01-07-2011, 08:46 PM | #16 |
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01-07-2011, 09:44 PM | #17 |
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The whole thing seems to be chaos at the moment. I remember reading the blog of one author who patiently described that the higher pricing on a hardcover than paperback had little to do with production costs and everything to do with release timing - you pay a premium to be able to read the book just after release etc...
With this he argued that if the ebook was released at the same time as the hardcover, we should expect the ePrice to be similar to (or even the same as) the hardcover price. If you're content to wait for a year and get the paperback, you can also pay less it seems. However, with the book in question that would mean that the ePrice should be at least the same as the paperback given the timing of the release - so in this example we see something quite different. If you're prepared to wait this long for "Lost in a Good Book" in electronic format you would think you'd be rewarded with a cheaper price. And that's why I don't listen to the calm words of authors or anyone else explain why ePrices should be the same when the examples quite often don't really match up with the explanation. I think the best explanation of ePrices is that publishers will charge what serves their purposes. Whether that is to scare people away from the electronic back into more traditional media, or to maximise profit on a media they think they will suffer from due to piracy I really couldn't say. For myself, I will pay what I'm prepared to. I bought "The Windup Girl" at $14.95 because I could not bear not to have that ebook in my possession. It's the only ebook I've bought at that price and I'm unlikely to apply the same desperation to many other authors. So in the case of that one example, the tactic to "overcharge" for that book worked - at least for me. Will the gamble work across the board? I guess only time will tell. Regards Caleb |
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01-07-2011, 10:50 PM | #18 |
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This is a classic case of price gauging. When it comes to ebooks, publishers don't have to pay for shipping, shelf space in bookstores, nor do they have to worry about returns (from bookstores). But publishers don't want consumers to think about that and accept these high-priced ebooks as the norm. If Jasper Ford knew what was best for him he'd leave the publisher and self-publish his book. He'd make much more money.
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01-07-2011, 11:29 PM | #19 | |
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01-07-2011, 11:32 PM | #20 |
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01-08-2011, 12:14 AM | #21 |
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I'm displeased when a product I want more costs more than the product I want less. Seems to happen a lot.
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01-08-2011, 03:34 AM | #22 |
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I am happy to pay more for a new release... but not that much more. In Australia, some new releases are $25+. That's totally ridiculous. For a special book, I would happily pay $45 for hardcover version because I get a better quality product that will give me years of enjoyment. I think $15 is reasonable for a new release ebook... no more. I won't pay it. Australian ebook prices (maybe even book prices in general) are completely unreasonable.
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01-08-2011, 08:00 AM | #23 | |
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01-08-2011, 08:28 AM | #24 |
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I gotta pay $11 to see a two hour movie.
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01-08-2011, 08:36 AM | #25 |
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Oh yeah, I forgot to mention:
I gladly paid $14.99 for Lost in a Good Book (eBook) month or two ago when I purchased it. Because I felt that it is worth that price whether printed or electronic. Or, I could drive to Borders and buy the crappy Penguin trade paperback for the exact same price locally. Plus tax. Plus driving back again. Plus I'm a germ scared android so I don't just pop in to a store whenever the whim hits me. Making the eBook for the same price hugely desirable. True, I could purchase from a discounted store like Amazon or even get it used off of the marketplace or eBay or something but I didn't. I actually value the eBook higher than the print book in this case because I want the things that the eBook version can give me that the printed book cannot. Both are $14.99, but the amount of convenience minus the amount of work I am required to do in either case actually makes the eBook version worth more than the printed book (to me). So I paid the asking price with gusto and two minutes later I was reading it in the crook of the arm of my couch, adjusting the fonts, and smiling copiously as Thursday continues her delightful adventures. The truth is that some people will look at a $14.99 eBook and scream bloody murder over the outrage of a book priced in a way that other people might consider to be perfectly fair and the opposite of outrageous. I'm accustomed to paying QUITE A BIT more than a measly $14.99 for books that I truly want to read. If they had released the eBook version at the hardcover price all over again, now that would seem weird, but they didn't and they simply matched the trade paperback price and I would rather have the eBook over the trade if they are both at the exact same price. Oh man, long winded apologetics look horrible on me! Last edited by Anthem; 01-08-2011 at 10:40 PM. |
01-08-2011, 09:47 AM | #26 | |
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01-08-2011, 09:47 AM | #27 | |
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And most of them weren't even hardbacks. |
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01-08-2011, 10:01 AM | #28 | |
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The industry looks to be entering a crisis mode right now, and I don't think pissing off your customers is a very good way to prepare for that. |
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01-08-2011, 10:23 AM | #29 |
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As some have noted, the real question is simply "what is this particular book worth to you in this particular format?"
When it was first released, I bought Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch for $28.80 (36% off the $45 list price) in hardcover. The book has been sitting in my TBR pile since it was purchased. Part of the problem is that it is so big (approximately 1200 pages), it is difficult for me to hold these days. The other half of the problem is that the more I use my Sony Reader, the less inclined I am to read a pbook; I really enjoy the ebook experience. So what to do? I decided that I really want to read this book so it was worth my buying the ebook version at $29.99, which I did earlier this week. Bottom line is that this book was worth a total of $58.79 to me to get it in the 2 formats I wanted: hardcover for insertion into my permanent library and ebook for ease of and pleasurable reading. I grant that my buying habits are not the norm. But neither are the buying habits of most people in this thread who complain about price. I think the reality is that most ebook buyers are not comparison shoppers. I think that most people who bought or were given a Kindle buy their ebooks at Amazon and do not consider whether the same book can be had elsewhere for less or more. Similarly, most of those who bought or were given a Nook shop at Barnes & Noble and do not comparison shop. If this were not true, there would be no economic justification for the proprietary formats/DRM schemes Amazon and B&N employ. I also think that the reality is that most of these ebook buyers simply buy a book that interests them at the then going price without thinking twice about it. I clearly have no objective data to support my beliefs, but I do know how my friends and neighbors who have bought or were given ebook-reading devices shop for their books. And this is why, regardless of the complaining about pricing done here on MR, publishers are able to successfully impose the agency model on the consuming public. |
01-08-2011, 10:26 AM | #30 |
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Personally I see absolutely no problem with spending $15 on a good book. That's less than I'd spend for a take-away pizza. A book is worth more to me than a pizza.
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