"For every 100 books we sell in physical, we sell 48 Kindle books"

[daffy4u]

Teleread posted a link to an article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- You won't catch New York Times best-selling author John Lescroart reading an electronic book anytime soon.

"I'm a hold-a-book-in-your-hands kind of guy and likely will remain that way," Lescroart said in a recent interview.

That doesn't mean this technological revolution and the economics of it are lost on him.

"Hardcover sales of my last book were down 20 percent, while e-book sales were up 300 percent," he said.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean a huge jump in royalties. He receives $1 to $1.50 from a $10 electronic download and about $2.50 from a $25 hardcover purchase.

Lescroart and several other authors interviewed haven't embraced electronic readers, but they and their publishers are definitely using the technology to attract and build an audience through special promotions, sales of out-of-print works, and links to their Web-based content.

"For every 100 books we sell in physical, we sell 48 Kindle books," said Cinthia Portugal, a spokeswoman for Amazon.com. "This is up from 35 books for every 100 in May. Our customers tell us they read more with Kindle because they never have to worry about running out of books."

[kennyc]

And see, this is just wrong. The percentage to the author should at least be higher for the ebook version. I just feel that if this doesn't change soon with the publishers the "new" publishers which offer must better author payment will take over. I understand there are all kinds of promotional costs, but come on....

Thanks for that info and link Ms. Duck!

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by kennyc

And see, this is just wrong. The percentage to the author should at least be higher for the ebook version. I just feel that if this doesn't change soon with the publishers the "new" publishers which offer must better author payment will take over. I understand there are all kinds of promotional costs, but come on....

Thanks for that info and link Mr. Duck!

That's Ms. Duck partner.

[rcuadro]

Percentage wise it is about the same between a hard cover and an eBook. It is about 10% of the sale price...

[HarryT]

That quote from Amazon is quite old - it was discussed a couple of months back on the news page, as I recall.

[WT Sharpe]

IMHO prices should be lower on ebooks because there's so much less work involved on the publisher's end. But the authors should receive a substantially higher percentage of each sale -- high enough to match what they would earn off of paper sales. After all, their work has not diminished. Fair is fair.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That quote from Amazon is quite old - it was discussed a couple of months back on the news page, as I recall.

It's new to me!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

That's Ms. Duck partner.

[fugazied]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That quote from Amazon is quite old - it was discussed a couple of months back on the news page, as I recall.

I wonder what the ratio is now!! Because publishers are such luddites, I don't expect ebooks to crush the print industry for a while yet, but it's coming..

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

IMHO prices should be lower on ebooks because there's so much less work involved on the publisher's end. But the authors should receive a substantially higher percentage of each sale -- high enough to match what they would earn off of paper sales. After all, their work has not diminished. Fair is fair.

I'm in complete agreement. I've seen a couple of conversations regarding publishing prices with arguments that it is not that much cheaper to publish an ebook.... I don't get it! I am publishing industry impaired about this topic

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I'm in complete agreement. I've seen a couple of conversations regarding publishing prices with arguments that it is not that much cheaper to publish an ebook.... I don't get it! I am publishing industry impaired about this topic

I just simply don't believe it. The printing, warehousing, shipping, and RETURNS!

The costs involved are different because the book must be distributed, tracked and stored on/by computer. I'm sure the are already tracking their physical product by computer do that is no different. The above are the only cost differentials I see and I can't believe those are insignificant.

I think it is much more to do with FUD than anything so they(the publishers) refuse to change.

[Teyrnon]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I'm in complete agreement. I've seen a couple of conversations regarding publishing prices with arguments that it is not that much cheaper to publish an ebook.... I don't get it! I am publishing industry impaired about this topic

I recall a conversation a couple years ago with someone who claimed that it was actually more expensive to produce an ebook. He never managed to explain it in anything approaching coherency though. I would love to know the logic behind claims like that because I'm just not seeing. For years before that I'd heard from publishers that rising paper prices was the #1 reason for rising book prices. I don't understand why taking paper out of the equation doesn't decrease production costs. I would love to finally hear a rational and coherent explanation.

[phenomshel]

I tried this supposition too, that ebooks were cheaper than pbooks and was told that it wasn't the case, but whoever told me didn't manage to explain it to me convincingly either.

[kindlekitten]

*whew* you guys are making me feel at least a bit better about myself!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

*whew* you guys are making me feel at least a bit better about myself!

Well, kitty, that's why we're here!.