Stars fall in Amazon protest about ebook prices

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by sabredog

I guess my conversion to ebooks is complete.

Resistance is futile! You will be assimilated!

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Resistance is futile! You will be assimilated!

Yes, my journey to the dark side is complete!...

[JLeighs]

Originally Posted by El_Nino_Brian

I don't understand all this commotion about the prices of e-books. We the readers, the consumers, drive the market, not Amazon. If we're not happy about e-book prices from Amazon, there's only one clear thing to do: BOYCOTT AMAZON. After all, there are thousands and thousands of books yet to appreciated and read on Project Gutenberg. Put your money where you mouth is and do something about it.

I don't understand what Amazon has to do with publisher-set prices for ebooks. Either Amazon is setting the prices or the publishers are. According to Amazon, the prices are "set by the publishers", so how on earth is boycotting Amazon going to change anything?

[Blue Tyson]

In fact, if

Publishers really don't like Amazon
and Publishers set prices you don't like
then

buy more stuff from Amazon!

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by kevinp

Are you telling me that most authors these days are still using a typewriter or pencil and paper?

Uh, no. I don't understand your comment at all.

I'm saying that publishing companies have to pay editors, line editors, proofreaders, marketers and artists, even if all they're publishing are e-books. Publishers have overhead when they publish an e-book. Saying that e-books should be cheap because they don't have printing costs is not realistic, because paper and transportation is not the biggest cost a publihser has.

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

Uh, no. I don't understand your comment at all.

I'm saying that publishing companies have to pay editors, line editors, proofreaders, marketers and artists, even if all they're publishing are e-books. Publishers have overhead when they publish an e-book. Saying that e-books should be cheap because they don't have printing costs is not realistic, because paper and transportation is not the biggest cost a publihser has.

When do they ever just publish ebooks? My guess would be that most authors are using some type of word processor to write their books. They have to be edited and proofed before being sent to the printing press anyway--there's no extra work to make an ebook out of it.

My biggest argument is that I don't actually 'own' the ebook and can't legally give it to my neighbor to read. I can do that with the paper version, so why shouldn't the ebook be worth less? I've never known anybody that wouldn't lend me a paper book to read once they were done with it.

I'm not one of those people that can afford to spend a few hundred dollars on ebooks every year.

[NormHart]

After quite a bit of internal debate I can not support giving a book a one star rating due to the price of the ebook. Stars and comments on a book on Amazon cover all forms of the book be it ebook, hard cover, paperback, or audio. While making a comment about a specific format may be valid I can not see ranking the book itself based on a specific format.

I vote with my pocketbook, I buy what I can afford. Just as I rarely purchased a hard bound book due to both its price and its physical volume I will not purchase an ebook that is too expensive and is DRM crippled. I'll wait for the mass market version and, more than likely, buy a used copy. Tough on the author but it is what I can afford.

BTW very cogent comment and summation Ken Irving, I hope you won't mind if I quote you.

[TrvlrsChick]

Another thing to consider about the Agency model - when I was buying pbooks, I was only on VERY rare occasions buying them for full price. I usually had a 25%, 30%, even a 40% off coupon from Borders, and with the Agency price fixing, the retailers aren't allowed to let us use coupons. It stinks. I have almost stopped buying ebooks and will probably start getting the pbooks from the library if the ebook isn't available to rent.

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by kevinp

When do they ever just publish ebooks? My guess would be that most authors are using some type of word processor to write their books. They have to be edited and proofed before being sent to the printing press anyway--there's no extra work to make an ebook out of it.

There are dozens of publishers who focus on electronic books. Most do both print and e-book but many are ALL e-book.

Publishing companies do not simply publish whatever document the author submits. The company pays professional content editors to make suggestions about the plot and characterization to the author, who then revises the book accordingly. The company then has a professional copyeditor line edit the manuscript. A proofreader looks over any last-minute changes by the author. A graphic artist is paid to produce a professional cover.

These costs apply regardless of whether a book is published electronically or on paper. Publishers have a right to earn a profit on the e-book as well as the print book. If you feel the e-books are priced too high, don't buy them. But giving an author a low review because of a book's price seems quite petty and useless to me.

I'm stepping out of this thread now as it's giving me hives.

[NormHart]

There is something interesting to be found looking at Amazon's Bestsellers in Science Fiction Top 100 Paid ebooks list. Only 9 of the 100 ebooks are priced at over $10.00 I suspect this means that a lot of first run Sci Fi from top authors/major Publishers are not making the Top 100 Paid sales list. This contrasts with 11 over $10.00 in the top 20 in the overall Bestsellers in Kindle eBooks list. It is also worth noteing that the top seven overall bestsellers in the Kindle ebook list are all under $10.00.

I suspect that the Publishers will, eventually get the message.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers...c_154606011_10

[MikeFromHC]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

Uh, no. I don't understand your comment at all.

I'm saying that publishing companies have to pay editors, line editors, proofreaders, marketers and artists, even if all they're publishing are e-books. Publishers have overhead when they publish an e-book. Saying that e-books should be cheap because they don't have printing costs is not realistic, because paper and transportation is not the biggest cost a publihser has.

The difference in price between a paperback and a hard back should be minimal if this is the case, yet a paperback is frequently less than 1/3 the cost of the hard bound.
Either the margin on the hard back is huge or there is a big difference in printing, paper, and transportation between the two.

[MerLock]

Originally Posted by Fabe

Ultimately we are paying for the value of the content, not the cost of the packaging. There is no reason what-so-ever electronic books should cost less or more than a hard or paperback edition.

Can't say I agree with you there. If that's the case, why have two prices for paperback books vs hardcovers? Content is the same but packaging is different.

I can understand why ebooks cost so much. Publishers still have to pay for the cost of producing paper books. As hardcover books fall to ebooks, the cost of producing hardcover books will even provide less profit for the publishers. I don't see this happening, but until paper books are gone, then perhaps ebooks can be cheaper since the publishers no longer have to cover the cost of making printed books.

Personally, I don't mind the following options since I know publishers still have to pay for marketing and other stuff in producing a book.

1) Charging as much as a hardcover book on release but dropping the price to paperback prices when the paperback comes out

2) Delaying the release of ebooks within a reasonable time so that the hardcovers sell

3) Charging as much as a mass paperback book.

However, I wish all ebook prices were $5.00 but I can understand the justification for higher prices. Perhaps drop it down to $5.00 after two years of the paperback release. One can hope.

The only thing I complain about is the quality of the ebooks. I've bought some ebooks that I doubt would've been able to make bookstore shelves due to the poor formatting and typos. If I pay hardcover/paperbook prices, the least I can expect for it to have the same quality as the paper versions. There is no excuse for that in my opinion.

[basschick]

that's the first thing i consider every time this subject comes up.

Originally Posted by Piper_

Something that should be considered in all this is that Amazon agrees that ebooks should be cheaper than pbooks. They fought the agency model, and have eagerly advertised the fact that ebooks would save money, especially before they were forced into accepting it last spring.

They also penalize pricing of ebooks that aren't at least 20% cheaper than the pbook version.

Jeff Bezos gave many of the same reasons as people have in this thread.

Just something to consider.

when an ebook is overpriced imo, and i'm pretty reasonable about it, i buy the paper version used and email the publisher to let them know why i did that. seems more useful than penalizing the authors unless people are using it as a pressure tactic to force star authors to demand the price fixing by the publishers be removed. and mostly i haven't seen that.

[astra]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Other than that, I just keep seeing statements that ebook sales are increasing more and more each month.

I would attribute increase in the numbers of sold ebook readers to increase in ebook sales.
If 3 years ago 1.000 units were sold and each user bought a lot, 10 ebooks, 10.000 ebooks sold.
Today, when 100.000 units are sold and only a small number of the new users actually buy ridiculously priced ebooks, instead of every new user who used to buy 10 ebooks now only 1 in 4 do it and buy only 2 books, it would still amount to 25.000*2=50.000
50.000 vs 10.000 - it is increase in sales, isn't it?

[BenG]

Originally Posted by MikeFromHC

The difference in price between a paperback and a hard back should be minimal if this is the case, yet a paperback is frequently less than 1/3 the cost of the hard bound.
Either the margin on the hard back is huge or there is a big difference in printing, paper, and transportation between the two.

I work for a printing company (not books) and the cost of labor is the biggest expense (printers, management, salespeople, HR, IT, marketing, office workers, etc).
Materials are the second largest expense and overhead (rent, utilities, depreciation of equipment, insurance, etc.) is third.


Hardbacks sell fewer copies than paperbacks so the margins have to be higher. I do what I've always done: wait for the prices to get cheaper. It used to be waiting for the paperback to come out(usually several months) or wait for the paperback to show up in used bookstores. Or if I can afford it and can't wait then I bite the bullet and pay the price.