Publisher tries to justify ebook price increase

[Lemurion]

The HarperCollins rep is right: There is a non-zero cost associated with producing and selling an eBook. I've read her statement a few times and she's not saying that producing an eBook costs more than a pBook though she is saying that producing an eBook as well as a pBook costs more than a pBook alone. This is particularly true if the publisher is covering the costs of multiple DRM formats.

Then there are marketing costs.

So sadly, it's not quite as easy as intercepting the digital type and firing it out as an eBook.

When you add in the fact that DRM-laden eBooks over $10.00 don't sell all that well it's easily possible that HarperCollins would be unable to reach their revenue expectations for the book at $11.99.

The problem is they took the wrong approach when they tried to fix the problem.

They probably figured they would lose less than half their potential sales due to the price increase, which would more than double their potential revenue.

It looks to have backfired.

They would have been better off producing the book DRM-free at a lower price point-- which would have given them more sales (Fictionwise is pretty clear that multi-format books sell better than secure ones) and lowered their costs.

[Dave Berk]

I think that according to their perverse logic, when you pay $25.95 for the ebook you actually pay for at least five other people who they are sure will pirate the ebook off the darknet.

I don't agree with them at all, but I'd imagine their reasoning as follow:
1. Piracy is here to stay (ebook stealing, ebook copying.... call it what you will)
2. It is cheaper to produce ebooks. But, the market for them is smaller and for each copy sold a few will be pirated.
3. Lets price the ones we sell high enough to cover the pirated copies as well.
It's really a vicious cycle because the high price will lead to more copies pirated... and so forth.

I think the publishers are secretly wishing for Amazon to fail. Amazon is currently the one who is leading the advance of ebooks reading, at least in the eyes of the uninformed public. If they will fail, eInk demand will drop. More important, there will be less incentive for the hardware companies to improve on eInk. Ebooks will then be deemed as a failed market. And that's what the publishers hope to achieve. Because, let face it, if there will be a good enough device, an Infopad, so to speak - printed books will go the way of the dodo. And the publishing business, the way it's done today, will follow.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by elena

I don't understand why the costs would be higher for an e-book than for a p-book.
Don't editors have digitalized versions of works that are intended for p-books release only, or do they have just original manuscripts and go through copying them by Benedictine monks?

Originally Posted by Slite

Which probably would be cheaper.... Don't the Benedictines take a vow of poverty?

Originally Posted by Dave Berk

I think that according to their perverse logic, when you pay $25.95 for the ebook you actually pay for at least five other people who they are sure will pirate the ebook off the darknet.

I don't agree with them at all, but I'd imagine their reasoning as follow:
1. Piracy is here to stay (ebook stealing, ebook copying.... call it what you will)
2. It is cheaper to produce ebooks. But, the market for them is smaller and for each copy sold a few will be pirated.
3. Lets price the ones we sell high enough to cover the pirated copies as well.
It's really a vicious cycle because the high price will lead to more copies pirated... and so forth.

interesting perspective. you may be right that that is their reasoning but i really hope not.

I think the publishers are secretly wishing for Amazon to fail. Amazon is currently the one who is leading the advance of ebooks reading, at least in the eyes of the uninformed public. If they will fail, eInk demand will drop. More important, there will be less incentive for the hardware companies to improve on eInk. Ebooks will then be deemed as a failed market. And that's what the publishers hope to achieve. Because, let face it, if there will be a good enough device, an Infopad, so to speak - printed books will go the way of the dodo. And the publishing business, the way it's done today, will follow.

i think amazon has the weight and momentum *already* not to fail. even if it did, with the sudden influx of new devices on the market i think ebooks have gotten some serious momentum of their own. i think we've passed the point where ebooks can "fail", although it may still take some time for them to reach the tipping point (but i think it's close).

i do not think printed books will *ever* go the way of the dodo, at least not in my lifetime ; there will always be reasons it is preferable to have a certain book or kind of book in paper rather than digital form. i think ebooks and paper books are complementary. what *might* happen, as was suggested on a different thread, is that mass market paperbacks go the way of the dodo, to be replaced by ebooks ; but even that will not happen until readers are MUCH cheaper and more universal. like mp3 players are now.

regardless, the publishing business must change, you are right about that, just as the music industry and the film industries had to change. i think they still have valuable roles to play but they must redefine themselves and accept that the model they have been using for X hundred years is no longer viable with the new cards being dealt.

what i hope is that the publishing industry will avoid the mistakes the music industry made, and it is still early days so perhaps they will. there are indications of both possibilities ; there is HarperCollins trying to charge 26$ for an ebook (with drm) on the one hand, but there is also PanMacMillan selling all their ebooks in drm-free epub.

I know that i will try to buy as many books from PanMacMillan as possible, to show them that i support their model, and i will also continue to be quite vocal about what i consider acceptable and not acceptable in an ebook i purchase. hopefully voting with our wallets can influence the outcome.

[JSWolf]

BooksOnBoard has it for $11.89 but Fictionwise has it for the raised price.

[HarryT]

Don't be too hard on HarperCollins - they may have the occasional anomalous price, but on the whole they are one of the "good guys" of the eBook industry, producing a very wide range of titles, most of which are at very reasonable prices. They are, for example, the publishers of the eBook versions of the "Agatha Christie" books, which are all at very good prices.

[Azayzel]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

If you would like to Digg the story, please click here. BTW, I went with technology news.

I actually registered with Digg just so I could provide help in further confronting this malarkey they're trying to pass of as fact. They should consider the fact that if something costs too much, or is too difficult to acquire, people will take the path of least resistance and just ignore it or acquire it using another method.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Slite

Which probably would be cheaper.... Don't the Benedictines take a vow of poverty?

True, salaries would be low. But think of the overhead. The laundry bill from all of those robes would be enormous.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

I am so tempted to write her a letter to explain to her that (1) people who read are generally fairly intelligent, and (2) people who read ebooks are not only fairly intelligent, but on the cutting edge of technology.

I think they're convinced that ebook readers are (1) rich, and (2) stupid. Oh, and don't forget (3) thieves.

[pshrynk]

On fictionwise, even with club discount, it's $22.95. Is this book THAT good?

[HarryT]

The kind of price generally indicates that the book has just been released as a hardback. It'll fall to sensible levels once it's out in PB.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

On fictionwise, even with club discount, it's $22.95. Is this book THAT good?

It just means they didn't lower the price. BooksOnBoard has it for the $11.86 (roughly) price.

[mazzeltjes]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

On fictionwise, even with club discount, it's $22.95. Is this book THAT good?

Is any book that good ?

[tlrowley]

BTW, the Kindle edition is now down to $9.99. It's also now an Oprah Book Club selection - coincidence?

[JeffElkins]

A fifty cent paperback in my misspent youth would cost me roughly $3.50 today. I figure the fair price for an ebook is about a buck US.

So, to get the entire Nero Wolfe canon legally should cost me under a hundred bucks. Which I would gladly pay for good formatting, covers, etc. Without DRM. In a portable format. Until the publishers get a clue I choose the darknet.

BTW, I still own Nero Wolfe paperbacks that I purchased as a teen. I'm not going to pay eleven bucks for something that cost me .50 cents in 1968.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by JeffElkins

BTW, I still own Nero Wolfe paperbacks that I purchased as a teen. I'm not going to pay eleven bucks for something that cost me .50 cents in 1968.

Ah, but that was when .50 was actually almost worth .50. A stamp had just risen to about 7 cents as I recall but I remember when it was on 3 cents for first class. You can't equate 1968 prices to today. Do you still make the wages you did in 1968 and every year since that time?

Dale