Is piracy likely to harm ebook sales?

[DawnFalcon]

Don't get me wrong, but isn't there the new option for ebooks where Amazon take 30%? Is there a reason you're not using that, given your ebook is under $9.99...

*checks*

Um, your Kindle edition seems to be $11.74 and the Lulu one £5.09

And under the agency model, Publishers *are* the only ones that effect ebook pricing!

[GhostHawk]

Which would sell you more books, and make you more money in the long run.

"From the Kindle ebook I get $7.99*0.35 = $2.80."

Or list it on a site like smashwords, where you get 2/3rds of the net.
List it for 3$, you'd get 2$ and how many increased salesat 3$ vs 7.99?

Twice as many? Three times? Even with a modest 50% increase in sales you would come out the same. And if sales go 3 X you'd make double.

Just stuff to think about.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Don't get me wrong, but isn't there the new option for ebooks where Amazon take 30%? Is there a reason you're not using that, given your ebook is under $9.99...

If you take the time to to read the post fully, you'll see that he says:

Amazon are adding another option to the Kindle store soon. A 70% rate (less delivery costs) that will net me $5.56 per ebook sold. But it doesn't arrive until June, and then only for US sales.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Um, your Kindle edition seems to be $11.74 and the Lulu one £5.09

The RRP for the Kindle version is $7.99. For UK sales, Amazon add to that a $2 wireless download fee, and VAT.

$7.99 + $2.00 = $9.99 * 1.175 = $11.74.

I'm sure we've discussed before how irritating the $2 wireless download fee is for UK buyers at the Kindle store, as it's applied whether or not they have a Kindle or use the wireless download feature.

At Lulu, if you switch your currency to dollars, you'll see that it's $7.99. The £5.09 is a conversion of the dollar price.

[pdurrant]

This is indeed worth thinking about. I do have one book listed at Smashwords, but I really dislike their production method, which requires books formatted to the lowest common denominator.

It might work OK with "Kai Lung" for most formats, and is worth thinking about. But so long as I also sell at the Amazon Kindle store, I can't sell it elsewhere with a lower RRP.

Originally Posted by GhostHawk

Which would sell you more books, and make you more money in the long run.

"From the Kindle ebook I get $7.99*0.35 = $2.80."

Or list it on a site like smashwords, where you get 2/3rds of the net.
List it for 3$, you'd get 2$ and how many increased salesat 3$ vs 7.99?

Twice as many? Three times? Even with a modest 50% increase in sales you would come out the same. And if sales go 3 X you'd make double.

Just stuff to think about.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

And under the agency model, Publishers *are* the only ones that effect ebook pricing!

This is certainly true. But only for publishers on agency pricing.

[pdurrant]

Ummm.. apologies for somewhat hijacking the thread.

I wasn't intending my post as a plea for advice, or anything other than a concrete illustration of how the distribution chain can have an affect on ebook prices that publishers set, and that high ebook prices can be a result of differences in the margin taken on pbooks and ebooks by the distribution chain.

[Iphinome]

Okay If i understand the numbers then with amazon, after your own production costs you end up with 49% of the retail price from a book, that needs to cover everything everything else like the fixed costs of producing any book and any per copy obligations. The ebook currently gives you 35% Well I admit the sheare amazon offers you doesn't sound like a great deal for the kindle store but what worries me is you giving an example to get the same amount of money from an ebook sale. You'd also want to subtract the approximate resale value of the used pbook from the ebook value since there doesn't see to be an agreed on way to sell second hand digital stuff but a pbook has at least to the consumer built into the price what they could get for the used book, kinna like the deposit in a glass bottle. Keep the bottle never get your nickel back but the return for deposit option is there.

Going to repeat it, doesn't look like amazon is being very nice to you, not taking their side.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Amazon takes 65% of the RRP of the ebook. .

How does that compare with other places to sell your ebooks? Do you feel you have no choice but to sell them on Amazon? Have you asked your fan base if they would be happy to deal with you direct in return for reduced prices? (ie more profit for you).

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Don't get me wrong, but isn't there the new option for ebooks where Amazon take 30%? Is there a reason you're not using that, given your ebook is under $9.99...

*checks*

Um, your Kindle edition seems to be $11.74 and the Lulu one £5.09

And under the agency model, Publishers *are* the only ones that effect ebook pricing!

I don't know if it is just with physical goods, but Amazon is now telling sellers that they are not allowed to sell identical products cheaper outside Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/cust...deId=200458310

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The RRP for the Kindle version is $7.99. For UK sales, Amazon add to that a $2 wireless download fee, and VAT.

$7.99 + $2.00 = $9.99 * 1.175 = $11.74.

It's set to US. That is interesting. I know as of May it was respecting that and showing US prices (since I was looking up some ebook prices for American friends)... Want to bet better geolocation was part of the "new deal" Amazon has signed up to with publishers?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

It's set to US. That is interesting.

Double-check. I suspect you've accidentally set it to UK . If that doesn't work, sign-out and set to US. Then you'll see $7.99.

[DawnFalcon]

No, it's definitely set to US. If I log out, it goes to US pricing, log back in... UK. The account was originally Amazon.co.uk registered, which might be related as well...

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Iphinome

but what worries me is you giving an example to get the same amount of money from an ebook sale. You'd also want to subtract the approximate resale value of the used pbook from the ebook value since there doesn't see to be an agreed on way to sell second hand digital stuff

I have no intention of trying to price the Kindle eBook - I was just demonstrating how different the pbook and ebook distribution cuts can be.

I only need to take into account your second point if I'm trying to give the consumer the same value for ebook and pbook sale. I was looking at it purely from the publisher's point of view.

But looking at it from the consumer's point of view, I think a (nearly) 40% discount off the paperback price is reasonable ($12.99->$7.99). Obviously I didn't price the ebook to get the same cut.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

No, it's definitely set to US. If I log out, it goes to US pricing, log back in... UK. The account was originally Amazon.co.uk registered, which might be related as well...

That is interesting. If I log in, and switch my Kindle registered address to a US address, I see US pricing. I guess it must be looking at something else in your account.

Atl least it *is* cheaper than the paperback - in dollars. And I think it's also still cheaper than the UK price (£8.99), although with the falling pound, who knows how long that will be true.