Ebook prices drive me insane

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by jedi2602

Ebook prices suck! Just discovered the new Kathy Reichs book, 206 Bones is out. Cost on mobipocket.com: US$26.99. Cost on cyberread.com: $US26.99 Not even listed on fictionwise or booksonboard

If you can use eReader format B&N is selling it for $9.99...
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...39166239&itm=1

[Namtar]

Interestingly i just read this article where Sony's general manager for content and services development has said that eBook prices need to come down.

[Hellmark]

I was recently looking at an ebook, and they wanted $26.95, same price as the hard cover, I am at borders a day later with my girlfriend, and on display, they a stack of the book paperbacks for not even half that.

[DawnFalcon]

Incidentally, for UK readers, you might want to sign this.

[calvin-c]

It's basic business management. Your various sales channels have different costs. Selling directly is the cheapest while selling via a multi-layer distribution channel (publisher to wholesaler to regional distributor to bookstore) is the most expensive since every level needs to make a profit.

But, if you base your sales price purely on the cost you end up losing your more expensive sales channels-and the sales you make via those channels, of course.

I don't think any publisher wants to reduce sales in order to keep the price low, so what they do is adjust *their* sale price to the different channels in an attempt to keep the price to the end consumer roughly the same.

Assuming you can justify a $27 price for a hardcover book in the first place (questionable IMO, but certainly not uncommon) then good business practice demands that the price be approximately $27 regardless of the channel, as long as your hardcover sales hold up.

Yes, the basic motivation is greed-but greed is the basic motivation of all businesses. At least all successful businesses. Given that the rest (equalizing the price regardless of channel) is reasonable.

And even with all of that, many practices still make no sense to me. What that tells me is that not all publishers (or business managers in other fields, for that matter) are rational. I've seen too many cases where it's obvious that nobody bothered to think about what was being done. And that's particularly true in customer service. (Ever visit a tech support site that starts by asking what your level of experience is and then continues by giving you the type of instructions that they'd give to the person completely unfamiliar with their product, even if you told them you were an expert with it?)

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

It's basic business management. Your various sales channels have different costs. Selling directly is the cheapest while selling via a multi-layer distribution channel (publisher to wholesaler to regional distributor to bookstore) is the most expensive since every level needs to make a profit.

But, if you base your sales price purely on the cost you end up losing your more expensive sales channels-and the sales you make via those channels, of course.

If two different channels have different costs, and the end price is adjusted based on those costs, then the profit stays the same. It shouldn't matter to the company if they sell via the expensive channel or the cheap channel if the amount of profit they make from the sale remains the same.

Right now what they're doing is charging the same price (or more) for the cheap channel as the expensive channel. That means their profits are a lot higher. That's great for the company, but the consumer is getting ripped off.

[becket]

I'm used to waiting for the paper back to buy, I very rarley would buy hard backs. I objected to the big paper back before the normal size one that happened with some books.
A lot of ebooks I read are lower in price because they have been out longer. But I have found Harper Collins ebook store which on some ebooks a sort of reasonable but you have to pay your local tax.

I think the more I buy using a publishes ebook site the more they will catch on to the growing interest in ebooks.
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk/
becky

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by jedi2602

Ebook prices suck! Just discovered the new Kathy Reichs book, 206 Bones is out. Cost on mobipocket.com: US$26.99. Cost on cyberread.com: $US26.99 Not even listed on fictionwise or booksonboard

Can't even buy it in ebook format in Australia. Cost of paperback in australia: AU$22.99

What is the point of owning an uber awesome ebook reader if I can't buy the blasted ebooks themselves in Australia? Even emporiumbooks.com.au - which sells the Bebook reader - doesn't seem to sell ebooks!!

Dymocks sell ebooks - but a very limited range and never a new release that I want.
</end rant>

If anyone knows of a decent online Australian ebook store, please let me know!

Shari

$ 14,84 on Amazon for Kindle, same in Sony's eBook Store.
Huge differences, depending on the formats. The major players clearly dominating the market.
It may make sense, to consider the following calculation:
Amazon Kindle 2 = $ 299.
If you save $ 10 on average per book and read 1 eBook per week, Kindle 2 after half a year will have paid for itself.
You can strip DRM from Amazon's eBooks and -if needed to- can use them on your other reader(s).
That's one of the reasons why I've got various readers. Very often, I simply don't find all eBooks I'd like to purchase in every format.

[formerroadie]

There is no "material" involved in e-books and very little overhead "server storage." They have no excuse for selling them at ridiculous costs. For example, I like to buy Brill books when I can because they have some very central volumes for my work. They cost on average over $100 a volume and they go and charge the same price for their e-book versions. It makes me so mad.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by formerroadie

There is no "material" involved in e-books and very little overhead "server storage." They have no excuse for selling them at ridiculous costs. For example, I like to buy Brill books when I can because they have some very central volumes for my work. They cost on average over $100 a volume and they go and charge the same price for their e-book versions. It makes me so mad.

Well lets keep in mind that most publishers are rather inefficient in comparison to what would be tolerated in most industries. A lot of books probably either never sell enough to cover their costs or just break even. Publishers rely on the best seller and reliable midlist authors (Though at least in some genres, like sci-fi, the midlist is getting eaten by media based fiction) for their profits. Now mind you some of these losses are necessary. Until you take a chance at an author, there is no way of knowing if he will sell. That being said though, the costs for these other books have to be recouped somehow... hence the rather high prices on books as compared to their actual cost of production, regardless of what format is involved... except maybe mass market paperbacks.

--
Bill

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Well lets keep in mind that most publishers are rather inefficient in comparison to what would be tolerated in most industries. A lot of books probably either never sell enough to cover their costs or just break even. Publishers rely on the best seller and reliable midlist authors (Though at least in some genres, like sci-fi, the midlist is getting eaten by media based fiction) for their profits. Now mind you some of these losses are necessary. Until you take a chance at an author, there is no way of knowing if he will sell. That being said though, the costs for these other books have to be recouped somehow... hence the rather high prices on books as compared to their actual cost of production, regardless of what format is involved... except maybe mass market paperbacks.

That doesn't change the fact that price should scale with cost, and the profit remains the same. If costs go down, then the price should go down, and the Publisher can still generate the same amount of profit to recoup their costs.

There's no reason they need to be making (significantly) higher profits on eBooks, other than greed.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

That doesn't change the fact that price should scale with cost, and the profit remains the same. If costs go down, then the price should go down, and the Publisher can still generate the same amount of profit to recoup their costs.

There's no reason they need to be making (significantly) higher profits on eBooks, other than greed.

That would be nice, I agree. Unfortunately that is not the way things work in a capitalist society. The price of a product is driven by two factors; the cost of producing a product and the demand for the product. The cost of production actually sort of sets a floor for the price. After all, no one is going to intentionally sell a product at less than cost (unless of course it is to get them to buy something else... give the razor away for free and then sell razor blades for example). Once the basic cost of production and distribution is recouped however, the basic rule of thumb is to set a price that will maximize your profit. There obviously is something of a black art to that... more units at a lower price may or may not make you more money in the long run.

For a variety of reasons, companies, particularly publicly traded companies, have to do everything they can to maximize their profits. And yes it is greed, and that is how capitalism works.

--
Bill

[columbus]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Incidentally, for UK readers, you might want to sign this.

Done!

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

For a variety of reasons, companies, particularly publicly traded companies, have to do everything they can to maximize their profits. And yes it is greed, and that is how capitalism works.

True, but you still have to sell at a price that consumers are willing to pay. I don't think the market (demand) for eBooks is really going to grow while Publishers are charging the same (or often more) compared to the paper book.

[astra]

Nice addition to the topic:
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
£8.57 (although for the last 3-4 weeks it was £6.49)
£13.27

???