Pricing sucks!

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

I really don't care how those prices come about. All that matters to me, as a consumer, is that the ebook has a higher street price than the pbook. It's an automatic no-buy.

Meaning what, that whoever sets the price for a book should automatically undercut the lowest available price?

There are a bunch of sellers who offer a used copy of Watership Down for 1¢ (literally). Should the publishers set the ebook price at 0.5¢ to match?

I.e. Amazon is playing you. They show you used, remaindered and 3rd party prices in part as a sales tactic, and in part to generate an anchor price. So if you're going to get up in arms, maybe it wouldn't hurt to know what you're actually responding to....

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why? eBooks are more valuable than pbooks. They never deteriorate, no matter how often you read them, and they occupy no physical storage space.

Well, ebooks:

-can't be lent (excepting Amazon's locked down system of course);
-can't be resold; and
-can't be placed on an already fulsome bookshelf to act as a status symbol.

Also, the "value" of an object is often at least somewhat correlated to what it cost to produce and the marginal cost of a publisher printing one additional ebook is effectively zero. I think it's safe to assume that if a publisher can make money on a physical book at $5.00 a unit, they won't be losing money on the ebook version at that price.

Since value is subjective, I can understand why the above wouldn't matter to someone. Say if they were living in a tiny apartment with a humidity problem, then the space saving and lack of deterioration would probably be more valuable.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why? eBooks are more valuable than pbooks. They never deteriorate, no matter how often you read them, and they occupy no physical storage space.

Part of the value of a real book is in its resale and potential investment value. I know you don't sell your books, but if you sell a new book within about a month of release you will get at least half its initial purchase price. This will be taken into consideration when publishers determine their prices, they know that most books will be read by more than one person.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why? eBooks are more valuable than pbooks. They never deteriorate, no matter how often you read them, and they occupy no physical storage space.

They have zero resale value, you can lose access to them due to DRM, you're limited in how or where you can use them, due to DRM, etc.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why? eBooks are more valuable than pbooks. They never deteriorate, no matter how often you read them, and they occupy no physical storage space.

Harry, I can't figure out why you think something that is merely licensed is more valuable than something that is owned. Obviously, if you circumvent the license restrictions, for example, by removing DRM, you can "own" the ebook, but let's recognize that most consumers won't circumvent the licensing terms.

[Daithi]

My mistake about the $3.98 Mass Market Paperbook price. I just looked at the column labeled as new and quoted that price. However, if I had intended to quote the used paperback price I would have given the $0.01 price. It looks like the cheapest paperback price is $11.56. The publisher sells it to Amazon for about $8.50 and includes an MSRP of $17.00, and Amazon sells it for $11.56. This is still a couple bucks cheaper than the ebook price.

Trying to justify a higher ebook price based on the MSRP of the paperback is kind of silly. He is an analogy. Toyota announces that the Prius line of cars will now be sold through an agency model where the dealer just makes a commission and Toyota sets the sales price. However, Toyota's Infinity line of cars will continue to be sold in the traditional manner. Now you go to the dealer with the intent of buying an inexpensive Prius, but find that the price has not only gone up, but is higher than the luxury line of Infinity cars. Naturally, you complain, but someone says "You can't blame Toyota. They set the retail price at $60,000 for an Infinity and the dealer discounts it, which is why it cost less than the Prius now. It's not Toyota's fault. They don't have any control over discounting." My response would be "Yes, Toyota does have control over the Infinity's price at which they sell it to the dealers, and they have control of the price they set for the Prius. So Toyota knows what the prices will be, and is absolutely to blame here." Well, the same applies to publishers and ebooks. They know the price at which they sell the paperback version and the price they sell the ebook version, so they know the price consumers will have to pay. Clearly, it is the publishers who should be held responsible for these nutball prices.

[pidgeon92]

The publisher really jacked up the price on this one. I bought it right after it was released in Feb 2010 for the Kindle, and I paid $4.95.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Daithi

Ok, I'm about to bitch and moan, you've been forewarned. I would like to buy Watership Down by Richard Adams. Supposedly one of the greatest books of fantasy -- with bunnies as the main characters. Who doesn't love a kick butt bunny book? Remember Peter Rabbit, Mr. McGregor's garden, and lost mittens? I'd like to relive that fast paced excitement.

Here's the problem. The Kindle edition is $13.99 but the Mass Market Paperback edition is $3.98. Yes, I don't have to buy it if I don't like the price, and that is exactly what I'm doing -- not buying it. Nevertheless, it still ticks me off and I feel like moaning.

I'm not trying to defend the publisher. I agree that the price for the eBook is too high. But, you have things not quite right. There is no mass market paperback any longer. The price of $4.00 is from an aftermarket seller. From Amazon, the current paperback is $11.56.

What's happening is that publishers are trying to do away with mass market in favor of a different paperback format. I don't know the name of this new format. But it is taller, thinner, and more expensive then mass market. The publishers say they are doing this so they can make the print larger because it's what the customers want. That's BS. What it is is a new format so they can charge more money for the same thing. It doesn't fit in most bookcases and it's not a good fit to the hand. It's a b@sat@rdization of the mass market format. It's so the publishers can cheat the customers of more money.

Because this new paperback format is more expensive, they can keep eBooks at a higher price as well. But the way I see it, the more they try to cheat us, the more we'll turn to the net and get it for free.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why? eBooks are more valuable than pbooks. They never deteriorate, no matter how often you read them, and they occupy no physical storage space.

If it makes you feel better for thinking that. You just go ahead. We'll see to it that you get your rice pudding for dessert in the home.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What's happening is that publishers are trying to do away with mass market in favor of a different paperback format. I don't know the name of this new format. But it is taller, thinner, and more expensive then mass market. The publishers say they are doing this so they can make the print larger because it's what the customers want. That's BS. What it is is a new format so they can charge more money for the same thing. It doesn't fit in most bookcases and it's not a good fit to the hand. It's a b@sat@rdization of the mass market format. It's so the publishers can cheat the customers of more money.

I think you're referring to the Trade Paperback—and they've been around forever. I'm not saying the publishers aren't trying to eliminate MMPB's... just that Trades aren't anything new in the publishing world.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Harry, I can't figure out why you think something that is merely licensed is more valuable than something that is owned. Obviously, if you circumvent the license restrictions, for example, by removing DRM, you can "own" the ebook, but let's recognize that most consumers won't circumvent the licensing terms.

Because my house became full of books - double-stacked shelves on every available wall. To buy more books I would have had to buy a larger house. For me personally, eBooks are worth FAR more than paper books, because I can store an essentially unlimited number of them on an external drive the size of a pack of playing cards. Naturally I remove the DRM as soon as I buy a book (and I typically buy 4 or 5 books a week).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I think you're referring to the Trade Paperback—and they've been around forever. I'm not saying the publishers aren't trying to eliminate MMPB's... just that Trades aren't anything new in the publishing world.

But it's only in the past few years or so that trades are taking over from mmpb. This not about customer needs or quality. It's about driving up prices so customers pay more.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But it's only in the past few years or so that trades are taking over from mmpb. This not about customer needs or quality. It's about driving up prices so customers pay more.

I wasn't questioning your overall point, Jon (in that particular post, anyway). Just your assertion that Trade Paperbacks were some new format. I thought I made that pretty clear.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Daithi

Trying to justify a higher ebook price based on the MSRP of the paperback is kind of silly. He is an analogy. Toyota announces that the Prius line of cars will now be sold through an agency model where the dealer just makes a commission and Toyota sets the sales price. However, Toyota's Infinity line of cars will continue to be sold in the traditional manner. Now you go to the dealer with the intent of buying an inexpensive Prius, but find that the price has not only gone up, but is higher than the luxury line of Infinity cars. Naturally, you complain, but someone says "You can't blame Toyota. They set the retail price at $60,000 for an Infinity and the dealer discounts it, which is why it cost less than the Prius now. It's not Toyota's fault. They don't have any control over discounting." My response would be "Yes, Toyota does have control over the Infinity's price at which they sell it to the dealers, and they have control of the price they set for the Prius. So Toyota knows what the prices will be, and is absolutely to blame here." Well, the same applies to publishers and ebooks. They know the price at which they sell the paperback version and the price they sell the ebook version, so they know the price consumers will have to pay. Clearly, it is the publishers who should be held responsible for these nutball prices.

Nah, Toyota doesn't have any control over Infiniti's pricing. Far as I'm aware, Infiniti is Nissan's. They do, however, control Lexus pricing.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I think you're referring to the Trade Paperback—and they've been around forever. I'm not saying the publishers aren't trying to eliminate MMPB's... just that Trades aren't anything new in the publishing world.

I bought a paperback book, Do Unto Others by JF Gonzalez, last year that is about the same size as a Kindle, it actually holds less text per page than I am used to on a Kindle. I don't know if that is a common size in America or not, but it's the smallest book I have ever seen.