Angry Robot Books Want Your Opinion on Ebook Pricing

[Krystian Galaj]

What the ebook should really cost is a stupid question, buried in the past.

My answer would be something like:

- if I can get it to my ebook reader, paid, ready to read, with no OCR errors or missing sentences, in one minute since I see the offer, and I don't have to buy it again and again to read it on another device or because some DRM server went down, it can cost 15$ and I'll buy it. I'm paying for reliability of service, not for an ebook in this case.

- if I'll have to pay for it again and again to read it on another device or because some DRM server went down, I won't pay for it, and will get a physical book or a darknet ebook instead. Because that's not buying, and I prefer to have something in my possession rather than be allowed to read it for a time.

- if it's non-DRM, but I have to spend 10 minutes inputting passwords on PayPal, or filling in details on my bank webpage, I most probably will look for it on darknet first. Money is not the problem for me - time is. Again, I'm paying for the service.

So it all depends on how they provide the ebook, and what is the ebook quality, and not on whether it's available or not. Because it is always available somewhere else, even if darknet copies are (sometimes) of poor quality, with OCR errors and no formatting, even if I have to spend 15 minutes getting to the nearest bookstore (which, by the way, isn't an option for me - English books are available in very few bookstores in my country).

By the way, I'm presently not buying anything, or stealing :P anything, as I've been reading mystery classics from Mobileread for the last 6 months. But when I want to get a book, I'll get it the most convenient way possible, while it's still readable.

[Renaldo]

Originally Posted by Elsi

Actually, I think this *is* a brilliant strategy. One assumes that the publisher has a good sense of the price range that the marketplace will tolerate for a hardback or paperback book. Given that there are much lower manufacturing costs for eBooks, they should be priced less than the lowest priced print version of the book currently available. Once a book goes out of print, the eBook price should remain at a prices lower than the paperback edition.

I agree, they should be priced lower than the lowest priced print version of a book. But I don't think that was what the question was stating, because that is not what's happening in the marketplace. From my experience, ebooks rarely get a price drop when the paperback is released. Instead, it stays at the $14.99 it was originally priced at against the hardcover, and you can buy the paperback at $7.99 or less.

Also, there's a great range in ebook prices, even from the same publisher. If you've got Publisher A, and they generally price fiction hardbacks at $19.99 and fiction paperbacks at $8.99, you'll find that their fiction ebooks are priced all over the map. And not only that, they'll price their ebooks differently depending upon what website sells them.

[cerement]

Originally Posted by Renaldo

No-one's really figured out what an ebook should cost. At the moment the standard is "like the paperback/hardback, but a little bit cheaper"... which is not exactly a brilliant strategy.

I agree on this point, this would be the best strategy.

Although I always come out of these feeling like these surveys were never actually designed. They feel like something along the lines of, "The intern is looking bored. Quick, find something for them to do!"

And, aside from the English usage, even something as simple as interface elements are important. Several of those questions should've been using radio buttons, not check boxes ...

[Fledchen]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Why do English speakers find it so difficult to distinguish between "effect" and "affect"?

In some accents, the two words are pronounced identically or nearly identically.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Why do English speakers find it so difficult to distinguish between "effect" and "affect"?

I think it is the same people who can't tell the difference between a compliment and complement.

My favorite is when they do some to affect a computer operation as if you could really influence a computer.

Dale

[sirbruce]

I agree; I think the ebook price should be the lowest priced version, and a few bucks cheaper than the paperback. But they didn't like that answer, so I had to think about it.

My first impulse was to say $5, as that's a lot more reasonable than $10. But they wanted a more "brilliant" strategy, so they're looking for a product differentiator in the marketplace. So I picked $3; that's low enough to get noticed, without people thinking of inferior quality or a special deal that a $1 ebook might. And it seems to me that retailers and publishers should be able to make a small profit on a $3 ebook while still paying the author a good royalty. But if I say $3 and get $5, I'll be happy.

[Elfwreck]

1. If you were going to buy an ebook when would you be most likely make your purchase in relation to the release of the physical book?

• If you were going to buy an ebook when would you be most likely make your purchase in relation to the release of the physical book? If the ebook was available before the physical book was released
• If the ebook was available at the same time as the physical book
• If the ebook was available and the physical book was no longer available in stores
• I will not buy ebooks

Umm... where's "I will not consider the pbook version if I can get an ebook?"

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Umm... where's "I will not consider the pbook version if I can get an ebook?"

or the "I only buy ebooks, no pbooks for me"

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Elsi

I took the survey, but there was one question I absolutely could not answer honestly. I tried to skip it, but was told "This question requires an answer". To the question "Angry Robot will make all our books available to read, either in full or in part, on the internet. How do you think this will effect your likelihood to buy Angry Robot ebooks?" I wanted to reply "I don't read books on my PC." Instead, I was forced to pick one of their prepared answers that assumed everyone is willing to read books or book samples on the Internet. See the attached image for all the choices they offered.
....

Yes, I felt I couldn't really answer it either, but I picked number 2. I'm not really interested in reading on my PC or a p-book, and if it's an author I know, I don't necessarily want to read samples.

Originally Posted by rlparker

The first line in the version of the survey I took was

"Angry Robot, the new SF, F and WTF? imprint from HarperCollins..."

Okay, I got SF and F but what is "WTF?"? I mean, I'm familiar with an expression whose initialism is "wtf", but I can't figure out what that has to do with books. Unless it's a book you read that's so dense or obscure or pointless, you go wtf?

I'm guessing it's stories that are odd or strange and hard to place in one the currently accepted genres. I'm thinking something like Neil Gaiman's "Fragile Things" for example.

[birdbrainbb]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

I agree; I think the ebook price should be the lowest priced version, and a few bucks cheaper than the paperback. But they didn't like that answer, so I had to think about it.

My first impulse was to say $5, as that's a lot more reasonable than $10. But they wanted a more "brilliant" strategy, so they're looking for a product differentiator in the marketplace. So I picked $3; that's low enough to get noticed, without people thinking of inferior quality or a special deal that a $1 ebook might. And it seems to me that retailers and publishers should be able to make a small profit on a $3 ebook while still paying the author a good royalty. But if I say $3 and get $5, I'll be happy.

Ditto on everything you said. I already try to keep my ebook-buying to books $5 and under, so $3 an ebook would be awesome. I could buy even more, then!

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Elsi

Oh, and by the way, the proper question would have said, "How do you think this will affect your likelihood to buy ..." One would think that someone at a publishing house would know the difference between affect and effect.

Elsi, why would you assume that this particular publisher has any command of English grammar/language or cares about it? Several of the questions and/or offered responses were nonsensical.

Besides, publishers are tightening their expense belt in order to increase quarterly returns for shareholders. Consequently, many publishers have determined that the easiest way to save money is by eliminating the grammar editors. Afterall, if it shows up correctly in Microsoft Word, it must be OK .

Also, one would think that a company like HarperCollins would name its press so that one could not mistakenly go to a wrong website. But if you simply type www.angryrobots.com, you end up at someone else's site. You've got to remember that its AngryRobotBooks.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Why do English speakers find it so difficult to distinguish between "effect" and "affect"?

For the same reason that they have trouble with multiple other words, phrases, and tenses -- grammar and spelling are being taught by teachers whose concept of the great American novel is yesterday's twittering.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

1. If you were going to buy an ebook when would you be most likely make your purchase in relation to the release of the physical book?

• If you were going to buy an ebook when would you be most likely make your purchase in relation to the release of the physical book? If the ebook was available before the physical book was released
• If the ebook was available at the same time as the physical book
• If the ebook was available and the physical book was no longer available in stores
• I will not buy ebooks

Umm... where's "I will not consider the pbook version if I can get an ebook?"

I do not think the question is asking about buying a pbook at all. So your comment makes no sense. You should likely answer choice one. You want the eBook as early as possible without regard to the physical book.

Dale

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

I do not think the question is asking about buying a pbook at all. So your comment makes no sense. You should likely answer choice one. You want the eBook as early as possible without regard to the physical book.

But if you don't *care* about when the physical book is released, the fact the ebook is released earlier *won't* make you more likely to buy the ebook.

I picked #2, "at the same time", since I don't think ebooks should be treated any differently from regular books. I don't want them coming later, but I don't want the publisher to think they have to release ARCs or samples earlier, either.

[cerement]

Originally Posted by rhadin

For the same reason that they have trouble with multiple other words, phrases, and tenses -- grammar and spelling are being taught by teachers whose concept of the great American novel is yesterday's twittering.

English is a living, evolving language. Despite the best efforts of English teachers everywhere, "ain't" is still a part of the English language. By that same token, "whom" is a seen as nothing more than a quaint archaism. I wouldn't be surprised if, despite all the best efforts of "language police", "affect" and "effect" merge into one word with the meaning dependent on context ...

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hmmm ...
"heteronyms" have same spelling, different pronunciation, different meaning
"homonyms" have different spelling, same pronunciation, different meaning
what is: same spelling, same pronunciation, different meaning?