Kindlers Boycott $10+ ebooks

[sirbruce]

Just to reiterate, the 65% cut is what Amazon charges self-publishers and small-time publishers. You can bet it's not what they charge Random House.

[astra]

About ridiculous prices.
A link to my post in a neighbouring topic https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=662

[CCDMan]

The pricing is sometimes very odd as is availability. I wonder how much thought goes into setting prices, in fact. It can be said that those who set this up are sometimes really messed up. One series of three books (Taylor Anderson's "Destroyermen" series) has the first and third books available on the Kindle, but not the second book. I exchanged email with the author (very quick to respond BTW - a great guy) and even as the author, he was unable to correct this or even find who at the publisher (Penguin, in this case) was even responsible for fixing the problem. All three books ARE available on the Sony, BTW. What this tells me is that the publishers do not put many resources toward e-books at this time. Maybe because they do not sell the a lot or maybe because they still do not "get" ebooks, maybe both.

This series also illustrates the pricing in the sense that the Sony versions, although available, are priced between $14 and $15 where the Kindle versions are under $10...

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by cmwilson

Something to keep in mind is that Amazon takes 65% of the retail price of each Kindle book. If a book is $9.99, Amazon gets $6.50 (less any discount they offer) and the publisher gets $3.50.

Almost correct: The publisher's portion is calculated on the publisher's list price, not on the price at which Amazon sells the ebook. Amazon sells it's $9.99 best sellers from publihsers like Simon & Schuster and Random House at a loss.

[pwkurzhal]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

Don't people realize that amazon takes a loss on the 9.99 bestsellers? They shouldn't be boycotting Amazon at all, they should be boycotting the publishers.

Exactly! The Times Best Sellers and many New Releases that sell for $9.99 are loss leaders. They should be selling for $12 or so. At best, booksellers of all configurations are making 30% before overhead costs.

[Falbe Publishing]

I suspect many publishers hesitate to lower their Amazon Kindle ebook prices (among other reasons) because they only get 35 percent of the sale through Amazon, so a $9.99 ebook gets the publisher $3.50 and Amazon gets the rest. $3.50 isn't too shabby for the publisher, but it's not huge either. So, publishers as businesses have a disincentive to price lower than $9.99 and face a temptation to price higher. Of course, if the market won't except it, then the price will be forced lower. I personally feel that Amazon is taking too big a cut on ebooks.

[MaggieScratch]

Originally Posted by cmwilson

An author's royalties depend on what the author can negotiate with his/her publisher. Typically, after earning out the advance, the author gets 8-12% of the "net," which is cover price less costs, typically half the cover price of the book for a dead tree book. I don't know what the current royalty rate is for ebooks, but I doubt most authors are willing to take less for an ebook sale than a paperback sale.

A small correction: most authors receive 8% royalties (or more) on the cover price of the book, not the net. It doesn't matter what discount is applied. That applies mostly for hardback books and trade paperbacks; MMPs and ebooks often have different royalty structures.

Sometimes authors receive reduced royalties for books they purchase themselves at a discount and in some other sales categories. But in general it's based on the full cover price. To agree to receive royalties on net is inviting disaster. The publishers could use all sorts of creative accounting to make it look like they never made money on a book, and the author would receive nothing past the advance. It should also be added that by the time an author "earns out" on a book, or earns enough royalties to cover the advance, the publisher has made money on the book. Also, with exceptions for big celebrity million-dollar advances, publishers base the amounts of an advance on how many books they think will sell, and usually they're pretty close, so authors often don't get more than the advance anyway.

I have heard that some publishers are attempting to reconstruct the paradigm and among the ideas being presented are offering the author much higher royalty rates (I have heard 25%) on the net. I just worry about the creative accounting I mention above--after all, 0% of nothing is 0. Also I find it fascinating that when attempting to find new ideas, the big publishers immediately think of screwing over the author. I think the new publishing paradigm is going to be smaller houses, heavy on epublishing, and even author/publishers like cmwilson.

[dirtylc]

Sure bestsellers are loss leaders. But, do any of us know the economics behind the other 249,900 titles? No we don't. I speculate that for every loss Amazon takes on a bestseller they make two back on their other books. Books out in print for ten years for 9.99, want to bet there is a loss there. Lastly, a boycott is the best thing consumers can do. Anyone who ridicules it is obviously in need of being retaught business basics.

P.S. I am not a troll, rather someone who is passionate about what I believe in.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by dirtylc

You have got to love mobileread. Really, do any mobileread members know anything about this boycott?! I have attempted to relay the information on numerous occasions. Truth be told when the consumerist.com ran a piece and I contacted mobileread, I was ignored. When TIME magazine, that's right TIME magazine ran a piece on, how ridiculous Kindle e-book pricing has become, the folks at mobileread ignored the story. Now they finally decided to run a piece. wow. I am speechless. Desert grandma I won't even bother arguing with you, I am sure you feel likewise. Sirbruce I suggest you look a little deeper then tossing out half-truths, Amazon makes profit. period. Check their 4th quarter earnings for 2009 during the worst economy in 50 years. Give me a break!!!!!

Mobileread read your own forums will ya:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38348

Did it ever occur to you that people are ignoring this thread because its whiny and self serving?

And your problem with making a healthy profit in a capitalist society? Would that be because they have shareholders to account for, are doing something right? That is what they are supposed to do, correct?

Or is it because they aren't "spreading/sharing the wealth"?

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

But seriously. I don't think there is a need to "call for" a boycott. If you think a book cost too much, don't buy it. Do you have to tell people that? That what I do with pretty much everything I purchase.

BOb

True, but I suppose it is more effective if the store or whatever knows why people aren't buying certain products.

If books over $9.99 aren't selling they won't know if it's just less interest in those books vs others that cost less or that people are specifically not buying because of the price.

Now if they'd raised all new release prices then just not buying would work as if sales were down across the board they'd chalk it up to the price increase. But with just a few titles they have no way to know.

So while I don't care enough to bother, I can see the value of a boycott or people e-mailing amazon and saying they didn't buy __________ because it was over $9.99.

[pidgeon92]

I've set an arbitrary limit of $6 for my book purchases.... I have a wishlist on Amazon for all the Kindle books I want to read, and when I need a new book, I generally choose something from the list that is $6 or less.... Right now there are 27 books on my list that are below that "limit"....

However, I have bought a few at $9.99....

[gandor62]

My limit is also $6.00 for any ebook that has been published in paperback. I will pay almost any amount for a new release if it is one of my favourite authors. Sometimes if the electronic version is more than the paper version then I'll look for other means of getting the ebook.

[grisjuan]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Did it ever occur to you that people are ignoring this thread because its whiny and self serving?

And your problem with making a healthy profit in a capitalist society? Would that be because they have shareholders to account for, are doing something right? That is what they are supposed to do, correct?

Or is it because they aren't "spreading/sharing the wealth"?

The people participating in the boycott might not *all* be communists

For example, in a capitalist society we expect competition to push prices down over time. That doesn't seem to be happening quickly enough with ebooks to match the intuition and expectations of these consumers. Perhaps they suspect the market isn't functioning perfectly?

[Abisha]

hehe, I know this is terrible. my sarcasm certainly deserves some <minus karma>, but um, lol, if you really want to stick it to em'.... use the library.

[grisjuan]

Originally Posted by Abisha

if you really want to stick it to em'.... use the library.

Don't you need a Sony Reader (or a Kindle and the-program-that-must-not-be-named) in order to use the library?