Are Attitudes About E-Book Prices Changing?

carld · 06-16-2011, 06:34 PM

Here's an interesting blog post from author Nathan Bransford. He conducted two polls on ebook prices more than a year apart. From his admittedly completely unscientific poll results it looks like things are definitely changing.

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/

apbschmitz · 06-16-2011, 08:38 PM

It could be that everyone is in for a little price adjustment. Publishers are probably shooting too high, and readers who expect professional covers, editing and proof-reading are probably dreaming if they think all that is typically going to happen for $2.99.

OtterBooks · 06-16-2011, 09:32 PM

The poll's price ranges are too wide imo.

JSWolf · 06-16-2011, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

The poll's price ranges are too wide imo.

I agree. I wanted to put $9.99 as the price for the eBook when the hardcover is $25. But the only option I had was $5.00-$9.99.

leebase · 06-17-2011, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I agree. I wanted to put $9.99 as the price for the eBook when the hardcover is $25. But the only option I had was $5.00-$9.99.

Why would I offer a product for $10 to compete with the $25 product I'm hoping to sell?

Lee

FizzyWater · 06-17-2011, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leebase

Why would I offer a product for $10 to compete with the $25 product I'm hoping to sell?

Well, I'd never buy a book for $25. I'll either borrow it from the library or wait til it comes out in "paperback". So if an author wanted my money, that would be the reason.

bgalbrecht · 06-17-2011, 02:55 AM

Too bad he didn't have a poll of "What should the price of the ebook be if the paperback is selling for $7.99?" I'll bet there would be a majority in the $0.01 - $4.99 range.

HarryT · 06-17-2011, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

Too bad he didn't have a poll of "What should the price of the ebook be if the paperback is selling for $7.99?" I'll bet there would be a majority in the $0.01 - $4.99 range.

Why do you say that? The eBook is clearly a superior product - it requires no physical storage space, and won't get "dog-eared" like the paperback will. I'm happy to pay the same price for an eBook as a paperback.

neilmarr · 06-17-2011, 06:08 AM

I'm with Harry on the excellent point that the ebook is a superior product. But we may differ on the question of pricing.

Smaller but-all service, editorially-driven publishing houses like my own (and those marketing mainly on line) once regarded the ebook as a mere spin-off, a by-product of the print process and used ebooks as promotional tools with rock bottom prices and generally giving away freely many, many more than were actually sold.

I'm not ashamed to admit that Harry and others at MobileRead changed my mind over two years ago by alerting me to the fact that a for-print PDF was NOT an ebook. (Remember your thread under that heading, Harry?) The result was that my tech and design partner (MR member Tony Szmuk) spent two years laboriously converting all our titles into 'perfect' PDF, ePub and Mobi (entire backlist and all). It was one heck of hard work, but an exciting learning curve, too.

We invested heavily in new hardware and software -- not to mention legal fees and other costs involved in gaining additional and 'official' registration as an LLC publishing house in the USA so that for the first time last September we could deal direct with the huge new ebook stores rather than through a US-based aggregator.

Now more than 95% of our sales are in ebook form and priced at under 50% of the paperback cover price. Paperback sales have not been significantly affected by this sudden swing.

But -- and this is a huge BUT -- our selectivity, professional input and standards remain in place, though ALL this is now put into low-cost ebooks (with their much higher author royalties, etc) and print has become the by-product and necessary evil. Bear in mind, too, that some ebook retailers now demand a penal sales commission/discount, often much greater than even that of brick-and-mortar retailers of old.

We think our $5.95 across-the-board cover price for BB digital editions is reasonable. At the moment. Even though the house's two principals, working at least 15x7, have waived our own royalties (our only personal income) for two years to help finance the switch, we simply cannot afford to lower the price. I stress at the moment.

There are those who think this a bargain and some who feel that $5.95 RRP too high. I appreciate both points of view. And we rely strongly on the community here at MobileRead to influence our decisions.

I'm afraid, though, that we -- like many other indie publishers, authors and readers -- are at the suck-it-and see stage of experimentation on pricing.

It's a maze, and everywhere you step the land is mined. Some companies, our own included, might eventually drop the eternally loss-making print side as a money-saving move to help reduce ebook cover prices even further. (Unlike the 12.5%-15% of cover price of a mass-run paperback, non-inventory print publishing costs us more like 50% of cover price.)

Big houses using mass-run production and still relying heavily on traditional brick-and-mortar marketing rather than non-inventory print and online sales, face a very different but similarly awkward situation.

I can only hope that the reader comes out ahead and that worthy houses and authors survive the turmoil. Meantime, we keep twice-daily tabs on the views so generously shared in these forums. It's a most effective form of market research ... and good fun, to boot.

Thanks and best wishes. Neil

mr ploppy · 06-17-2011, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leebase

Why would I offer a product for $10 to compete with the $25 product I'm hoping to sell?

Lee

You wouldn't be competing with a $25 product you would be competing with a second hand product, a library loan, or if all else fails a pirate download.

lothlann · 06-17-2011, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

You wouldn't be competing with a $25 product you would be competing with a second hand product, a library loan, or if all else fails a pirate download.

Very true.

If the only option is a $25 book, I would rather just not buy it instead of sucking it up and paying.

The assumption is that if the publishers didn't release cheaper versions then we would all just buy the expensive hardcover but this assumption is inherently flawed for the reasons mentioned by above.

HarryT · 06-17-2011, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lothlann

Very true.

If the only option is a $25 book, I would rather just not buy it instead of sucking it up and paying.

The assumption is that if the publishers didn't release cheaper versions then we would all just buy the expensive hardcover but this assumption is inherently flawed for the reasons mentioned by above.

But the choice is yours: pay $25 and get the hardback now, or wait a year and get the paperback (or a cheaper eBook) for $10, or less. Nobody's forcing you to spend the $25 if you don't wish to do so. There is a market for $25 hardbacks; after all, in terms in "entertainment" it's not that outrageous - $25 is less than you'd pay for a meal at a half-way decent restaurant, and for me, reading a good book is worth more than eating a meal.

ficbot · 06-17-2011, 07:28 AM

I disagree that the ebook is inherently a superior product. It cannot be resold as a paper book can, and most I have bought in the last few months have been poorly formatted or riddled with mistakes. IF the ebook was well-edited, properly proof-read and free of DRM, then we could talk about it being a 'superior product' but we are not yet at that point in the development of the ebook, imho.

HarryT · 06-17-2011, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ficbot

I disagree that the ebook is inherently a superior product. It cannot be resold as a paper book can, and most I have bought in the last few months have been poorly formatted or riddled with mistakes. IF the ebook was well-edited, properly proof-read and free of DRM, then we could talk about it being a 'superior product' but we are not yet at that point in the development of the ebook, imho.

The eBook is a superior product for me personally. Resale value is irrelevant for me, since I never resell books, whereas physical space is a very important consideration, since I live in a small house. The books I buy have, on the whole, been well-formatted. If a book was poorly-formatted, I'd return it.

stonetools · 06-17-2011, 07:38 AM

Asking the question , What should ebooks be priced at, is sort of like asking , What should gas be priced at. Most Americans think the price should be $2 or even less, yet pay over $3.
If you look at the actual market prices of ebooks, it's clear that publishers are selling s lot of ebooks at the 12.99 and higher price points. There was even a bestseller- Fall of Giants- at the 19.99 price point. Notwithstanding the many complaints at this board, consumers see ebooks as a good value at prices over $10.
Quality of writing and editing counts, too. There is a nearly infinite amount of crap stuff available at sub-5.00 on the Internet , but the nonfiction bestseller of the year has been Laura hillebrand's Unbroken, generally priced at 12.99, and from the countless five star customer reviews, people think its worth every penny.
In the end, the "right" price for ebooks is what people will pay at market and so far, people are paying 12.99-14.99 for ebooks that just came out, and more if it's in demand. ADWD by George Martin is a long awaited fantasy title due out in July priced at 16.99 and so far, no one in the fan forums are complaining about the price, they're just glad it's finally out. I predict it will enter the ebook bestseller charts at# 1.

Now if you are not a Martin fan, that's not your right price, but I like many others will probably go ahead and buy it, because I would prefer to have it right away at that price than not have it. Again, it's what the market can bear.

06-16-2011, 06:34 PM	#1
carld Wizard Posts: 2,698 Karma: 4748723 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Are Attitudes About E-Book Prices Changing? Here's an interesting blog post from author Nathan Bransford. He conducted two polls on ebook prices more than a year apart. From his admittedly completely unscientific poll results it looks like things are definitely changing. http://blog.nathanbransford.com/

06-17-2011, 06:08 AM	#9
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	I'm with Harry on the excellent point that the ebook is a superior product. But we may differ on the question of pricing. Smaller but-all service, editorially-driven publishing houses like my own (and those marketing mainly on line) once regarded the ebook as a mere spin-off, a by-product of the print process and used ebooks as promotional tools with rock bottom prices and generally giving away freely many, many more than were actually sold. I'm not ashamed to admit that Harry and others at MobileRead changed my mind over two years ago by alerting me to the fact that a for-print PDF was NOT an ebook. (Remember your thread under that heading, Harry?) The result was that my tech and design partner (MR member Tony Szmuk) spent two years laboriously converting all our titles into 'perfect' PDF, ePub and Mobi (entire backlist and all). It was one heck of hard work, but an exciting learning curve, too. We invested heavily in new hardware and software -- not to mention legal fees and other costs involved in gaining additional and 'official' registration as an LLC publishing house in the USA so that for the first time last September we could deal direct with the huge new ebook stores rather than through a US-based aggregator. Now more than 95% of our sales are in ebook form and priced at under 50% of the paperback cover price. Paperback sales have not been significantly affected by this sudden swing. But -- and this is a huge BUT -- our selectivity, professional input and standards remain in place, though ALL this is now put into low-cost ebooks (with their much higher author royalties, etc) and print has become the by-product and necessary evil. Bear in mind, too, that some ebook retailers now demand a penal sales commission/discount, often much greater than even that of brick-and-mortar retailers of old. We think our $5.95 across-the-board cover price for BB digital editions is reasonable. At the moment. Even though the house's two principals, working at least 15x7, have waived our own royalties (our only personal income) for two years to help finance the switch, we simply cannot afford to lower the price. I stress at the moment. There are those who think this a bargain and some who feel that $5.95 RRP too high. I appreciate both points of view. And we rely strongly on the community here at MobileRead to influence our decisions. I'm afraid, though, that we -- like many other indie publishers, authors and readers -- are at the suck-it-and see stage of experimentation on pricing. It's a maze, and everywhere you step the land is mined. Some companies, our own included, might eventually drop the eternally loss-making print side as a money-saving move to help reduce ebook cover prices even further. (Unlike the 12.5%-15% of cover price of a mass-run paperback, non-inventory print publishing costs us more like 50% of cover price.) Big houses using mass-run production and still relying heavily on traditional brick-and-mortar marketing rather than non-inventory print and online sales, face a very different but similarly awkward situation. I can only hope that the reader comes out ahead and that worthy houses and authors survive the turmoil. Meantime, we keep twice-daily tabs on the views so generously shared in these forums. It's a most effective form of market research ... and good fun, to boot. Thanks and best wishes. Neil Last edited by neilmarr; 06-17-2011 at 07:14 AM. Reason: trypo

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06-16-2011, 08:38 PM	#2
apbschmitz Lord of Frogtown Posts: 149 Karma: 1154748 Join Date: May 2011 Location: St. Paul MN Device: Kindle	It could be that everyone is in for a little price adjustment. Publishers are probably shooting too high, and readers who expect professional covers, editing and proof-reading are probably dreaming if they think all that is typically going to happen for $2.99.

06-16-2011, 09:32 PM	#3
OtterBooks Wizard Posts: 1,262 Karma: 2979086 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle 4, iPad Mini/Retina	The poll's price ranges are too wide imo.

06-17-2011, 02:55 AM	#7
bgalbrecht Wizard Posts: 1,806 Karma: 13399999 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: US Device: Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Glo HD, Kobo Clara HD, Kindle 4	Too bad he didn't have a poll of "What should the price of the ebook be if the paperback is selling for $7.99?" I'll bet there would be a majority in the $0.01 - $4.99 range.

06-17-2011, 07:28 AM	#13
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	I disagree that the ebook is inherently a superior product. It cannot be resold as a paper book can, and most I have bought in the last few months have been poorly formatted or riddled with mistakes. IF the ebook was well-edited, properly proof-read and free of DRM, then we could talk about it being a 'superior product' but we are not yet at that point in the development of the ebook, imho.

06-17-2011, 07:38 AM	#15
stonetools Wizard Posts: 2,016 Karma: 2838487 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Washington, DC Device: Ipad, IPhone	Asking the question , What should ebooks be priced at, is sort of like asking , What should gas be priced at. Most Americans think the price should be $2 or even less, yet pay over $3. If you look at the actual market prices of ebooks, it's clear that publishers are selling s lot of ebooks at the 12.99 and higher price points. There was even a bestseller- Fall of Giants- at the 19.99 price point. Notwithstanding the many complaints at this board, consumers see ebooks as a good value at prices over $10. Quality of writing and editing counts, too. There is a nearly infinite amount of crap stuff available at sub-5.00 on the Internet , but the nonfiction bestseller of the year has been Laura hillebrand's Unbroken, generally priced at 12.99, and from the countless five star customer reviews, people think its worth every penny. In the end, the "right" price for ebooks is what people will pay at market and so far, people are paying 12.99-14.99 for ebooks that just came out, and more if it's in demand. ADWD by George Martin is a long awaited fantasy title due out in July priced at 16.99 and so far, no one in the fan forums are complaining about the price, they're just glad it's finally out. I predict it will enter the ebook bestseller charts at# 1. Now if you are not a Martin fan, that's not your right price, but I like many others will probably go ahead and buy it, because I would prefer to have it right away at that price than not have it. Again, it's what the market can bear.

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