E-book prices higher than p-book prices?

[astra]

Yes, there is a difference.
I have not crossed the line. Yet.
However, if they behave like they don't give monkey's ass about it me, I will do just the same.

[astra]

Hmm... I just realised. I never compared a price of a scanned copy with a legal ebook price. I compared FW with Kindle Store.
Then I showed another path, which is as much legal as possible, that one might take if "they" behave like jerks.

[HarryT]

Yes, I know you did, but I'm afraid that I don't believe that scanning a library book is morally justifyable merely because one feels that the publisher has set the price to be too high.

A book is just a commercial product like any other. One doesn't have a "God-given right" to read it; just a choice about whether or not to buy it at the price that the producer has set.

All IMHO, of course .

[astra]

To a certain extent I agree with you, but ...I see no other way to push "them" to accept the reality.

[Lemurion]

Every ebookstore would love to be able to draw customers through low prices. Fictionwise's owners are just as aware of Amazon's Kindle Edition prices as the rest of us. Unfortunately their prices are limited by their suppliers-- yes they do have some room to move but they also have expenses to meet.

I wouldn't be surprised if many books cost the independents (FW, BoB, CyberRead, etc.) more than the price Amazon is selling them for. I'm sure they're working to try and get prices down, but I'm also sure Amazon is trying to keep their price differentiation too.

[astra]

Price difference in a couple of $ is one thing, the price difference in examples I have given before is just outrageous.

[HappyMartin]

As far as I can see all e books are cheaper in South Africa than what we pay p books. For some reason we fall under the European distribution channels rather than Asian so books cost us a lot more than they should. I don't think it fair but still that is how it is. Not sure why we persist in expecting fairness from the world.

I agree with Harry. You don't like the price then don't buy it. You have the right to complain and petition but not to ........(don't know what to write here, was going to say steal but I am nervous to start that whole what is stealing thing up again)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by astra

Price difference in a couple of $ is one thing, the price difference in examples I have given before is just outrageous.

I strongly suspect, though, that it's Amazon selling at a loss in those cases. They can afford to do so, but small independent eBook stores perhaps can't. It's the publisher who sets the price - if the retailer wants to discount it, they still have to pay the publisher the specified amount per sale, regardless of what the retailers sells the book for.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by astra

Price difference in a couple of $ is one thing, the price difference in examples I have given before is just outrageous.

The problem is that Amazon is so large that it can dictate to the publishers what they are willing to pay for an e-book. If the publishers balk at the price Amazon can hurt the publishers in more ways than just refusing to carry the e-book.

In contrast, I wouldn't be surprised if the Publishers force minimum sale prices on the other e-book retailers. Right now, a number of publishers seem to be very afraid that e-books will undermine the market for hardbacks (as if the economy wasn't doing that already). As a result, they very much want to make sure that e-book prices on new releases are comparable to the prices for the hardbacks; which can include either charging very high prices to the e-book stores or in fact making them sign agreements for the minimum price they are allowed to sell a book.

--
Bill

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by astra

There is only ebook shop with decent prices. It is Kindle store, the rest is rubbish.

Comparing anyone's book price to the price at the Kindle store is a false comparison. For the moment, Amazon adheres to an unsustainable pricing model; for how long it will adhere to it is unknown. No company can forever sell product at less than cost and survive. Amazon is able to do it with the Kindle books only because Amazon's "profitability" can be maintained through its other sources, such as the Amazon Marketplace and the sale of pbooks.

The question is why does Amazon continue to sell ebooks at a loss? The only apparent answer to me is that it wants to corner the ebook market -- both hardware and "software" -- using the low costs of ebooks as the inducement to buy the Kindle. Yes, I understand that the user of a Kindle can buy ebooks from sources other than Amazon, but the reality is that most purchasers of a Kindle probably confine their ebook shopping to the Kindle store and Amazon reinforces this tendency by offering low prices.

But at some point that will need to change as the pressure from investors for Amazon to increase profitability increases. Right now Bezos hasn't been forced to put numbers to Kindle device or ebook sales and profitability. When he is forced to do so, the low price of Kindle ebooks may well disappear or Amazon will have so altered the marketplace that ebook prices will have dropped for everyone at all ebookstores.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by astra

There is only ebook shop with decent prices. It is Kindle store, the rest is rubbish.

Keep in mind that Amazon not only sells kindle books, they also sell the kindle. That may seem like stating the obvious, but they are offering deep discounts on kindle format books in order to increase the market for kindle readers. They make up the loss they take on the content by selling more hardware.

I don't think FictionWise sells a reader and exclusive ebook format that they tie together.

[Jellby]

Doesn't the proverb go "comparisons are odious"?

In my view, one should either buy a book (or anything else) or not, based on the price of this book, not on the prices of some different books (or formats) in other different places.

Is it unfair that something costs this much here while other people can get a very similar thing for much less? Yes, maybe... but the question is whether you want to buy this for this much, not else. Of course, that doesn't mean one should not complain and try to convince sellers.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by astra

There is only ebook shop with decent prices. It is Kindle store, the rest is rubbish.

Fictionwise:
Kushiel's Chosen [Secure eReader (recommended)/Mobipocket]

                                Regular 	  		  	Club
You Pay:  	          $27.95      	      	  	  $23.76
Micropay Rebate:  	15% 	  		  	        15%
Cost After Rebate:  $23.76 	  		$20.20

vs. Kindle Price: $7.99

I wrote to FW 2 or 3 months ago about it, it was $9.99 in Kindle store then. 1 week late FW replied something like: We will look into it... Looks like Kindle Store looked into it instead.

Next:
FW:
The Hero of Ages [Mistborn Series Book 3] [Secure Mobipocket]

  	                      Regular 	  		  Club
You Pay:  	      $27.95 	  		  $23.76
Micropay Rebate:  	15% 	  		  	15%
Cost After Rebate:  $23.76 	  	$20.20

vs. Kindle Price: $9.99

What their excuse is, I don't care. They loose customers. I don't think I am the only one who would refuse to buy ebook for such a price.
Publisher is loosing as well. I go to library, take the book for free, scan it and read it. Please, don't mentioned that writers/publishers receive some "donation" from library scheme. It cannot be as much as if I bought the ebook for $10.

I must disagree with you on this one. There is only one eBook store with decent prices. It's the Baen-related Webscriptions.net, where single copies max out at $6, and most books are available in bundles that greatly reduce the per-book cost -- as low as 6 or 7 books for $15 in many cases. And all books are DRM-free!

On the down-side, they currently carry books from one significant and three minor publishers and are heavily (but not exclusively) SF and Fantasy, so their selection may not include the book you are looking for. Once the long-awaited deal with Tor goes live, they'll cover the majority of new SF and Fantasy (hooray!). Of course, that still won't help if you're looking for other content.

Xenophon

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

I must disagree with you on this one. There is only one eBook store with decent prices. It's the Baen-related Webscriptions.net, where single copies max out at $6, and most books are available in bundles that greatly reduce the per-book cost -- as low as 6 or 7 books for $15 in many cases. And all books are DRM-free!

On the down-side, they currently carry books from one significant and three minor publishers and are heavily (but not exclusively) SF and Fantasy, so their selection may not include the book you are looking for. Once the long-awaited deal with Tor goes live, they'll cover the majority of new SF and Fantasy (hooray!). Of course, that still won't help if you're looking for other content.

Xenophon

i have to agree with you there. i keep hoping baen will decide to start publishing mysteries as well. (come on guys, make me happy !)

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i have to agree with you there. i keep hoping baen will decide to start publishing mysteries as well. (come on guys, make me happy !)

Well, being that Baen is a SF/F house, it might take a while, but I suspect that since they have been rather successful with SF, that they wouldn't have a major problem in expanding into other genres. But I suspect they are concentrating on SF simply because SF fans tend to be early adopters and tend to be more likely than most to object to DRM books.

--
Bill