Paulo Coelho to publishers: "Don't be greedy"

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Crowl

If your buying habits result in you tending to see higher levels of discount then good for you, but your anecdotal evidence in no way merits such a definitive claim as you have chosen to make.

I can only talk about the books that I buy, which are primarily backlist crime, SF, and fantasy, and what I stated is perfectly true for those. Obviously I don't know what books that I never look at cost. It may well be that someone who mainly buys "bestsellers" will have a different experience.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But it's not "a few examples", Crowl. I buy a lot of ebooks, and I honestly cannot recall EVER having paid as much for the ebook as I would have done for the paperback. Yes, sometimes 3rd party sellers can appear to be cheaper, but that's before you add the £2.80 postage cost. It really is the case that, in the UK at least, ebooks on average cost around half the price of paperbacks.

Harry, about 2008 I guess, perhaps earlier, I was paying full hardcover price for ebook versions of a then popular Mil SF series called Starfist. This was on release date of each new book. If I recall correctly, this was around the US$30 mark.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I can only talk about the books that I buy, which are primarily backlist crime, SF, and fantasy, and what I stated is perfectly true for those. Obviously I don't know what books that I never look at cost. It may well be that someone who mainly buys "bestsellers" will have a different experience.

My purchases tend to be mainly SF and Fantasy too and it is not perfectly true for them at all, you get some around that level but nowhere near most of them no matter how many times you try to inflate your anecdote into an actual fact.

[HarryT]

I'm not "inflating" anything, and it's rather impolite of you to suggest that I'm somehow being dishonest. I am reporting the TRUTH of my personal book-buying experience.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Crowl

My purchases tend to be mainly SF and Fantasy too and it is not perfectly true for them at all, you get some around that level but nowhere near most of them no matter how many times you try to inflate your anecdote into an actual fact.

I buy new sf and fantasy books mostly and from amazon.com since I am in Sweden. And the Kindle book is always cheaper after correction for difference in VAT). Are you saying that for you the Kindle book is more expensive? Kan you give some titles in that case since I thought Germany also bought from amazon.com.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by tompe

I buy new sf and fantasy books mostly and from amazon.com since I am in Sweden. And the Kindle book is always cheaper after correction for difference in VAT). Are you saying that for you the Kindle book is more expensive? Kan you give some titles in that case since I thought Germany also bought from amazon.com.

I have never suggested that the ebooks are not pretty much always cheaper, my dispute was over the unequivocal statement of anecdotal evidence of how big that discount was as an absolute fact rather just personal (and very lucky) experience:

"It really is the case that, in the UK at least, ebooks on average cost around half the price of paperbacks."

Excluding sales and special timed offers that would skew the figures, I would estimate that the typical discount for me would tend to be something more like 20%.

[crich70]

I think it also has to do with the actual books themselves. A lot of PD books are either free or only cost .99 for example, but a more recent book or one that is popular will cost the buyer more than the PD titles. A lot of collections of an older author's work (Like Bram Stoker for example) will cost you .99 or more depending on the seller even though his works are in the PD. I imagine the Delphi collection of his works costs more than that as well though I don't know why. More a charge for their time putting the collection together and editing it perhaps? Some ebooks do cost about what the paper version costs though. Some cost even more. For example "Book in a Month" by Victoria Lynn Schmidt costs you $9.78 in paper but it costs $11.99 in ebook now. You would expect it to be the other way round.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by rollei

e-books cost the same, sometimes higher than printed books. e-books should be cheaper since it cost less and almost no cost, once the e-book is produced.

I keep seeing this, but for me, it's not true. At least not in the Netherlands. Very often, a paperback will cost €9.99, while the e-book will cost €6.49. That's about 1/3rd cheaper. I've seen price differences of up to 50%

I'm not even counting Kobo codes; they often reduce the ebooks's price to less than €2. (Granted, I've never had the opportunity to use a code anywhere else besides Kobo, and diesel-ebooks.)

The last option to reduce the price is to shop in the UK or US, which will lower the price even more as long as the Euro is worth more than the pound or dollar.

In the last three years, I've bought over 750 ebooks. I would not have done that had I been still buying paper books.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I keep seeing this, but for me, it's not true. At least not in the Netherlands. Very often, a paperback will cost €9.99, while the e-book will cost €6.49. That's about 1/3rd cheaper. I've seen price differences of up to 50%

I'm not even counting Kobo codes; they often reduce the ebooks's price to less than €2. (Granted, I've never had the opportunity to use a code anywhere else besides Kobo, and diesel-ebooks.)

The last option to reduce the price is to shop in the UK or US, which will lower the price even more as long as the Euro is worth more than the pound or dollar.

In the last three years, I've bought over 750 ebooks. I would not have done that had I been still buying paper books.

It varies from country to country. I don't know where rollei is from but in Canada I'm not surprised by the comment. A quick check today of Ken Follett's latest book "Edge of Eternity" shows the hardcover available at multiple stores for $21.00 but the ebook is listed on both Amazon and Kobo as $21.99. The first book in the series "Fall of Giants" is readily available at $10.44 in paperback but the ebook is $10.99 at both Amazon and Kobo. (This is ignoring the fact you can get the discounted original hardcover for $4.99 in the Indigo bargain bin).

[rollei]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I keep seeing this, but for me, it's not true. At least not in the Netherlands. Very often, a paperback will cost €9.99, while the e-book will cost €6.49. That's about 1/3rd cheaper. I've seen price differences of up to 50%

I'm not even counting Kobo codes; they often reduce the ebooks's price to less than €2. (Granted, I've never had the opportunity to use a code anywhere else besides Kobo, and diesel-ebooks.)

The last option to reduce the price is to shop in the UK or US, which will lower the price even more as long as the Euro is worth more than the pound or dollar.

In the last three years, I've bought over 750 ebooks. I would not have done that had I been still buying paper books.

I have learned from this thread that e-books are cheaper than p-books in other countries.

In Canada, e-books are either more expensive or costs the same as p-books. I have posted examples earlier in the thread. Of course, this is relating to bestsellers and popular books.

The Kobo codes will not help as those codes will not work on books by Simon & Schuster, Random House, Penguin etc