Pricing

[gb18]

Sometimes pricing makes a little more sense.  This listing gives me some hope!

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[ProfReader]

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I'm more concerned that Macmillan and Simon and Shuster refuse to sell their ebooks to the libraries. 

[Nerdymamaw]

I understand the pricing of new books, but what infuriates me is increasing the ebook price on books that are not new. For an example a book is originally priced at $9.99 and two others in the series are $4.99. The book suddenly becomes a best seller so the publisher raises the price of the current ebook title to $12.99 and the first two to $7.99. They cannot raise the prices of the DTB's so they raise the price of the ebooks. To me, this smacks of nothing but pure, unadulterated, unethical greed on the part of the publishers. Well, maybe not unethical, but you get my drift.

[deemure]

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Nerdymamaw wrote:
I understand the pricing of new books, but what infuriates me is increasing the ebook price on books that are not new. For an example a book is originally priced at $9.99 and two others in the series are $4.99. The book suddenly becomes a best seller so the publisher raises the price of the current ebook title to $12.99 and the first two to $7.99. They cannot raise the prices of the DTB's so they raise the price of the ebooks. To me, this smacks of nothing but pure, unadulterated, unethical greed on the part of the publishers. Well, maybe not unethical, but you get my drift.

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It isn't unethical, it is free enterprise. It isn't the same as someone charging $100 for a bottle of water during a hurricane. It is the pricing of a luxury item. Before gas jumped to the $4 plus a gallon mark, a lot of small used cars were being sold by owners for $2000. Many now sell for $5000, $6000, and more. And they are a lot more necessary than an ebook. Yes, I'd love to buy everything for a lot less, but unfortunately sellers see demand and jump on it. It's sad, but reality.

[beeyebickiebuy]

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deemure wrote:

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Nerdymamaw wrote:
I understand the pricing of new books, but what infuriates me is increasing the ebook price on books that are not new. For an example a book is originally priced at $9.99 and two others in the series are $4.99. The book suddenly becomes a best seller so the publisher raises the price of the current ebook title to $12.99 and the first two to $7.99. They cannot raise the prices of the DTB's so they raise the price of the ebooks. To me, this smacks of nothing but pure, unadulterated, unethical greed on the part of the publishers. Well, maybe not unethical, but you get my drift.

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It isn't unethical, it is free enterprise. It isn't the same as someone charging $100 for a bottle of water during a hurricane. It is the pricing of a luxury item. Before gas jumped to the $4 plus a gallon mark, a lot of small used cars were being sold by owners for $2000. Many now sell for $5000, $6000, and more. And they are a lot more necessary than an ebook. Yes, I'd love to buy everything for a lot less, but unfortunately sellers see demand and jump on it. It's sad, but reality.

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All of that and keep in mind that companies must make money so that they can pay their employees, i.e. sustain jobs.  Companies look to maximize their profits so that they can, among other things, keep people employed.  This is not to say that they are not looking for ways to make more money with fewer people, because they all do that as well.  But if we demand lower and lower prices, something has to give, and you know it won't be coming from the executives' pockets.  It is always the little guy who pays in the end.  So if you really, really want to read a particular title, pay the extra few bucks over what you think that it should cost, because it just may help someone keep getting a paycheck.

[jeffkww]

"If ebooks were to be greatly reduced in price compared to their printed counterpart, somebody would have to take a cut in profit."

You are not taking into account the higher cost involved w/ the raw material, printing, transporting etc. of hard cover books.

e-books should be cheaper, for that reason alone.

[doncr]

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beeyebickiebuy wrote:

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So if you really, really want to read a particular title, pay the extra few bucks over what you think that it should cost, because it just may help someone keep getting a paycheck.

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What's the difference in spending the extra bucks on a higher priced eBook versus spending it buying dinner at a local restaurant?  With the latter, at least I'm helping someone from my local community possibly keep their job and restaurant open.

[keriflur]

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doncr wrote:

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beeyebickiebuy wrote:

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So if you really, really want to read a particular title, pay the extra few bucks over what you think that it should cost, because it just may help someone keep getting a paycheck.

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What's the difference in spending the extra bucks on a higher priced eBook versus spending it buying dinner at a local restaurant?  With the latter, at least I'm helping someone from my local community possibly keep their job and restaurant open.

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So buy books written by local authors, or published by local publishing houses, or repped by local agents.

[TaustinOC]

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jeffkww wrote:

"If ebooks were to be greatly reduced in price compared to their printed counterpart, somebody would have to take a cut in profit."

You are not taking into account the higher cost involved w/ the raw material, printing, transporting etc. of hard cover books.

e-books should be cheaper, for that reason alone.

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According to everyone in the industry I've ever talked to, by about 10%. That's the cost of putting ink on paper, and getting to the store. The real cost of publishing is the editing, which is far, far more than proofreading and spell checking. Charlie Stross (an award winning SF author) estimated that his publisher, as an organization, put as many man-hours in to his books as he did writing them. Hundreds, maybe thousands of man-hours, in turning a manuscript in to a book.

[doncr]

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keriflur wrote:

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doncr wrote:

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beeyebickiebuy wrote:

...

So if you really, really want to read a particular title, pay the extra few bucks over what you think that it should cost, because it just may help someone keep getting a paycheck.

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What's the difference in spending the extra bucks on a higher priced eBook versus spending it buying dinner at a local restaurant?  With the latter, at least I'm helping someone from my local community possibly keep their job and restaurant open.

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So buy books written by local authors, or published by local publishing houses, or repped by local agents.

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I'm afraid that you've missed my point.  I'm not asking how I could pay more for eBooks and support my local community.  

I'm saying that it doesn't make a difference where you spend the money if your goal is to possibly save someone's job. Spending money anywhere is going to help pay someone's salary, I'd rather that money go to a local business.  It's actually better that I save a few bucks on things that I buy online from businesses outside my community so that I can spend more locally.

[deemure]

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TaustinOC wrote:

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jeffkww wrote:

According to everyone in the industry I've ever talked to, by about 10%. That's the cost of putting ink on paper, and getting to the store. The real cost of publishing is the editing, which is far, far more than proofreading and spell checking. Charlie Stross (an award winning SF author) estimated that his publisher, as an organization, put as many man-hours in to his books as he did writing them. Hundreds, maybe thousands of man-hours, in turning a manuscript in to a book.

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What most people fail to realize is that ebooks must be formatted for use on different devices and platforms. They don't just plop a text file down. They also must have copies saved in different places, must update and fix them. People also assume that all books make a lot of money, but some do not. Those that do help to pay for those that do not. And, people want to see older books in ebook form, but these do not often pay for themselves. Also, I have been considering getting MSOffice Professional. The disk and the downloadable versions are the exact same price. It is what it is.

[bklvr896]

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TaustinOC wrote:

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jeffkww wrote:

"If ebooks were to be greatly reduced in price compared to their printed counterpart, somebody would have to take a cut in profit."

You are not taking into account the higher cost involved w/ the raw material, printing, transporting etc. of hard cover books.

e-books should be cheaper, for that reason alone.

---

According to everyone in the industry I've ever talked to, by about 10%. That's the cost of putting ink on paper, and getting to the store. The real cost of publishing is the editing, which is far, far more than proofreading and spell checking. Charlie Stross (an award winning SF author) estimated that his publisher, as an organization, put as many man-hours in to his books as he did writing them. Hundreds, maybe thousands of man-hours, in turning a manuscript in to a book.

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Not to mention, there are costs associated with the eBook that offset at least some of that 10%.  Creating the various eBook formats, the separate proofing that must be done, servers, software to store and secure the books, make them available for download, plus the cost of personnel to maintain the infrastructure.  So even if you factored in the 10%, there are the offsetting costs which would make the difference even less.

[jeffkww]

I don't know how accurate this 10% is,  I find it hard to believe.  But using that number 

e-books should be 10% cheaper, in some cases they  are 10% or more higher.

[bklvr896]

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jeffkww wrote:

I don't know how accurate this 10% is,  I find it hard to believe.  But using that number 

e-books should be 10% cheaper, in some cases they  are 10% or more higher.

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No, they shouldn't be 10% cheaper because, there are offsetting costs.  There is conversion software, just because the book is already in some type of electronic format doesn't mean it can simply put on an eReader.  It has to be converted and proofed.  The electronic format for printing is different that what is needed for an eReader. There's also servers, software to store, secure and allow you to download that book whenever you want, plus the personnel to maintain and update those servers and software.  The cost may not be as much as the cost of printing, but it's still a cost.

The majority of costs associated with publishing a book are the same regardless of the format of the book.   The only difference is the cost associated with the format.

Also, cost is generally not the big driver in price for much of anything, if affects price, but the market is the big driver in price.  It certainly doesn't cost $20 more per book to produce a HC copy of a book as opposed to a paperback, but that's about the difference in the retail price.  And I'm sure there's not $10-$20 thousands dollars worth of extra cost to produce a Lexus vs a Toyota, but people still pay much more for the Lexus.

There's a NYT article on book/eBook pricing that discussings printing costs.  It puts it at about 12.5%.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/weekinreview/17rich.html

[jeffkww]

Seriously " conversion software"??  dividing that by the # of books converted and that should be a pretty small number.

I'm sorry I love my NC, But when the hard copy is for sale for less than the e-copy,

I feel I'm being Ripped Off!

[keriflur]

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doncr wrote:

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keriflur wrote:

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doncr wrote:

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beeyebickiebuy wrote:

...

So if you really, really want to read a particular title, pay the extra few bucks over what you think that it should cost, because it just may help someone keep getting a paycheck.

---

What's the difference in spending the extra bucks on a higher priced eBook versus spending it buying dinner at a local restaurant?  With the latter, at least I'm helping someone from my local community possibly keep their job and restaurant open.

---

So buy books written by local authors, or published by local publishing houses, or repped by local agents.

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I'm afraid that you've missed my point.  I'm not asking how I could pay more for eBooks and support my local community.  

I'm saying that it doesn't make a difference where you spend the money if your goal is to possibly save someone's job. Spending money anywhere is going to help pay someone's salary, I'd rather that money go to a local business.  It's actually better that I save a few bucks on things that I buy online from businesses outside my community so that I can spend more locally.

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I guess you missed my point.  You can spend more locally by buying books that are written/

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doncr wrote:

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keriflur wrote:

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doncr wrote:

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beeyebickiebuy wrote:

...

So if you really, really want to read a particular title, pay the extra few bucks over what you think that it should cost, because it just may help someone keep getting a paycheck.

---

What's the difference in spending the extra bucks on a higher priced eBook versus spending it buying dinner at a local restaurant?  With the latter, at least I'm helping someone from my local community possibly keep their job and restaurant open.

---

So buy books written by local authors, or published by local publishing houses, or repped by local agents.

---

I'm afraid that you've missed my point.  I'm not asking how I could pay more for eBooks and support my local community.  

I'm saying that it doesn't make a difference where you spend the money if your goal is to possibly save someone's job. Spending money anywhere is going to help pay someone's salary, I'd rather that money go to a local business.  It's actually better that I save a few bucks on things that I buy online from businesses outside my community so that I can spend more locally.

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I guess you missed my point.  You can spend more locally by buying books written/edited/printed locally.  Then the money is going to a local business.  No one said anything about paying more.

[patgolfneb]

Maybe someone could clarify why many older books, under copyright, aren't discounted. Since many of the original costs are now spread over a larger number of books / time, this suprises me. Is the authors reimbursement tied to the sale price? Pbooks would seem to have more per copy fixed costs and higher risk, unsold books and such. If out of copyright books can be sold almost for nothing, is the demand for ebooks really strong enough to justfy prices of 7.99-9.99 for many of them.

[bklvr896]

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patgolfneb wrote:
Maybe someone could clarify why many older books, under copyright, aren't discounted. Since many of the original costs are now spread over a larger number of books / time, this suprises me. Is the authors reimbursement tied to the sale price? Pbooks would seem to have more per copy fixed costs and higher risk, unsold books and such. If out of copyright books can be sold almost for nothing, is the demand for ebooks really strong enough to justfy prices of 7.99-9.99 for many of them.

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One, older books tend to not be available in electronic format so they have to be scanned in with OCR software, proofed and converted to the proper eBook format.  And when was the last time you saw an older paperback discounted?  As an example, "On Wings of Eagles" by Ken Follett was published in 1984, it's still $7.99 for the paperback.  I don't care how old the book is, if I want a new copy of the paperback, I'm going to wind up paying $7.99 or so.

As far as out of copyright books, many of the cheap or free versions are filled with formatting, spelling, punctuation and other errors.  The good ones usually cost more money, but one reason they are less is there are no royalties to pay.  Some authors get a percentage of the retail price, depends on how the contract is written.

But here's the bottom line, they are selling the books at the price that people are willing to pay.  If people stopped buying the eBooks at the current prices, the prices would change.  But the price doesn't seem to bother the majority of Nook/Kindle/Sony/etc owners.  In the current B&N top 10 eBooks, 3 are higher than $10.00 (30%), 5 are $9.99 or higher.

[Omnigeek]

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bklvr896 wrote:

But here's the bottom line, they are selling the books at the price that people are willing to pay.  If people stopped buying the eBooks at the current prices, the prices would change.  But the price doesn't seem to bother the majority of Nook/Kindle/Sony/etc owners.  In the current B&N top 10 eBooks, 3 are higher than $10.00 (30%), 5 are $9.99 or higher.

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Ding ding ding ding!

The point is that a lot of people underestimate the cost of either bringing a new book out (and how those costs are amortized across all editions sold regardless of format) or going back to a previously published work and making that available as an ebook.  Project Gutenberg has been able to do what it has only through the hard work of thousands of volunteers who have labored to turn old paper copies of books with elapsed copyrights into ebooks to share with the masses.

The ebook market is still maturing.  I expect publishers will eventually evolve to a graduated scale where ebook prices are lowered as the costs to publish have been amortized but we're not there yet.

[doncr]

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No one said anything about paying more.

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Wrong.  beeyebickiebuy DID say something about paying more to save someone's job and that was the entire point of my post.  Did you not see that?