Future Ebook Price Point

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by TFeldt

A book these days can be created with three basic elements. The author, the editor and the distribution channel (be it kindle or whatever else). Those are the required elements. On top of that you might want to add an artist for the cover and a marketing campaign, but going back to the $0.99 game scenario you can be entirely certain that 90% of the games released have little to no marketing done in advance. Yet they do just fine. I'm not sure what the publishers actually bring to the table anymore that justifies raising the price that much.

PS: That last sentence wasn't meant as a flame, I genuinely just don't know what they offer that could be so valuable. Anyone care to enlighten me with some concrete examples?

One of the most valuable services that publishers offer is to act as a crap filter. If I buy a book from, say, Baen, I can be pretty confident that it will be properly edited, written to a good standard, and that I will enjoy it. With independently published books, the overwhelming majority are - well - crap. I really don't want to have to spend the time finding the tiny number of gems among the garbage. I'd prefer to let a publisher do that for me.

[TFeldt]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One of the most valuable services that publishers offer is to act as a crap filter. If I buy a book from, say, Baen, I can be pretty confident that it will be properly edited, written to a good standard, and that I will enjoy it. With independently published books, the overwhelming majority are - well - crap. I really don't want to have to spend the time finding the tiny number of gems among the garbage. I'd prefer to let a publisher do that for me.

That's a good point. While I've read innumerable amounts of absolutely horrendous fiction released by big publishers the quality still tends to be more consistent. It's also probably the reason why I'm still more than willing to pay $10 for an ebook published by them. That sum is identical to what it costs to buy a pocket book here in sweden.

It isn't something that necessitates the use of publishers however, as seen on various app stores and imdb/rotten tomatoes/etc. Customer reviews (averages and medians) make the gems float to the top, while the bad ones get buried in the noise. Only going by what is commercially most successful, even on such top ten lists, results in a rather bland experience but it fulfills the need nicely.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

So the sweet spot, as it were, must be somewhere inbetween. Perhaps they'd sell twice as much at 5.99? Three times as much at 4.99? Not our job to figure it out, though.

I agree completely that it isn't our job to figure it out. Well, maybe it is some people's job, but it's not mine. My job is to vote with my purchasing decisions on what I believe the value of things to be.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One of the most valuable services that publishers offer is to act as a crap filter. If I buy a book from, say, Baen, I can be pretty confident that it will be properly edited, written to a good standard, and that I will enjoy it. With independently published books, the overwhelming majority are - well - crap. I really don't want to have to spend the time finding the tiny number of gems among the garbage. I'd prefer to let a publisher do that for me.

WORD. I'm even losing patience with the bargains and freebies . Maybe I'm getting too old, but I find that the biggest constraint on my reading is not money, but time. I'd rather just pay the going the rate for a good read-a book I know I will enjoy- than just wading through the gigantic indie slush pile in search of the next great indie writer. The publishers do miss a few, but not that many, really.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by stonetools

WORD. I'm even losing patience with the bargains and freebies . Maybe I'm getting too old, but I find that the biggest constraint on my reading is not money, but time. I'd rather just pay the going the rate for a good read-a book I know I will enjoy- than just wading through the gigantic indie slush pile in search of the next great indie writer. The publishers do miss a few, but not that many, really.

I completely agree with you. Time is, for me, also more valuable than money.

[kennyc]

but, but, but, I thought the saying was "Time IS Money."

not time is more valuable than money.

[NickyWithNook]

Originally Posted by stonetools

WORD. I'm even losing patience with the bargains and freebies . Maybe I'm getting too old, but I find that the biggest constraint on my reading is not money, but time. I'd rather just pay the going the rate for a good read-a book I know I will enjoy- than just wading through the gigantic indie slush pile in search of the next great indie writer. The publishers do miss a few, but not that many, really.

I agree too. I hate starting a book and having it end up being awful, and I'm quite OK with paying for a book. $13 seems like a lot when they don't have to print or ship it, but I'm certainly willing to pay something, and more than like $1 or so.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by kennyc

but, but, but, I thought the saying was "Time IS Money."

not time is more valuable than money.

*On average*, time is money. That means that for some people, time is more valuable, but for others, less.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

*On average*, time is money. That means that for some people, time is more valuable, but for others, less.

Must be inflation I guess....or something to do with nutrinos...

[Pinecone]

It depends on your circumstances at the time.

You may be out of work, and have plenty of time, but no money.

You may be in a high pressure job that pays a lot, but leaves you with no free time.

And it can even be different for different aspects in your life. My job has a good bit of international travel (this is being written from Windhoek, Namibia), so I have a lot more time for reading than I do some of my other hobbies (which require my physical presence at home).

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Not sure about the music analogy. They are just different things. I have albums I've had for twenty years and they are still getting played and enjoyed.

Which is why, to me, the album is worth MORE. I can listen to an album 100 times over, still enjoy it, and still have time to listen to others... a book, I read once and then never read it again. I'm not like those who read and re-read their favorites... it's a rare book that I read twice, because my TBR list is already so long. I might re-read the Hithchiker's Guide, 1984, maybe even Fahrenheit 451, but not for a long time to come... 99% of the books in between I'll never want again.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Which is why, to me, the album is worth MORE. I can listen to an album 100 times over, still enjoy it, and still have time to listen to others... a book, I read once and then never read it again. I'm not like those who read and re-read their favorites... it's a rare book that I read twice, because my TBR list is already so long. I might re-read the Hithchiker's Guide, 1984, maybe even Fahrenheit 451, but not for a long time to come... 99% of the books in between I'll never want again.

We should start a greatest-albums thread....

[TFeldt]

Uhg, the term "time is money" is one of the most misused in today's society. My aversion probably derives from the fact that a bloke used it right as he was in the middle of watching a 2 hour reality show on tv. Or when world of warcraft players use it, good grief..

I'd also like to raise an objection, reading independent authors doesn't mean trawling through the indie slush unless you like doing so. There's already people doing that so "you don't have to". That was my whole point, publisher's aren't alone in digging out the gems and exposing them to the world anymore.

Still, the basic sentiment is one I agree fully with. Spending time doing something you dislike when you don't have to is absolutely wasteful. What little time we do get on this earth shouldn't be spent doing something you don't enjoy.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Which is why, to me, the album is worth MORE. I can listen to an album 100 times over, still enjoy it, and still have time to listen to others... a book, I read once and then never read it again. I'm not like those who read and re-read their favorites... it's a rare book that I read twice, because my TBR list is already so long. I might re-read the Hithchiker's Guide, 1984, maybe even Fahrenheit 451, but not for a long time to come... 99% of the books in between I'll never want again.

I'm with this.

[allinhi/]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I don't think $1 will be the primary price point. I expect that new fiction ebooks which are not self-published will continue to be sold at a $10-15 price range, and they will drop to $7-10 after a year or so. What I hope, but don't see any signs of happening so far, is that backlist books will have another price point around $3-5 after a couple years to compete with used paper books. I also haven't seen many signs that the publishers are dropping the prices of non-fiction ebooks after release, either.

I think you have it about right. What is hard to anticipate the role promotional discounting and possibly increased ability to share ebooks will have. I still am convinced that the proper comparison for ebooks is paperback books.