Author Earnings sheds light on ebook Agency redux

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Indeed, they do discount prices on a regular basis. I purchased David McCullough's "The Wright Brothers" from the Amazon Kindle store for $14.99, which is a 50% discount from the list price and $3 less than the hardback price. There is even a great big "This price was set by the publisher" on the page.

Publishers do of course discount, for the big pubs usually they discount previous books before an authors new book comes out (a $7.99 list book to $1.99 or $2.99 usually). This example though is not discounted. $14.99 is the full digital list price. It is of course a 50% discount compared to the hardcover list price, but this isn't the same thing as discounting the eBook itself.

[murg]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

While it's hard to describe what I mean by quality, it has only a smiggen to do with copy editing errors.

I read about fifty eBooks a year, and, except for a few uncorrected scans gotten from openlibrary.org, I've never noticed a major publisher Overdrive (or 3M, or Axis360, or OneClickDigital) eBook as bad as you describe.

Then, I'm not a good copy editor myself, so maybe I'm just lucky in unconsciously ingoring the errors.

Copy editing is only a small part of the entire publishing process.

However, with ebooks, then copy editing is a big part of the process if the book is being scanned. And the BPHs just aren't doing it.

I have one of the early Tom Clancy books (purchased from Kobo so it's a BPH book, and without a discount I might add). It is basically an uncorrected scan. At least a thousand errors. Entire pages with massive scan errors. And this is one of the major authors of the last 30 years who has made the BPH millions of dollars.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

What does errors in publisher books have to do with OverDrive per se?

Nothing, I think. I just wanted to specify where I got the books from in case someone recalled that I rarely buy eBooks and then questioned how I would even know.

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I myself have noticed a depressing lack of backlist in OverDrive. Backlist -- THE most likely kind of ebook to be utterly mistreated by publishers.

They say they offer 2 million titles. Some are just audiobooks, but most are eBooks. That's a lot of backlist. No library can afford to buy or lease more than a small portion of them. Is that what you meant?

Originally Posted by eschwartz

And I read far, far more than 50 books a year, and I don't focus on niche books (I believe you read a lot of academic-funded works?), and I have noticed the same trend as murg. And it isn't even limited to backlist.

All books are niche books. Even #1 bestsellers are only read by a small portion of readers.

Maybe, oh, fifteen percent of the books I read are, in some way, academically funded (even if usually major-published). The last one I finished was a short memoir funded by government (Germany paid for the translation). It was published, in the US, by a small independent publisher, and with an eBook price/word ratio much higher -- even with a discount -- than I'm seeing from those allegedly evil major publishers:

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/eb...d-have-shot-me

Originally Posted by eschwartz

(Aside -- biographies should all catch fire and die.)

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Nothing, I think. I just wanted to specify where I got the books from in case someone recalled that I rarely buy eBooks and then questioned how I would even know.



They say they offer 2 million titles. Some are just audiobooks, but most are eBooks. That's a lot of backlist. No library can afford to buy or lease more than a small portion of them. Is that what you meant?



All books are niche books. Even #1 bestsellers are only read by a small portion of readers.

Maybe, oh, fifteen percent of the books I read are, in some way, academically funded (even if usually major-published). The last one I finished was a short memoir funded by government (Germany paid for the translation). It was published, in the US, by a small independent publisher, and with an eBook price/word ratio much higher -- even with a discount -- than I'm seeing from those allegedly evil major publishers:

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/eb...d-have-shot-me

The price was so high because Kobo is still Agency pricing. Amazon has it for $11.99. This is what Agency pricing does - higher prices.

Here's the link for Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Grandfather-Wo.../dp/B00NVVU9DI

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Nothing, I think. I just wanted to specify where I got the books from in case someone recalled that I rarely buy eBooks and then questioned how I would even know.

They say they offer 2 million titles. Some are just audiobooks, but most are eBooks. That's a lot of backlist. No library can afford to buy or lease more than a small portion of them. Is that what you meant?

Correct, and I have access to several different libraries. I spend quite a bit of time filing requests for them to buy specific backlist titles, with mixed success. It isn't their focus.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Publishers do of course discount, for the big pubs usually they discount previous books before an authors new book comes out (a $7.99 list book to $1.99 or $2.99 usually). This example though is not discounted. $14.99 is the full digital list price. It is of course a 50% discount compared to the hardcover list price, but this isn't the same thing as discounting the eBook itself.

It's not the list price according to the Amazon page. I suspect that if we look at the price in six months, it will be discounted more. That's more or less the way that prices go with books. The further away one gets from the initial publication date, the less the book costs.

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by crossi

If I was an author I would be very unhappy with any publishing house that insisted on Agency pricing. Imagine having my book selling at 3/4th the price but getting PAID like they were sold at full price AND selling more books, then having that cash bonanza taken away by my publisher. Enough to make me want to take my books and leave.

The reason lots of publishing houses insist on agency pricing is that it is currently the only way to not lose a lot of money from your Amazon and Apple sales. The problem is, as long as any major vendor requires agency pricing (which from what I've seen, both Apple and Amazon do unless you're big enough to force them to negotiate a special contract), you have to use agency everywhere. Otherwise, if you sell to someone at a wholesale price and they lower the price, the most-favored-nation clause kicks in, and Apple and Amazon pay you less—potentially a lot less if it causes your book to cross into a different price class.

For example, Google Play basically uses a wholesale scheme (though they don't call it that). It's a real pain in the backside, because they discount things arbitrarily off of retail. They can cut the price by up to 48% without losing money. And if you list your books there at the same SRP, you'll quickly find your prices from Amazon and Apple cut by up to 48%. So instead of making 70% of the cover price from Amazon and Apple, you're making 52% of 70%, or 36.4% of the cover price.

And because Amazon and Apple are the two biggest sales channels, you'd have to be a little nuts not to be wary of wholesale schemes, at least until such time as the courts and/or legislation mandates that all sales channels give you the choice of agency or wholesale models (or until MFN clauses are ruled illegal).

[murg]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

The reason lots of publishing houses insist on agency pricing is that it is currently the only way to not lose a lot of money from your Amazon and Apple sales. The problem is, as long as any major vendor requires agency pricing (which from what I've seen, both Apple and Amazon do unless you're big enough to force them to negotiate a special contract), you have to use agency everywhere. Otherwise, if you sell to someone at a wholesale price and they lower the price, the most-favored-nation clause kicks in, and Apple and Amazon pay you less—potentially a lot less if it causes your book to cross into a different price class.

For example, Google Play basically uses a wholesale scheme (though they don't call it that). It's a real pain in the backside, because they discount things arbitrarily off of retail. They can cut the price by up to 48% without losing money. And if you list your books there at the same SRP, you'll quickly find your prices from Amazon and Apple cut by up to 48%. So instead of making 70% of the cover price from Amazon and Apple, you're making 52% of 70%, or 36.4% of the cover price.

And because Amazon and Apple are the two biggest sales channels, you'd have to be a little nuts not to be wary of wholesale schemes, at least until such time as the courts and/or legislation mandates that all sales channels give you the choice of agency or wholesale models (or until MFN clauses are ruled illegal).

Huh?

Amazon doesn't want agency. They want to be able to discount.

[fjtorres]

Average price per BPH over the last 15 months:

http://authorearnings.com/wp-content...-linegraph.png

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

It's not the list price according to the Amazon page.

Look at the Amazon page again. They are listing the print list price and comparing the digital price to that. It started out back when Kindle launched as a way to show what a bargain a Kindle book could be compared to the print book and is still the method they use, also back then many/most digital books had the same or similar list to print books since they were both sold using similar wholesale/retail methods. It makes the "discount" seem bigger than it actually is many times.

I suspect that if we look at the price in six months, it will be discounted more. That's more or less the way that prices go with books. The further away one gets from the initial publication date, the less the book costs.

Yes, thanks for pointing out the obvious.

Again though, it's not a discounted price really. It is the digital list, or "cover", price which the publisher has decided to charge. Nothing wrong or right with that, it just is.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Again though, it's not a discounted price really. It is the digital list, or "cover", price which the publisher has decided to charge. Nothing wrong or right with that, it just is.

...unless you're a Hachette author facing a 12% drop in the current quarter, check due around the holiday season...

...and that is against the already depressed numbers from last year's catfight.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...ne-at-hbg.html

They made the bed.

[ApK]

What is all this idiotic "the case wasn't about about price fixing" blither?!?

Just read the court documents.
http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/cases/s...special&id=306

It was all about price fixing.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ApK

What is all this idiotic "the case wasn't about about price fixing" blither?!?

Just read the court documents.
http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/cases/s...special&id=306

It was all about price fixing.

Shh!
Dontcha know they "never admitted wrongdoing"?
That trumps any physical evidence and legal findings.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

They made the bed.

Actually, I think that they pooped in it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Actually, I think that they pooped in it.

Oh, you think the diaper popped loose?
Could be, then.