Are Attitudes About E-Book Prices Changing?

[cfrizz]

Quite frankly, I no longer care what the supposed contract says. I have shelled out my money for the ebook, it now belongs to me. (Full price for poorly formatted & edited books to boot!)

I don't lend out my books & I don't sell them either. As far as leaving my collection to someone else, I won't be here so I don't care what they do with them. I don't see books as valuable items as far as money goes, since I keep them. Not everything has to have a price.

I very seldom get rid of any of my books, but if I had some that I was no longer interested in reading, I would ask some friends if they were interested in them. If they said yes then they would get the books.

What publishers want us to do is keep buying our books over & over again. It ain't going to happen! At least not with me.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Because your contract with the bookstore says you can't. That may not matter to you, but many people prefer not to break the law.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by leebase

Why would I offer a product for $10 to compete with the $25 product I'm hoping to sell?

Lee

Easy. People who buy eBooks are not hardcover buyers. I read eBooks. I don't buy hardcovers. There is no way I'd pay $25. But I might pay $10 if I wanted it enough. So, would you rather get $10 from me or would you rather get nothing? If I was to wait until the paperback came out and the price dropped, you'd then get less money. So be happy to get the $10 as you'll get less nothing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why do you say that? The eBook is clearly a superior product - it requires no physical storage space, and won't get "dog-eared" like the paperback will. I'm happy to pay the same price for an eBook as a paperback.

You are the perfect customer for the agency 6. It's a shame you don't care about the rest of us. Do you know most of the time you get an inferior product? No cover (a lot of the time you get a generic cover that's garbage), errors not in the pBook, no right to resell & DRM make it worth less overall.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I must respectfully disagree; it DOES still work - that's why publishers still release hardbacks, and why many people still buy them.

But those hardback sales are not from people who read eBooks.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Easy. People who buy eBooks are not hardcover buyers.

You're not, doesn't mean others aren't.

So, would you rather get $10 from me or would you rather get nothing?

If I was a publisher worried about making money I'd rather get the $12-$15 from the folks willing to pay to have it now and let others wait to pay $8-$10 just like they would if buying a paperback.

If I was to wait until the paperback came out and the price dropped, you'd then get less money.

Would I? On a single sale yes, but what about overall income on a title?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's not necessarily true. If the price of eBooks is driven down to the point where it's uneconomical to publish them, the result will be fewer eBooks. What's needed is a price point at which the publisher and author can both make a reasonable profit, and the consumer isn't being ripped off.

eBooks actually cost less due to no need to ship, no need to warehouse, no returns...So to get the exact same profit, they can sell the eBook for less.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

eBooks actually cost less due to no need to ship, no need to warehouse, no returns...So to get the exact same profit, they can sell the eBook for less.

But not a lot less.

[Ditchleyportrait]

ebooks should cost less. nuff said.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

The fact that no one has cracked iBooks FairPlay DRM is a testament to its relevance—or lack thereof.

I can buy the eBooks I want elsewhere where I can strip the DRM. And besides, I don't want to give Apple any money for eBooks since they had a heavy hand int he agency mess we have now.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Quite frankly...

Please don't top post. It's most annoying. Thanks.

[Ditchleyportrait]

11.99 is too much for a 300 pg ocr scanned novel.

[cfrizz]

I don't know what your problem is, but too bad, deal with it!

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Please don't top post. It's most annoying. Thanks.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

But not a lot less.

Compare Amazon's percentage for distributing an ebook versus any large retail book-chain's percentage for distributing a realbook.

[elcreative]

Wrong... I buy hardcovers, paperbacks and ebooks... I'm a reader, I buy books that I might want read and books that I definitely want to read... if you don't want to play in the sandpit then that's your choice but don't make definitive statements about people whom you don't know when said statements are clearly wrong...

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Easy. People who buy eBooks are not hardcover buyers. I read eBooks. I don't buy hardcovers. There is no way I'd pay $25. But I might pay $10 if I wanted it enough. So, would you rather get $10 from me or would you rather get nothing? If I was to wait until the paperback came out and the price dropped, you'd then get less money. So be happy to get the $10 as you'll get less nothing.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I must respectfully disagree; it DOES still work - that's why publishers still release hardbacks, and why many people still buy them.

Price windowing only works for people that are willing to play by the vendors rules. They have to think the rules are reasonable and fair and they have to be willing to go out of their way to make it work. This is a much smaller percentage of the population when you're dealing with digital goods.

Yes, you can attempt to continue large price windowing but you have to accept that a growing number of people won't play by your rules and you'll lose sales. If you're price is irrational in the market place a lot of people won't think the rules are fair. If you make them wait for no apparent reason a lot of people won't wait.

With physical goods there were multiple opportunities to bring the same product to people's attention. With digital goods there is much more choice and you're lucky to have one opportunity to bring the product to a person's attention. You better close the deal in that window or accept that they'll probably never sell it to them.

Yes price windowing does still work but with digital goods it's a losing business model.