C|Net: Why e-books cost so much

[jhempel24]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Yes, this is old news. The publishers took a hit to their revenues in exchange for control over pricing. This was discussed thoroughly when agency pricing first went into effect.



Yep.

The industry (both publishers and retailers) has spent years squeezing costs out of the system. The part that's harder to squeeze is human labor: author's advances (which are significantly up over the last ~10 years), editors, marketing, legal and so forth.

Plus, anchoring prices off of paper books won't make sense for long. No one expects MP3 prices to be based off of CD or vinyl prices.



You also get that digital copy instantly; you don't pay shipping; you don't have to go to the mall to pick it up; many devices have free 3G service; you can get that digital book delivered to multiple devices; your copy can never be lost or spilled on....



OK then, pay for instant delivery and give up the right to back up your ebooks, and sync them across multiple devices.

9 times out of 10 I don't have to pay shipping when I order a book either....and MOST devices with 3G (other than cell phones) went the way of the Dodo as far as I can tell. Maybe the iPad, but isn't that about it?

While it sucks, I kind of see the eBook as a 20oz soda vs 2 litre. You pay more for the 20oz, but it's more convenient to carry around

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

While it sucks, I kind of see the eBook as a 20oz soda vs 2 litre. You pay more for the 20oz, but it's more convenient to carry around

Smart Monkey Buying Tip 7.0.3:

I buy the two liter soda and pour it into four empty 500ml water bottles. Now I have four convenient sized sodas for less than $0.20 each.

[BuddyBoy]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Smart Monkey Buying Tip 7.0.3:

I buy the two liter soda and pour it into four empty 500ml water bottles. Now I have four convenient sized sodas for less than $0.20 each.

...and thereafter enjoy four convenient sized bottles of flat soda.

[BuddyBoy]

I'm sympathetic as the next person when it comes to the price of ebooks, but lots of people seem to forget that the fixed costs have to be spread across all formats. Even more so today where ebooks have risen in prominence and have significantly cannibalized the hardcover market. A lot of hard core, buy-it-when-hits-the-shelves readers naturally embraced the kindle as a cost saving tool. With fewer hardcovers being sold, the fixed costs, including advances, marketing, publicity, and overhead, have to be met equally through ebook sales.

I do think prices can come down, but whenever someone says the marginal reproduction costs are zero so the books should be super cheap, my eyes cross and my tounge involuntarily sticks out.

Of course I've been saying that for seven years now....

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by BuddyBoy

...and thereafter enjoy four convenient sized bottles of flat soda.

Maybe for you, but not for me.

[carpetmojo]

"C|Net: Why e-books cost so much" .....

It's because they can do it .......

Like Damien Hirst ........

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by BuddyBoy

I'm sympathetic as the next person when it comes to the price of ebooks, but lots of people seem to forget that the fixed costs have to be spread across all formats. Even more so today where ebooks have risen in prominence and have significantly cannibalized the hardcover market. A lot of hard core, buy-it-when-hits-the-shelves readers naturally embraced the kindle as a cost saving tool. With fewer hardcovers being sold, the fixed costs, including advances, marketing, publicity, and overhead, have to be met equally through ebook sales.

Only if they stubbornly stick to old sales models. Digital changes the nature of the game and if they can't adapt, they'll perish.

Traditional publishers and physical bookstores just don't get it. Soon enough, they'll be gone.

[markbot]

The publishers switched to the agency model out of the goodness of their hearts! Okay, seriously, this idea that going to collusive agency pricing fosters competition is wrongly framed...it increased competition in the retail of ebooks but decreased competition in the publishing of ebooks. But, increasing competition in retailing led to HIGHER prices...this is because the publishers colluded on agency pricing.

This entire issue is moot for me since I rarely buy ebooks now since they are so expensive. They have annoyed me too much . I use my kindle to read out of copyright books and digital library ebooks...occasionally cheap ebooks and regular priced ebooks when I'm traveling. I go to the old fashion library now, instead of buying any books. At $12.99 for an ebook, I'd much rather spend the time going back and forth from the library (and waiting for books on hold) than buying an ebook I can't resell or lend and probably never look at again.

[jbcohen]

I agree 100% with the publishers. I am angry about amazon's willingness to sell popular books at $10, I would much preferr to pay the traditional $8 for the popular books. At least in my humble opinion $10 is far to much to pay for any book regardless if its popular or not. I find that I can get enough books to last me for the rest of my life for $6 and below less then anything that sells in book stores today. So much so I am not willing to willing to go to a book store at all. Book prices are far higher then they have any right to be. For my current juncture in reading I am getting all I want for $0 but I will eventually will need to put some dollars on the table. Some of my favorite publishers are willing to give away some of their older books, books that I need to read in order to understand what is going on in the later books. Therefore I am not willing to pay for them. I am only willing to pay as much as the lowest price store is willing to charge, and that goes for anything not just books. If I can get it for less why pay more, I preferr paying less.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by frogi

This


Honestly, what is the conversion cost of a book that is already written and proofed digitally into a digital format? What is the server cost of the resulting eBook that likely uses less bandwidth than what is used surfing the book site selecting a title?

It doesn't make much difference whether there is already a digital copy or not.

Today's scanning techniques produce a digital starting point from a paper book that doesn't take that much work to move on to a good Epub. Within five years the software will probably recognize headers and generate the table of contents without us needing to tweek the scans.

Which is why there are so many bookworms on this site digitizing our old favorites.

[emellaich]

In regard to these cost-of-print financial models ... the thing I think they usually ignore is the fact that you would almost never produce exactly the number of books you need.

If you don't print enough, you have lost sales that need to be included in the finances. If you print too many, you have wasted books and carrying costs that need to be included.

I think the flexibility that ebooks gives you is one of its key features. Furthermore, the fixed costs of setup goes down if you use ebook only. You could ideally start a low-cost line that had less production costs, but that needed to sell fewer volumes to break even. Say a recognized publishing name brand, but with generic covers, no ARCs, only one editing pass (not as thorough) etcetera. These 'penguin-lite' books wouldn't promise the same quality.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by =X=

But now they will make much more because production cost for eBooks are next to $0.

=X=

There is the cost for the author, the cost for the editing, the cost for the making of the eBook, the cost for the server storage...

There are costs involved. But, when you take into the extra costs for the pBooks, the eBooks do cost less per copy when the pBooks.

But next to $0? No way.

[cHex]

I'm willing to pay for a good book. The entertainment value I've gotten from some novels is much more than $50, so I've found it worthwhile to purchase even hardcover volumes. I get much the same entertainment value out of an eBook, and I'm willing to pay more than a dollar or two for an eBook. So I'm not arguing that eBooks should cost next to nothing.

All I'm saying is, eBooks in general should cost less than their pBook versions, since production, distribution, and storage costs are lower (not nonexistent, lower). And if a retailer can mark down a new paperback to below wholesale to clear out inventory or introduce customers to a new author or even to grab market share/new customers, then retailers should be able to mark down new eBooks for similar reasons.

Stop telling retailers how much they have to charge for your books. Abandon the agency model and return to the wholesale-retail model. Let the market set the price; I imagine pulp fiction will drop down to next to nothing (there's so much competition), while great writers (and writers with great publicity) will command a premium.

And by the way, my displeasuer at eBooks that cost more than pBooks doesn't stop me from paying the higher price when I want that book on my Kindle. It is, however, creating a market opportunity...

[DJHARKAVY]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There is the cost for the author, the cost for the editing, the cost for the making of the eBook, the cost for the server storage...

There are costs involved. But, when you take into the extra costs for the pBooks, the eBooks do cost less per copy when the pBooks.

But next to $0? No way.

The poster that you quote specified PRODUCTION costs.

There are other costs to the book, but once you have the edited manuscript in digital form, and cover art in digital form, the cost of producing the ebook is almost zero.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

This is something I find odd. I'll be looking for a book and see the paperback is less than the ebook version. I scratch my head at that quite often.

Why? It simply means that the retailer has decided to discount the paperback. What's puzzling about that?