Why e-books?

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The primary issue for ebook stores is Amazon and Apple. They control the vast majority of the ebook market in the US. It's pretty hard to steal customers from Amazon. You will never be able to beat them on price. <snip>

I'm not disagreeing with any of your points here. I'm disagreeing with the idea that keeping ebooks "in print" has a negligible cost.

[barryem]

I use reviews a lot to help me make decisions about buying books but I don't go by the reviewers opinion so much as the information he gives me about what to expect. I've bought books a lot of times based on a negative review that tells me something interesting to me about the book.

I'm more likely to look closely if it has good reviews but even if it doesn't I'm likely to look at the information that's there if something about the book has caught my interest.

I'm sure doing it this way I miss a lot of good books but I also find a lot of good books and that's just fine.

The book I'm reading right now is one I decided not to buy a few months ago when I read about it. Then this weekend I ran into it again and something made me reconsider and I'm glad I did. It's excellent. But that's okay. I've read a lot of good books since I first rejected this one.

By the way, I'm reading "Defending Jacob" by Wiliam Landay, and it's excellent.

Barry

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ratinox

I'm not disagreeing with any of your points here. I'm disagreeing with the idea that keeping ebooks "in print" has a negligible cost.

So how much does it cost for an author to keep his ebook in print? For an individual author and individual book, hardly anything. Depending on the ebook store, the overall cost might be some amount of money, I'm sure Amazon's monthly bill to keep the ebook store up and running might be a fair amount of money depending on how you do your accounting. For a couple of authors running their own website with a paypal store (as more than a few authors do), less than $100 per month. I don't believe that an individual author publishing on Amazon is actually charged anything on an ongoing basis. They only pay a percentage when a book is sold.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

So how much does it cost for an author to keep his ebook in print? For an individual author and individual book, hardly anything. Depending on the ebook store, the overall cost might be some amount of money, I'm sure Amazon's monthly bill to keep the ebook store up and running might be a fair amount of money depending on how you do your accounting. For a couple of authors running their own website with a paypal store (as more than a few authors do), less than $100 per month. I don't believe that an individual author publishing on Amazon is actually charged anything on an ongoing basis. They only pay a percentage when a book is sold.

Yes, it looks cheap to do it yourself with a WordPress site and a PayPal account but this hides the truth. Running something this way may not cost a lot out of pocket but it costs you your time spent playing sysadmin and accountant and all of the other things a publisher or distributor does for you instead of being an author.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ratinox

Yes, it looks cheap to do it yourself with a WordPress site and a PayPal account but this hides the truth. Running something this way may not cost a lot out of pocket but it costs you your time spent playing sysadmin and accountant and all of the other things a publisher or distributor does for you instead of being an author.

Life isn't all lounging around. At some point you have to earn a living. If you care so little about something, that you aren't willing to even make a minimal effort, why should society go to the effort of keeping other people from copying your work? There are plenty of ebook stores out there to use and most aren't going to charge you to make your work available.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Life isn't all lounging around. At some point you have to earn a living. If you care so little about something, that you aren't willing to even make a minimal effort, why should society go to the effort of keeping other people from copying your work? There are plenty of ebook stores out there to use and most aren't going to charge you to make your work available.

Yes, they do. They do it by skimming a percentage off of every sale they make.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by barryem

By the way, I'm reading "Defending Jacob" by Wiliam Landay, and it's excellent.

Barry

I read it two years ago, and gave it 4 stars. Very good book, with not too heavy writing. It was enjoyable, and there are few authors as good as Landay.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ratinox

They do it by skimming a percentage off of every sale they make.

Isn't that how every store operates?

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Isn't that how every store operates?

Yes it is. That's the price of publishing directly through a service provider like Amazon or Apple.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ratinox

Yes it is. That's the price of publishing directly through a service provider like Amazon or Apple.

So, in a nutshell your complaint isn't that the cost is negligible, your complaint is that there is a cost at all.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ratinox

Yes it is. That's the price of publishing directly through a service provider like Amazon or Apple.

That's the price of selling anything anywhere. What is wholesale vs. retail except for skimming off the top of every product sold everywhere.

Point is, keeping eBooks "in print" does have a negligible cost. If the site charges you nothing except for a small percentage of any unit sold, then the cost to the publisher of keeping that book available (once it exists) is essentially zero.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

That's the price of selling anything anywhere. What is wholesale vs. retail except for skimming off the top of every product sold everywhere.

Since the discussion has been about what authors pay to keep their works in print this only applies to authors who publish directly through a service provider (direct sales have no retail skim). Authors who work for traditional publishers don't keep their works in print. Trad-pub authors receive advances, write their books, and collect royalties. Everything else is managed by their publishers who are responsible for deciding what to keep in print and taking the actions necessary to do so.

I'll concede the point that authors who publish directly through Amazon or Apple, or trad-publishers who use their services, and sell no books pay nothing to keep those books listed.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

So, in a nutshell your complaint isn't that the cost is negligible, your complaint is that there is a cost at all.

The complaint is that 30% of every sale (Apple's take) is being called "negligible".

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ratinox

The complaint is that 30% of every sale (Apple's take) is being called "negligible".

However, the argument is about the cost of keeping an e-book 'in print'

Listing the book on Apple and selling zero copies costs you an out-of-pocket total of $0.00

Selling an e-book through Apple for $5 nets you $3.50 after Apple skims their 30%. Removing the book from availability nets you $0

[darryl]

Originally Posted by ratinox

The complaint is that 30% of every sale (Apple's take) is being called "negligible".

Which assumes, incorrectly, that the whole of that 30% is attributable to the costs of keeping that book "in print".

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

However, the argument is about the cost of keeping an e-book 'in print'

Listing the book on Apple and selling zero copies costs you an out-of-pocket total of $0.00

Selling an e-book through Apple for $5 nets you $3.50 after Apple skims their 30%. Removing the book from availability nets you $0

As I said, I concede the point that if you sell no books then your cost to keep it listed is zero.