Pricing and Policies ... what is fair?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Timboli

Gawd, it is not about getting anyone to change their buying habits. It is about initiating a discussion, making people aware and getting them thinking, and it goes well beyond just the few who bother to reply here. Some might call it sowing seeds for the future.

Um... thinking about what? Australian book prices? And then? Exactly what is this going to change? I'm not a customer of Australian publishers or retailers. Neither are most other people here. What will our thinking about the issue accomplish?

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Timboli

Indeed, and something I used to do a lot, but which the digital age, due to zones etc has ruined ... at least for ebooks.

How? I’ll grant for the average customer stripping DRM might be remotely difficult but anyone here should be able to do it and help others do it. Obviously not on the forum because of rules.

Set up an account using their credentials buy book, strip drm, load on your ereader. Pay them back instantly using any of the various means out there. No shipping costs, no having to go ship it, nor waiting for it to arrive. The digital age has made this easier than ever.

[leebase]

Why should we care about what the author makes? Do I care what the auto designer makes or the baker?

What value does a book bring? What else might you spend your money on that would bring you more joy than a book? Or one book vs another?

I have dabbled this year into the “cheap Amazon author ebooks” and for the most part, I liked them. But....upon reflection, did I like them as much as my normal favorite authors who charge a good deal more?

For me, the answer is no. I find that I can only read so many books due to time. I’m willing to pay more for the better quality book because I’m worth it...and the price difference doesn’t impact my life in any meaningful way.

Because those cheap books also tend to be shorter...I’ve read 39 books so far this year. I’d rather read 20 top quality books.

It is nice to know, though, that there is a ton of “pretty good” fiction going for really cheap prices.

It doesn’t matter at all how much the author or publisher makes.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

How? I’ll grant for the average customer stripping DRM might be remotely difficult but anyone here should be able to do it and help others do it. Obviously not on the forum because of rules.

Set up an account using their credentials buy book, strip drm, load on your ereader. Pay them back instantly using any of the various means out there. No shipping costs, no having to go ship it, nor waiting for it to arrive. The digital age has made this easier than ever.

It is not about stripping the DRM, that is mostly easy enough.

It is about getting the ebook in the first place.

It used to be you could easily buy books from America or elsewhere, and is still the case if you stick to physical books.

However now, there are many ebooks available in America that are difficult to find out about let alone buy, if you live in another country.

Sure, I have seen various solutions mooted here many times, on how to get around the GEO restrictions. I have not engaged in any, even though I tried to for some, and researched the ins and outs of them all ... at least in relation to Amazon. Like I said earlier, there is only one sure method that I know could work, but problematical to setup, and certainly the part of me that says I shouldn't have to do this, resists even bothering. And of course, for those who don't realize, it does require a dedicated device or PC for that account. You cannot use your existing account PC and devices or credit card. So to do it to save cost, is a foolhardy exercise, as unless you buy an awful lot of ebooks that way, you are well in the red.

And even though I can easily justify the principle idea of getting around the undemocratic restrictions, why should I be made to feel like I am somehow having to cheat the system. I would essentially be getting what they don't want me to have.

Anyway, we have really moved away from what this topic is supposed to be about - Authors and what is fair in regard to them, both pricing and policies.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Um... thinking about what? Australian book prices? And then? Exactly what is this going to change? I'm not a customer of Australian publishers or retailers. Neither are most other people here. What will our thinking about the issue accomplish?

I would have thought that obvious.

Thinking about publisher behavior, and what is acceptable. It is kind of irrelevant about local publishers. It is about publishers in general, especially the big ones.

And anyway, don't you buy from American publishers as well? I certainly do.

What will thinking accomplish? Nothing if you persist in living in a vacuum. As they say, what comes around, goes around. It won't if you stay mute.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by leebase

Why should we care about what the author makes? Do I care what the auto designer makes or the baker?

Honestly, what sort of question is that?

I want authors, good ones at least, to flourish and write more. They can't do that if underpaid, and they can't do it if their customers aren't happy.

Do you hear claims by either of those other two you mentioned? Do you find disparities going on with them?

Sometimes it even behooves to care about them though. Not long ago Australia lost their last car industry. Now every car we buy new, is from overseas.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Timboli

I would have thought that obvious.

Thinking about publisher behavior, and what is acceptable. It is kind of irrelevant about local publishers. It is about publishers in general, especially the big ones.

And anyway, don't you buy from American publishers as well? I certainly do.

As I already said, I personally have no problems with publisher behavior. I have not found them unfair, at least in regard to prices or availability.

Originally Posted by Timboli

What will thinking accomplish? Nothing if you persist in living in a vacuum. As they say, what comes around, goes around. It won't if you stay mute.

What I asked was, what will my thinking about Australian book prices accomplish? Not thinking in general, naturally. If you mean that thinking about Australian book prices will make me aware life is unfair, then I'm plenty aware of it anyway. I read the news.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Why? Because I have no bone to pick with publishers on the other side of the globe, with whom I've never done business and likely will never do?

If I had problems with ebook prices in my country, I would not bore people in other countries with endless posts on the subject. They won't change local laws and rules for me. I'd use the methods previously described to buy my books cheaper. And I would write about the issue in local forums, and directly to the publishers.

It doesn't pay to make assumptions.

My Amazon account is with Amazon USA not Amazon AUS. My account predates the Aussie Amazon store, and for good reasons I never swapped. Same prices though.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

As I already said, I personally have no problems with publisher behavior. I have not found them unfair, at least in regard to prices or availability.

Lucky you!

There is an awful lot of people out there who disagree with you though, even a good few here in MR.

[leebase]

If you care, buy the book at the price asked. That’s how YOU pay authors (or send them money in the mail if you’d like).

It’s no business of yours how THEY make their books or the details of the relationship hey have with publishers.

If they ask more for the book than you want to pay. Don’t buy it. If you really want to read the book...buy it, or check it out from the library.

But nowhere does it matter “what’s fair”. I don’t buy luxury cars....I admire them. I’d like to have one. But not at the price they ask. Is that fair? Fairness doesn’t enter into the equation. I buy the car I can afford. Actually, I buy a car at less than I can afford because I’d rather spend my money on other things than the most expensive car I could possibly buy.

Some technical books cost more than I want to pay. So I don’t buy them. The price might well be quite fair given the effort to write vs the small market being served. It might be unfair that an author spent so much effort to write a book and people like me who would benefit....don’t buy the book. But fairness never enters in the book writing or buying decision.

The book has a price. I decide to buy or not buy. That’s commerce.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Timboli

My Amazon account is with Amazon USA not Amazon AUS. My account predates the Aussie Amazon store, and for good reasons I never swapped. Same prices though.

That doesn't matter. What matters is your Australian IP, address and credit card. If an Australian publisher has exclusive publishing rights to a book, then that's the edition Amazon will sell you, regardless of which Amazon store you use.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Timboli

Lucky you!

There is an awful lot of people out there who disagree with you though, even a good few here in MR.

Yes many here seem to feel ebooks should all be cheap. Possibly because they lack the foresight to see the damage done by setting low prices will do.

Many also don’t seem to understand basic economic principles which relate to pricing and instead insist any prices over what they want to pay is unfair.

[Timboli]

@leebase - If you want me to keep responding to you, take the blinkers off, and don't suggest overly simplistic views.

And I am forbidden to talk politics, which is inevitably where any economics discussion will lead.

Lets just say you and I have very different views on life, and so I don't have a hope in hell of convincing you of anything, so why bother engaging.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

That doesn't matter. What matters is your Australian IP, address and credit card. If an Australian publisher has exclusive publishing rights to a book, then that's the edition Amazon will sell you, regardless of which Amazon store you use.

Of course.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Yes many here seem to feel ebooks should all be cheap. Possibly because they lack the foresight to see the damage done by setting low prices will do.

Many also don’t seem to understand basic economic principles which relate to pricing and instead insist any prices over what they want to pay is unfair.

That is disingenuous and even insulting.

Many are only after a fair price, a cheaper price for ebooks .... and certainly very logical when you look at the facts. That does no harm to the status quo.

There will always be those who want things dirt cheap. I am not arguing in favor of them.