Ebook price comparisons - Page 2

AnemicOak · 09-09-2009, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T3_reader

Has anyone noticed how pricing has actually gone up quite a bit at ereader.com? They seems to have given up on their '12.95$ max' pricing. I had hoped that this would have been a permanent pricing strategy but apparenty B&N, who own Fictionwise and ereader, aren't ready or willing yet to compete with Amazon.

Didn't notice that, but have noticed some "$9.99 bestsellers" at B&N's own ebook store (which are eReader books).

Boyodublin · 09-09-2009, 12:33 AM

Ok, I've reconsidered my initial $5 per book proposal, as I now think that I was possibly being a cheap-skate. It costs as much to go see a movie and we don't get the same enjoyment as we get from reading a great book. How about a groundswell movement from MobileRead members demanding that "ALL" newly published ebooks get priced at an initial $9.99 per copy, or lower.

We could start a movement here.....The word Boycott rings in my ears (initially coined during the Irish famine--look it up, an interesting story).

Could we start a petition for individual MobileRead members to sign electronically and have it forwarded to all of the publishers, or other parties concerned?? Am I still dreaming??

AnemicOak · 09-09-2009, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyodublin

Ok, I've reconsidered my initial $5 per book proposal, as I now think that I was possibly being a cheap-skate. It costs as much to go see a movie and we don't get the same enjoyment as we get from reading a great book. How about a groundswell movement from MobileRead members demanding that "ALL" newly published ebooks get priced at an initial $9.99 per copy, or lower.

We could start a movement here.....The word Boycott rings in my ears (initially coined during the Irish famine--look it up, an interesting story).

Could we start a petition for individual members to sign and have it forwarded to all of the publishers, or other parties concerned?? Am I still dreaming??

Do a search and you'll find all kinds of discussion about a 9.99 boycott and ebook pricing and stuff. There's been lots of discussion and you'll find all the opinions you could ever want.

You can certainly try petitions if you want, but I've never really seen them work.

The best thing you can probably do is refuse to buy a book when you feel it's to expensive and to let the publisher know why you aren't buying it. Buy from folks like Baen who "do it right" in manys opinion ($5-$6 books, no DRM).

Boyodublin · 09-09-2009, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AnemicOak
Do a search and you'll find all kinds of discussion about a 9.99 boycott and ebook pricing and stuff. There's been lots of discussion and you'll find all the opinions you could ever want.

You can certainly try petitions if you want, but I've never really seen them work.

I guess I'm simply a person who has experienced how a decent, collective dialogue and approach can actually effect change of this nature.

Boyodublin · 09-09-2009, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak
The best thing you can probably do is refuse to buy a book when you feel it's to expensive and to let the publisher know why you aren't buying it.

Can't we decide to do this collectively as opposed to individually??
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE READ THESE POSTS....
People Power!

corroonb · 09-09-2009, 02:54 PM

Are Amazon making a loss on most of their ebooks or are publishers giving them a special deal?

AnemicOak · 09-09-2009, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corroonb

Are Amazon making a loss on most of their ebooks or are publishers giving them a special deal?

Hard to say and be 100% sure, but publishers have said before that they aren't giving a special price to Amazon. Also most of their ebooks aren't discounted any more than other retailers it's generally just stuff that makes the bestseller list that gets the big discount.

Terisa de morgan · 09-09-2009, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Hard to say and be 100% sure, but publishers have said before that they aren't giving a special price to Amazon. Also most of their ebooks aren't discounted any more than other retailers it's generally just stuff that makes the bestseller list that gets the big discount.

I would like to mention only a thing about Amazon. I don't know how many of you look the book prices directly (and not through ebookinfo, that I'm not able to make it work). If the e-book is over $10, in same cases Amazon is the cheapest, with the 9,99$ price. But in a lot of cases Fictionwise is cheaper than Amazon, so... why isn't that noise about Fictionwise? I'm talking about fiction, and searching usually near 10 books per week.

ahi · 09-09-2009, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyodublin

So, how can we cut out the middle guy, the publisher?
OR, maybe someone can take up the cause of negotiating a different type of $$ tier system for ebooks, separate from what we already have for hard copy books. It makes perfect sense that the "per book" profits expected from ebooks, for all parties concerned (writers, publishers, retailers,etc.) should be curtailed to the extreme. This way, the industry has a chance to gain traction and all parties concerned have a greater potential to make increased profit in the future. Am I dreaming?

The publisher is not the middle guy. The publisher actually works for his part, however much or little. The middle guy is the distributer, wholesaler, and retailer... who basically take more than half the profit for shipping it around and storing it on their shelves... err... not that they do either of those things with eBooks, of course.

- Ahi

Elfwreck · 09-09-2009, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyodublin

I don't understand how a $9.99 ebook purchase price is not profitable? Can someone in the publishing industry please explain this?? No shipping costs & no production costs, etc.....

It can be profitable; otherwise, we wouldn't have $6-$9 paperbacks. Obviously, the publisher (and author) can make money off $10 books.

However, many publishers are convinced that every less-expensive book sold indicates the loss of a hardcover sale. So they believe that selling ebooks at $10 while the hardcover is $25 is a $15 loss--they think every one of those ebook buyers would buy the hardcover instead, if there were no ebooks.

Pressuring them about the logic will get them to admit that no, they don't think everyone who bought the paperback would've bought the hardcover. But they believe that more people will buy hardcovers if cheaper editions don't exist at the same time.

Elfwreck · 09-09-2009, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corroonb

Are Amazon making a loss on most of their ebooks or are publishers giving them a special deal?

As far as we know, Amazon is taking a hit on their $9.99 bestsellers. However, Amazon operated without profit for its first several years... it knows that taking a loss on some goods for quite a while is worth it, in order to get market dominance.

CleverClothe · 09-09-2009, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

As far as we know, Amazon is taking a hit on their $9.99 bestsellers. However, Amazon operated without profit for its first several years... it knows that taking a loss on some goods for quite a while is worth it, in order to get market dominance.

"Selling an item for a loss" and "not making a profit" are two completely different things.

Elfwreck · 09-09-2009, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CleverClothe

"Selling an item for a loss" and "not making a profit" are two completely different things.

Yes--but the point is, Amazon is willing to forgo some current profits to assure future ones, so discussing whether/how much they are losing money on the ebook bestsellers is fairly irrelevant. Having them available sells lots of other books, on which they do not take a loss. They might be able to continue that way forever, or they might need to adjust their system in a year or two.

goldilocks · 09-09-2009, 08:24 PM

I found a book at HarperCollins that looked interesting. It was just released (9/8/2009).

The price at HarperCollins for Hardcover is listed at $24.99 and the eBook is listed for $19.99.

Researching other sites:
Sony - $9.99
Kindle Edition - $9.99 (normally I wouldn’t bother looking at Amazon)
B&N - $9.99
eBooks.com - $24.99
eReader.com - $20.00
Fictionwise - Regular $21.24 // After Rebate: $13.81
Club $18.05 // After Rebate: Cost $11.73
Diesel eBooks - price: $21.43 // Disc. next order: $-2.93 // Effective price: $18.50

I can see Sony and Amazon selling eBooks cheaper because they are getting the real profits from selling the Readers.

This site http://www.ebookprice.info/ did not find all these prices. I got an error on the page. It found the book and when I clicked on the link it came up with three prices. I went back to check again and now all I get is “Internal Server Error”.

Pricing sure is all over the place!!

fugazied · 09-09-2009, 09:07 PM

I think it depends on your reading preferences. For example if you don't buy new release books immediately but do read from the mainstream, Amazon might be cheapest. If you read a lot of sci-fi Sony might be cheapest. Some kind of application which could compare overall prices for a particular reading list would be great

If you could put in the next 10 books you are going to buy + and get a range of prices between stores that would be a good indication.

09-09-2009, 12:33 AM	#17
Boyodublin Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 72 Join Date: Nov 2006 Device: Sony Reader	Same Price as a Movie.. Ok, I've reconsidered my initial $5 per book proposal, as I now think that I was possibly being a cheap-skate. It costs as much to go see a movie and we don't get the same enjoyment as we get from reading a great book. How about a groundswell movement from MobileRead members demanding that "ALL" newly published ebooks get priced at an initial $9.99 per copy, or lower. We could start a movement here.....The word Boycott rings in my ears (initially coined during the Irish famine--look it up, an interesting story). Could we start a petition for individual MobileRead members to sign electronically and have it forwarded to all of the publishers, or other parties concerned?? Am I still dreaming?? Last edited by Boyodublin; 09-09-2009 at 12:39 AM.

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09-09-2009, 02:54 PM	#21
corroonb Addict Posts: 317 Karma: 1232685 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Ireland Device: Kindle Voyage, Kobo Aura, Nexus 9	Are Amazon making a loss on most of their ebooks or are publishers giving them a special deal?

09-09-2009, 08:24 PM	#29
goldilocks Addict Posts: 344 Karma: 1222222 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Florida Device: Sony PRS-505	I found a book at HarperCollins that looked interesting. It was just released (9/8/2009). The price at HarperCollins for Hardcover is listed at $24.99 and the eBook is listed for $19.99. Researching other sites: Sony - $9.99 Kindle Edition - $9.99 (normally I wouldn’t bother looking at Amazon) B&N - $9.99 eBooks.com - $24.99 eReader.com - $20.00 Fictionwise - Regular $21.24 // After Rebate: $13.81 Club $18.05 // After Rebate: Cost $11.73 Diesel eBooks - price: $21.43 // Disc. next order: $-2.93 // Effective price: $18.50 I can see Sony and Amazon selling eBooks cheaper because they are getting the real profits from selling the Readers. This site http://www.ebookprice.info/ did not find all these prices. I got an error on the page. It found the book and when I clicked on the link it came up with three prices. I went back to check again and now all I get is “Internal Server Error”. Pricing sure is all over the place!!

09-09-2009, 09:07 PM	#30
fugazied Wizard Posts: 1,305 Karma: 1958 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: iPod Touch	I think it depends on your reading preferences. For example if you don't buy new release books immediately but do read from the mainstream, Amazon might be cheapest. If you read a lot of sci-fi Sony might be cheapest. Some kind of application which could compare overall prices for a particular reading list would be great If you could put in the next 10 books you are going to buy + and get a range of prices between stores that would be a good indication.

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