Are Attitudes About E-Book Prices Changing?

[CleverClothe]

I see the childishness persists around here.

Originally Posted by HarryT

In fairness, I buy a lot of eBooks at Amazon UK, and they are virtually ALL discounted. Sometimes by the publisher, sometimes by Amazon. They're generally priced slightly below the paperback price.

Eg, the most recent books I've bought are the five books of David Eddings "Belgariad" series. This is what Amazon has to say about the first book in the series:

Digital List Price: £7.99
Print List Price: £6.99
Kindle Price: £4.34 includes VAT & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: £2.65 (38%)

Amazon's paperback price for this book is £4.57.

And that's typical - the download price is slightly below the PB price, which actually means that it's 20% cheaper, since the eBook has VAT and the PB doesn't. I don't consider this to be at all unreasonable.

Well, it appears those books aren't even available for the Kindle in the U.S. I don't think that helps your example much.

The few books I could find for the Kindle that were also Agency published were all the same price as MMPB. Now that is some progress, but it certainly isn't cheaper.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by CleverClothe

Well, it appears those books are even available for the Kindle in the U.S. I don't think that helps your example much.

It's an example of a discounted eBook. It was claimed that eBooks were never discounted; I was providing a counter-example.

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's an example of a discounted eBook. It was claimed that eBooks were never discounted; I was providing a counter-example.

You're right, I should have said either "Agency 6 ebooks" or "the vast majority of professional ebooks". My apologies for the confusion.

[apbschmitz]

So yesterday in the NY Times Book Review there was an enthusiastic review of Ten Thousand Saints, a novel that sounds good to me. The Kindle price is $12.99, the hardcover is $14.84. Not much difference there. Rightly or wrongly, to me the Kindle price seems to be overreaching. Others here have sensibly argued that nobody is forcing me to read it right now. I can wait for the price to go down. But I wonder how this works out for the author and the publisher in the end. I might remember this book when the price goes down in a few months. It's more likely that I won't. So there goes another sale. Tough luck for everybody.

[leebase]

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.

It's the same situation we've had "forever" with paper backs. You and I and lots of folks like us would never spend "new release hard back money". So we had to WAIT. Publishers did just fine without our paper back money while waiting for the hard cover to have it's run.

You can wait even now. Don't buy the ebook during the "new run" pricing. The prices will drop. That is -- unless the ebook continues to sell well at the higher price.

With ebooks and agency pricing, the publisher have a lot finer control over pricing at the individual book level. They can monitor sales and drop prices as need. Or keep them up if demand allows.

It will lead to the situation where the ebook is priced more than the paperback, or even the hard back. It could very well be that enough folks value ebooks over paper books that ebooks will cost MORE.

Lee

[outlander78]

Lee, it is indeed an interesting marketplace. On one side, the publishers have new tools and seem to hold all the cards. On the other side, so do the customers. I think customer expectations are the wild card - online buyers are used to immediate availability and low costs - what they are not used to is seeing something they want, and waiting a year for the price to come down. I wonder if sales will fall, or if people will remember to come back in one year and re-check the price of the over-priced ebook they had a passing interest in a year ago.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by apbschmitz

So yesterday in the NY Times Book Review there was an enthusiastic review of Ten Thousand Saints, a novel that sounds good to me. The Kindle price is $12.99, the hardcover is $14.84. Not much difference there. Rightly or wrongly, to me the Kindle price seems to be overreaching. Others here have sensibly argued that nobody is forcing me to read it right now. I can wait for the price to go down. But I wonder how this works out for the author and the publisher in the end. I might remember this book when the price goes down in a few months. It's more likely that I won't. So there goes another sale. Tough luck for everybody.

Or maybe it does not matter. It is the bestsellers that are most important. So if it becomes a bestseller you will probably buy it now. At least you will remember the book when the paperback becomes available and the ebook price will be lower.

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by outlander78

Lee, it is indeed an interesting marketplace. On one side, the publishers have new tools and seem to hold all the cards. On the other side, so do the customers.

Funny, I don't seem to have any cards - it used to be that if I didn't like a retailer's offerings I could go somewhere else. But with the retailers reduced to agents, they're all equally bad.

[apbschmitz]

Originally Posted by tompe

Or maybe it does not matter. It is the bestsellers that are most important. So if it becomes a bestseller you will probably buy it now. At least you will remember the book when the paperback becomes available and the ebook price will be lower.

More likely for me is that I won't buy it now, time will pass, I won't remember this book, I won't buy it later and I won't read it. I'll be on to something else. The trouble from the publishing end is a can't-prove-a-negative dilemma — they know about the books they sold but they don't know about the books they might have sold but didn't. Hard to say if they'd make more money at lower prices, but if all their customers were like me they certainly would.

[Sonny Blount]

Originally Posted by tompe

Or maybe it does not matter. It is the bestsellers that are most important. So if it becomes a bestseller you will probably buy it now. At least you will remember the book when the paperback becomes available and the ebook price will be lower.

It would seem like a waste of marketing money if you don't make the book available at the price you expect to eventually sell it at when it is released.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by outlander78

Lee, it is indeed an interesting marketplace. On one side, the publishers have new tools and seem to hold all the cards. On the other side, so do the customers. I think customer expectations are the wild card - online buyers are used to immediate availability and low costs - what they are not used to is seeing something they want, and waiting a year for the price to come down. I wonder if sales will fall, or if people will remember to come back in one year and re-check the price of the over-priced ebook they had a passing interest in a year ago.

Customers have always had the power of the purse. Publishers can set the prices, but they can't make people pay. Thing is, there is a very real possibility that ebooks are going to command higher prices because folks value the convenience of ebooks more.

Lee

[leebase]

Originally Posted by ATimson

Funny, I don't seem to have any cards - it used to be that if I didn't like a retailer's offerings I could go somewhere else. But with the retailers reduced to agents, they're all equally bad.

There are more free books than you could read in a lifetime. There are more cheap books (used books, library books, Smashwords and the like) than you can read in a lifetime. And those are just your other reading options.

It's a wonder a new book can be sold at all.

Lee

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by leebase

It's the same situation we've had "forever" with paper backs. You and I and lots of folks like us would never spend "new release hard back money". So we had to WAIT. Publishers did just fine without our paper back money while waiting for the hard cover to have it's run.

Unfortunately, those of us who liked to wait until we could buy a used or clearance copy of HC or PB for $3-5, or even an e-book that will be priced below the discounted PB, will be waiting forever thanks to the Agency 6. I've rarely seen them price backlist titles below new PB prices. I used to get them all the time when Fictionwise was having its sales.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Sonny Blount

It would seem like a waste of marketing money if you don't make the book available at the price you expect to eventually sell it at when it is released.

Eh, why? If one million people is going to buy it now and additionally 200000 much later it seems very rational to have a high starting price.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by tompe

Or maybe it does not matter. It is the bestsellers that are most important.

That is a pBook mindset. With pBooks they will have a limited shelf life in bookshops before they are returned, so you have to maximise sales in a short time window, then dump it for the next book to come along.
With eBooks, they all have unlimited shelf life. There is nothign stopping every eBook ever made to still be available to purchase, so it becomes a feasible business model to make money on the long tail of purchases, rather than having to push one best seller.