Cost of eBooks vs dead-tree books

[ownedbycats]

I occasionally took paper books I didn't like to a local used bookstore and traded them in for other books. Unfortunately there aren't any used bookstores in my area anymore (one shut down and the other one caught fire).

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by issybird

The value of an ebook is less to you. That’s a critical qualification. So, don’t buy them. Nobody owes you ebooks at the price you think they’re worth. ...

Personally, it's not so much the price that bothers me, it's the illegal way that they inflated it. But you're right, I don't have to buy books from major publishers (as a matter of fact I rarely do now) so I guess Apple and the publishers "won." Kind of seems to be a "cut your nose off to spite your face" sort of "win" though.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I occasionally took paper books I didn't like to a local used bookstore and traded them in for other books. Unfortunately there aren't any used bookstores in my area anymore (one shut down and the other one caught fire).

There's still a lot of used books in second hand stores — at least there used to be before Covid-19. I haven't really looked that much since this spring.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

My standard response: I value ebooks more, so I refuse to compare their prices to the price of a format I value much less.

I'm the opposite. I rarely buy an ebook (actually, I never buy one for myself, just for my wife when she asks). I find the restrictions on ebooks too limiting to justify the cost. I buy a lot of books (at this very moment, I have 76 hardcovers on preorder) each year and I want to not only be able to reade them when I want, but be able to share them with friends and family and eventually pass them on to my granddaughters or donate them to a small country library that has a limited budget.

I understand that there are ways to make an ebook less restrictive, but why should I have to do so?

And pricing is high on ebooks, at least for the ones I tend to buy. For example, I just purchased Character: The History of a Cultural Obsession by Marjorie Garber in hardcover for $22.31. The Kindle version is $16.99. For a little more than $5 I get a copy that I can do with as I wish, can share with others easily, and return to 10 years from now and know that it is mine. I don't have to worry that for some reason the book is no longer available from Amazon.

What I think should be the case is that if you buy the physical version, you should get access to the ebook version for no charge or a very nominal sum (like $1). But I see no reason in my case to pay the high prices demanded for ebooks.

Here are other examples of recent purchases:

• Bland Fanatics: Liberals, Race, and Empire by Pankaj Mishra. I paid $18.62 for the hardcover; the ebook is $13.99.
  
• The War of the Poor by Eric Vuillard. The hardcover was $13.86; the ebook is $10.99.

Of course, some books just aren't available as ebooks, like Antisemitism: Myth and Hate from Antiquity to the Present by Marvin Perry and Frederick M. Schweitzer, which I bought new for $26.00 (I mention the condition because it is a book from 2003 and was only available as a "used" book and current pricing is much higher).

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

. . . The time I spend with (and the enjoyment I derive from) a good book more than justifies the cost. . . .

My sentiments exactly, but about hardcovers. Plus I like to look at my library shelves and run my fingers across the spines as I search for the perfect read for the moment's mood.

I would also note how there are times when I like to have several books open at the same time so I can compare approaches to the same topic. Most recently I did this with a couple of books on the global impacts of the Napoleonic Wars. Interesting to see how different authors with the same macro panoramic view had different micro views of the same events.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

What's fascinating is that no matter how many times it's been debunked, people still make the same bogus assertions. It's purely an emotional response where facts don't matter in the slightest.

Now, now. Be calm. We are talking books, not politics here.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Now, now. Be calm. We are talking books, not politics here.

To some people, they're the same thing.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rhadin

What I think should be the case is that if you buy the physical version, you should get access to the ebook version for no charge or a very nominal sum (like $1).

Personally I wouldn't be the least bit interested in that. I don't want paper books cluttering up my small apartment. If there's an ebook available, I'm not going to buy a physical copy. As to restrictions on ebooks, yes you can easily remove them and keep your books for as long as you live, just like paper books. No one can take them away from you. As to sharing, I don't have anyone to share books with anyway. There are no readers in my family besides myself. So no, I don't want paper books, even if I could have the ebook version for free.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

My question to you is why you don't just spend your money on the formats you value more, rather than wishing the formats you value less would sell for a price you're willing to pay for them?

I do. But even with that I find I question pricing for other reasons. For example, there was a book I was very interested in (nonfiction but I can no longer remember the title) that was offered in the 3 standard formats -- ebook, paperback, and hardcover. But the pricing was wild. The ebook was $35 (I am rounding the prices for all 3 versions), the paperback was $40, and the hardcover was $110.

I have spent decades in publishing and am familiar with publishing costs. I understand that pricing is subject to many variables, including the number of copies expected to sell in a particular format. But there is no justification for a $70 differential between the paperback and hardcover versions. Even in a limited print run, the cost for a hardcover, versus a paper cover, does not run to more than about $5-$10. If the book is published by one of the self-publishing platforms, the hardcover wholesale cost rarely runs to more than $10 more than the paper cover.

So, I find pricing of the various formats to be highly questionable as the disparities in pricing between the formats of the same book are irrational.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

You do realize that if you prefer ebooks over pbooks, that your preference translates directly to added value, right?

Yes, in my case at least, this is true and is why I prefer to spend my money on a hardcover that I can reasonably expect will still be available and readable in my library when my granddaughters are old enough to read the books should they be of interest.

But the issue also raises another question: Considering how books are produced today, there should be no book that is not offered in the 3 primary formats of ebook, paperback, and hardcover, even if the sales expectations are high for the ebook, medium for the paperback, and low for the hardcover. I find it very irritating to buy the first or first and second books in a series in hardcover only to discover that when the third volume of the trilogy is published, the hardcover is not produced.

I bought the beginning volume(s) at a higher price because the format fit my preference, only to have the final book not made available in my preferred format. Thus what was once a valued series no longer is one. This is what happened with Jenna Glass's "Women's War" series.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

It's not a binary choice between pbook and eBook. A consumer decides not to buy the eBook because of the cost doesn't mean they'll go on to buy the pbook.

This is very true. In my case, I do not buy the ebook when the hardcover version is not available. Instead, I look for another book.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by rhadin

But the pricing was wild. The ebook was $35 (I am rounding the prices for all 3 versions), the paperback was $40, and the hardcover was $110.

One of my favourite articles:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160305...rg/blog/?p=358

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by rhadin

What I think should be the case is that if you buy the physical version, you should get access to the ebook version for no charge or a very nominal sum (like $1)

Ugh! I only ever buy dead-tree books for one of two reasons: (a) I simply HAVE TO have the book, and it's not available in ebook format, or (ii) The aesthetics of the book are as important as the content. In the last ten years, the only paper books I've bought have both been for the second of those reasons, so having an ebook copy would have been pointless - The beautiful Discworld Atlas I bought would be a squinty gray mess on my Kobo.

Were such an "incentivized" purchase offered, I'd rather see options available, such as store credit for future purchases, whether paper or digital. Perhaps a discount on a paper copy for those ebooks whose price notably exceeds the paper version might be appealing too, for gifting purposes

[Thasaidon]

Originally Posted by rhadin

This is very true. In my case, I do not buy the ebook when the hardcover version is not available. Instead, I look for another book.

I like your

"Literacy=Understanding" tag

I wish it was true.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

...The lack of resalability is another reason eBooks are less value than paper books.

Once again: less value to you. I've never resold a book in my life. The ability to resell one is of no value to me whatsoever. Nor is lendability. I'm a weirdo. None of my reading friends are interested in the things I read.

Look: I've no problem with people placing less value on ebooks themselves. I think I've been pretty clear about that. My problem is with people who want to claim/believe their personal preference is some sort of universal truism. To me, and many others, an ebook holds more value than its pbook counterpart. Put your money where you find value. And I don't mean making a binary choice. Buy an ebook one time, then buy a pbook the next. Then borrow one from the library or a friend after that. Just stop trying to pretend there's some sort of "natural" pricing/owning practice (RE ebook/pbook) with which everyone universally agrees.

I'm not alone, and you're not alone. Which means that ebooks are not inherently worth less than pbooks. It means that different people value different things differently.

[ottischwenk]

However, it is much easier to turn a P-book into an E-book than the other way around.
That determines the value, among other things.