Penguin high price?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

^Inflation. I expect prices to continue to rise. I don't expect or want authors to make less money per book than they make now. What I don't really like is paying more as a Canadian for an e-book ($25.25US) than a hardcover ($21.00US) when the e-book is really just a rental in the eyes of the Amazon terms of service. Hence I don't buy the e-book.

Is the eBook really more expensive than the hardback, or is it just that Amazon have discounted the hardback? ie, if you went into a normal bookshop and bought the hardback at its full cover price, would it still be cheaper?

[TimW]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

The mass market paperback of Fall of Giants just came out a couple of weeks ago IIRC. I forgot that there was a trade paperback before that & those often have pricing not that different from hardcovers where ebooks are concerned (especially from Penguin).

I didn't realize they had issued an MMPB. The trade paperback of Fall of Giants came out in late August 2011.

[murraypaul]

The SWCIFTC eBook is priced roughly twice what the original paperback was, taking into account inflation since 1965.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Is the eBook really more expensive than the hardback, or is it just that Amazon have discounted the hardback?

As a consumer, if A costs more than B, then A is more expensive than B, surely?
The reason why is another matter.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Is the eBook really more expensive than the hardback, or is it just that Amazon have discounted the hardback? ie, if you went into a normal bookshop and bought the hardback at its full cover price, would it still be cheaper?

Does list price really matter? It's the street price that most consumers are going to be looking at.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Does list price really matter? It's the street price that most consumers are going to be looking at.

The list price is what you'll pay in any bookshop - in the UK, at least.

But I agree, it's great that Amazon discount new hardbacks, but it's a little unreasonable to expect the publisher themselves to discount them to the same degree. I doubt that Amazon are making much of a profit from the discounted hardback, whereas the publisher relies of hardback sales to pay all their up-front costs for producing the book.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Is the eBook really more expensive than the hardback, or is it just that Amazon have discounted the hardback? ie, if you went into a normal bookshop and bought the hardback at its full cover price, would it still be cheaper?

I can buy the hardback from Chapters.ca for $25.08CDN. So, yes it is more expensive than the hardback. These are both discounted prices for the hardcover, but Chapters almost always marks 34% for some reason. I think that is part of the discontent with e-book prices in general for new giganticPublishingHouse releases. Personally, I don't usually care about new releases, there is so much out there to read I'll wait until I find this at the library with no wait list for free in a few years. Chapters doesn't seem to have an e-book option for this yet.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I can buy the hardback from Chapters.ca for $25.08CDN. So, yes it is more expensive than the hardback. These are both discounted prices for the hardcover, but Chapters almost always marks 34% for some reason. I think that is part of the discontent with e-book prices in general for new giganticPublishingHouse releases. Personally, I don't usually care about new releases, there is so much out there to read I'll wait until I find this at the library with no wait list for free in a few years. Chapters doesn't seem to have an e-book option for this yet.

I always wait for the paperback release before buying the eBook. Given the enormous size of my "TBR" list, that's absolutely no hardship.

[DrNefario]

But because of agency pricing, there is no alternative for the ebook version. You either pay the asking price or you don't. I choose not to. I do have plenty of other stuff to read.

In fact, I have no idea when I'm even going to read Call for the Dead, the third book I mentioned, which I bought in paperback.

Incidentally, the charity shop also had Spy Who Came in..., and I wasn't even prepared to pay £2 for it, because it was one of the million copies given away free for World Book Night last year.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

But because of agency pricing, there is no alternative for the ebook version. You either pay the asking price or you don't. I choose not to. I do have plenty of other stuff to read.

In fact, I have no idea when I'm even going to read Call for the Dead, the third book I mentioned, which I bought in paperback.

Incidentally, the charity shop also had Spy Who Came in..., and I wasn't even prepared to pay £2 for it, because it was one of the million copies given away free for World Book Night last year.

Absolutely, and freedom is what it's all about. The publisher is free to set their price, and you and I are free to decide whether or not to buy it at that price. If the publisher gets it wrong, they certainly won't make a decent profit from it.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by joehunt

Is there any reason beyond greed for the large disparity in price?

If the new book was given away, in hopes of getting massive sales for the first book in the series, that would be no less greedy.

[spindlegirl]

Those prices are the reason I have memorized my library card number.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Haha. Me too. Too bad Kindle doesn't work for Overdrive in Canada. My paper book consumption this year is out of control.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Haha. Me too. Too bad Kindle doesn't work for Overdrive in Canada. My paper book consumption this year is out of control.

Well, there are solutions to that, you know. Certainly, I read my BC Library books on my Kindle.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, there are solutions to that, you know. Certainly, I read my BC Library books on my Kindle.

The problem is that Amazon got into bed with Overdrive and Penguin got upset because Amazon & Overdrive are breaking the terms of the contract saying that eBooks from Overdrive have to come from Overdrive's servers. Amazon is using their servers to supply the eBooks & DRM. This violates the contract. If this didn't happen, Penguin would still be allowing current eBooks to be at the library and I could read Fall of Giants as an eBook for free.