Perfect example of absurd agency pricing

[whitearrow]

I know, I know, everyone is tired of this topic, and I'm largely preaching to the choir, but I just needed to get this off my chest.

Have a look at this book. It's a TV tie in novel (for a very niche show) of about 300 MMP pages. It came out in 1997. The show has been off the air since 1998. It's a niche product for a niche market. I checked out a sample -- they actually did a nice job converting and formatting the Kindle edition.

When the book came out, the mmp price (these books were only released in mmp) was $6.99. (ETA: Actually they were $5.99. Found the back cover of another book in the series.) You can buy a new copy now through the Az marketplace for $7.58 shipped.

Hachette Book Group's list price for the Kindle edition? $17.99, ever so magnanimously reduced to $9.99. For a 15 year old backlist title in a niche of a niche. All of the available Highlander ebooks are priced the same, which is demonstrably out of touch with the going prices for TV-tie in ebooks. (Stargate: Atlantis - $4.99, Stargate SG-1, $6.36, Star Trek, $1.99 to $7.99 for the most part, Supernatural, $6.39, Charmed, $5.99, CSI, mostly $7.99, Spartacus, $6.39.

If these books were $4.99 or less for Kindle, I would buy at least a few of them, so I can replace the old mmp's I've been hanging on to. At $9.99 each, my reaction is entirely different, a number "colorful metaphors" as Captain Kirk might say. I'm sure I'm not the only fan of this series who feels this way, and once again, Big Publishing's insane ideas about pricing are getting in the way of it making actual, you know, profits.

[Redcard]

Then don't buy it?

I don't see the problem here. Businesses may price things as they wish. Consumers may choose to or not choose to buy them. Myself, since it's just a popcorn piece of fiction likely written to a formulaic blue print sent out by a managing editor, I'd probably opt for that $.01 option and then leave it in a bus station when I was done

[whitearrow]

Originally Posted by Redcard

Then don't buy it?

Well, duh, I'm not. Wasn't really the point.

I don't see the problem here. Businesses may price things as they wish. Consumers may choose to or not choose to buy them.

Yes, I'm well aware that businesses have the right to be stupid. The actual point was about all the whining big publishing is doing about profitability, etc. You'd think when an opportunity arises to take a niche backlist title and make a nice profit on it by pricing it to sell to their target audience, they'd take that opportunity.

Myself, since it's just a popcorn piece of fiction likely written to a formulaic blue print sent out by a managing editor, I'd probably opt for that $.01 option and then leave it in a bus station when I was done

Thanks for judging something I happen to like which you've never read.

(And in case you missed it, I already own the MMP.)

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by whitearrow

Yes, I'm well aware that businesses have the right to be stupid. The actual point was about all the whining big publishing is doing about profitability, etc. You'd think when an opportunity arises to take a niche backlist title and make a nice profit on it by pricing it to sell to their target audience, they'd take that opportunity.

Businesses do have the right to price things how they want, but you're right, it is foolish to overprice a book. People just aren't going to buy it if it is overpriced.

[jgaiser]

You know, it almost seems that the big publishers *don't want* ebooks to succeed. Nah.. That can't be.

[abookreader]

Originally Posted by Redcard

Then don't buy it?

I don't see the problem here. Businesses may price things as they wish. Consumers may choose to or not choose to buy them. Myself, since it's just a popcorn piece of fiction likely written to a formulaic blue print sent out by a managing editor, I'd probably opt for that $.01 option and then leave it in a bus station when I was done

Actually I think that is the key point in consumer sentiment against Agency Pricing. Businesses (Amazon etc) are no longer allowed to price things as they wish.

I've never heard anybody claim that Publishers shouldn't be willing to charge a price for their work, if they wanted to raise their wholesale prices by 30000% they had every right to do that. They could have even set up their own webstores and sold books directly, which they have made anemic attempts to accomplish and which they largely suck at doing.

That isn't what they did, they instead tried to lock retailers out of their own rights to price products however they saw fit.

By and large Publishers have been reluctant to place backlist titles on the marketplace for low prices because those low prices cannibalize sales from the front list books. Why buy a current bestseller at $14.99 when you can have that 20 year old book with great reviews that you've never read for $3.99? It's the exact same reasoning behind why they tried their hardest to hinder the secondary book market years ago.

[JSWolf]

One of the problem with agency pricing for eBooks is it's helping the publishers keep paperback prices high so they can keep eBook prices high. $17.99 for a MMPB is absurd.

The reality is that new books have always been expensive. It's just that there have been other options in the past, ranging from libraries to remainders to used books. That meant that books were available to pretty much everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status. I dread the day when the majority of titles are released as ebooks only, because the poor will have what they can read dictated to them based upon price and whether the publisher permits libraries to carry it. (There are a lot of people out there who would have to work an hour and a half for a $10 book, never mind a $20 book. For them, literacy would not be an option.)

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by whitearrow

Yes, I'm well aware that businesses have the right to be stupid. The actual point was about all the whining big publishing is doing about profitability, etc. You'd think when an opportunity arises to take a niche backlist title and make a nice profit on it by pricing it to sell to their target audience, they'd take that opportunity.

Yeah, I'm their target audience for that book, and I'm not willing to buy it. If it was like $5, as many tie ins are, I'd buy several copies. At $9.99, I'm not willing to buy any. Gotta consider volume vs individual sale profit.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

One of the problem with agency pricing for eBooks is it's helping the publishers keep paperback prices high so they can keep eBook prices high. $17.99 for a MMPB is absurd.

Not here in Australia. Retail is over AU$20 for paperbacks. But I do agree with what you say.

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by whitearrow

I know, I know, everyone is tired of this topic, and I'm largely preaching to the choir, but I just needed to get this off my chest.

Have a look at this book. It's a TV tie in novel (for a very niche show) of about 300 MMP pages. It came out in 1997. The show has been off the air since 1998. It's a niche product for a niche market. I checked out a sample -- they actually did a nice job converting and formatting the Kindle edition.

When the book came out, the mmp price (these books were only released in mmp) was $6.99. (ETA: Actually they were $5.99. Found the back cover of another book in the series.) You can buy a new copy now through the Az marketplace for $7.58 shipped.

Hachette Book Group's list price for the Kindle edition? $17.99, ever so magnanimously reduced to $9.99. For a 15 year old backlist title in a niche of a niche. All of the available Highlander ebooks are priced the same, which is demonstrably out of touch with the going prices for TV-tie in ebooks. (Stargate: Atlantis - $4.99, Stargate SG-1, $6.36, Star Trek, $1.99 to $7.99 for the most part, Supernatural, $6.39, Charmed, $5.99, CSI, mostly $7.99, Spartacus, $6.39.

If these books were $4.99 or less for Kindle, I would buy at least a few of them, so I can replace the old mmp's I've been hanging on to. At $9.99 each, my reaction is entirely different, a number "colorful metaphors" as Captain Kirk might say. I'm sure I'm not the only fan of this series who feels this way, and once again, Big Publishing's insane ideas about pricing are getting in the way of it making actual, you know, profits.

Yes, as we know, Hachette is Australian for ripoff.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by sabredog

Not here in Australia. Retail is over AU$20 for paperbacks. But I do agree with what you say.

In the US, MMPB go between $5 and $9.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

In the US, MMPB go between $5 and $9.

The one you linked in post #1 is $17.99 for the MMPB. MMPB is doomed to keep prices high. Publishers like those trade's (crappy format) because they can keep prices higher for a poorly made book.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

In the US, MMPB go between $5 and $9.

Thus if purchased from a store like Dymocks. (doubtful they would even have it on their catalog) but regardless, cost would probably be around AU$35-39.

Better to buy it online, even at current rip-off pricing.

[whitearrow]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The one you linked in post #1 is $17.99 for the MMPB. MMPB is doomed to keep prices high. Publishers like those trade's (crappy format) because they can keep prices higher for a poorly made book.

That was me The official Amazon price for the MMPB is $17.99, but I'm not sure that the book isn't out of print and the ones Amazon has aren't remainders or in some way considered "rare." That's why I cited $7.58 as the "new" price from the Az Marketplace.