a later time what was in the exam. it's just...well, i don't get it.

Try to look up altruism if you find the time. (Oh, and it works both ways, more often than not.)

[samuelarnold]

Try to catch the free eBooks sites. its very useful.

[aktarian]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

i don't get that reasoning. why would you pay for a book, then turn around and upload it so everyone else can get it for free? @_@ what happened to self-preservation? it's like those students who take an exam then tell their friends who are taking the same exam at a later time what was in the exam. it's just...well, i don't get it.

I don't know the reasons behind but it is happening. I guess "potluck" is part of it. You invest €10 and buy a book and upload. 20 other people do same and you have 21 books for price of €10. Or people believe in sharing.

With ebooks it's simpler than with regular books since they are already in proper format and don't have to be scanned and uploaded.