8 ms·

I've been really disappointed with the pricing of eBooks. A new book is available for pre-order, and here is the Amazon pricing: Kindle – $26.35 Hardcover – $

by helipad 11y ago

I've been really disappointed with the pricing of eBooks. A new book is available for pre-order, and here is the Amazon pricing: Kindle – $26.35 Hardcover – $19.23 Audible – $27.61 Audio CD – $30.00 All logic suggests the electronic version should be cheaper. Prices like this will likely drive me, and others, to piracy. Yes, the value of the book is what I am willing to pay for it, but I feel insulted by the pricing structure offered time and again.

jonknee 11y ago
Turns out Amazon knew what they were doing when they were selling ebooks for cheaper. The publishers come in with agency pricing and boom, sales plummet.
- xlm1717 11y ago
  This is what is really frustrating about the article. It spends the entire first half boosting print books like there is something magical about them that prevents them from being disrupted like movies and TV were. >E-books’ declining popularity may signal that publishing, while not immune to technological upheaval, will weather the tidal wave of digital technology better than other forms of media, like music and television. And only until near the end of the article does it reveal the actual reason why print is far from dead. >Higher e-book prices may also be driving readers back to paper. The publishers put print books on life support by artificially inflating the prices of e-books. They are just delaying the inevitable in my opinion.
  - jonknee 11y ago
    Not surprising that print journalists in the publishing hub of the US are rooting for print.
  - coliveira 11y ago
    There is in fact something magical about printed books :-) Well, not magic, but books are not just the medium of data transfer, they are also integral part of the reading experience. This is unlike music, where it doesn't matter if you're playing the content from a CD or transferring it over the network. The feeling of reading a book will always be different from using a reading device, it doesn't matter how to great the device is. Once the novelty of e-readers wears off, you will start to see a steady-state of sales on paper and other media for books. It seems that it is already happening. I, for example, read books in printed as well as electronic forms. I use e-readers for the convenience, but there are some types of books that don't work in electronic format in my personal opinion - and I think there are lots of people like me.
- hullo 11y ago
  That really depends on what you mean by that. With the initial release of the kindle, Amazon was selling major publisher new release ebooks for less than $10 by simply eating the difference between their wholesale cost and the markdown. Agency means Amazon gets a reliable 30% margin on them. All evidence supports that publishers are generally speaking selling exactly as many ebooks as they want to be selling, since they have granular control over pricing - it doesn't help digital readers, but it does keep a moat around their physical business, which ultimately serves print readers.
- dlevine 11y ago
  I buy most of my books on Kindle (like probably 90-95%). This includes a ton of indie books that are only available (or predominantly available) in electronic form. The only books I buy in print are books by major publishers, which are now more expensive on Kindle than they are in print (this is a new development in the past couple of years). Still, I find electronic more convenient (especially in the case of large books with lots of pages). In my opinion, this isn't going to hold up long-term. Amazon makes a good point when they say that publishers will make more money (in the form of more copies sold) at a lower price, and I think that major publishers will eventually come around (either that or they will perish). To some degree, digital distribution obviates the need for traditional publishers, and as more popular authors start ditching publishers entirely, I predict that eBook prices will gradually drop, and print books will resume their decline.
douche 11y ago
> Prices like this will likely drive me, and others, to piracy. Especially since ebooks are small enough that you can download them in seconds. I love getting juiced for out-of-print books, especially ones that are in that gray area where the author and his direct descendants are dead and buried, but copyright lives on.
- ghaff 11y ago
  It's not just very old out-of-print books. There is a whole class of, for example, 10-20 year old fiction for which print copies are often readily available from Amazon sellers for the cost of shipping/handling ($3.99) or just a little more while the Kindle copy is still $9.99 or more. The thing is that I would much rather have the digital copy because I end up reading most of my books on planes or otherwise while traveling but it really bugs me to pay a big premium to do so.
  - dublinben 11y ago
    If you're opposed to downloading these ebooks for free, you might consider getting an inexpensive used copy digitized.[0] [1] http://1dollarscan.com/ http://1dollarscan.com/
    - ghaff 11y ago
      >If you're opposed to downloading these ebooks for free I sort of am although I realize the only net difference between buying a very cheap used book and downloading a free copy is to make a bookseller some place and the USPS a few pennies each. I can't imagine going to the trouble of ordering a used copy and getting it digitized though.
- jay_kyburz 11y ago
  Whats happening is that people are publishing large bundles of e-books in a single torrent. Or like music, every book from a particular author. I think fiction published need to look at what is happening in Free to Play games and Kickstarter if they want the industry to survive. Oh oh.. thats my Startup idea. Nobody steal it. Kickstarter for fiction. You go and read the first chapter and pay to get the rest of the book written. A good author should be able to raise 50-100k which should be enough to get a good story pumped out.
hullo 11y ago
Logic actually suggests that publishers will optimize prices to benefit themselves - that they are still in business & increasingly profitable many years after their imminent demise was announced seems to suggest that they are not making a total mess of it.
phinneas 11y ago
When I can find recent books at thrift store prices, I'll be ready to convert.
saturdaysaint 11y ago
Well, with an Audible subscription, that book is 1 credit, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of $10. Speaking of which, I'm disappointed that audiobooks weren't broken out in the story - anecdotally, I know more people that listen to Audible/audiobooks regularly than use a Kindle (somewhat naturally, since most people carry a phone everywhere). So I sort of question the implication that people are returning to paper when a rising category has been excluded.
chestnut-tree 11y ago
"I've been really disappointed with the pricing of eBooks." E-book pricing is a bit of a mess in the EU. Many countries have a reduced rate of VAT on print books, For example, in the UK it's 0%, in France it's 5.5%. However, the EU deems e-books an electronic service and has ruled that they should be charged at the full rate of VAT, not the reduced rate applied to print books. It's pretty ridiculous really. In fact, France and Luxembourg have been applying reduced VAT rates to e-books for some time leading to the EU Court of Justice to rule that they are in breach of EU rules and must apply the full rate of VAT to e-books. A very consumer-unfriendly policy.
rhino369 11y ago
>All logic suggests the electronic version should be cheaper. You get the same book either way. Why should it be cheaper. You could even argue that instant download to your kindle is a convenience worth paying for. But it's silly that Amazon is selling them for more. Often times much more.
- hga 11y ago
  Indeed, it's a lesson many of us find very difficult to learn, that the price someone is willing to buy something at has little relationship to what it costs. This book is the best I've read on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Walking-High-Tech-High-Wire-Entrepreneurs/dp/0070004684 http://www.amazon.com/Walking-High-Tech-High-Wire-Entreprene... But it's silly that Amazon is selling them for more. Often times much more. Not by choice. Amazon tried to set some reasonable price points, and the big five refused to play ball (remember their conspiracy with Apple?), ultimately renegotiating their contracts to agency pricing. Which is why so many of their books cost so much now.
- Turing_Machine 11y ago
  "You get the same book either way. Why should it be cheaper." Because it's not being printed in China on slices of dead tree, shipped across the Pacific Ocean, shipped to a wholesaler, shipped to a retailer, sitting on expensive retail shelf space for months, and then (if it doesn't sell) being shipped back the other way for full credit? Why should it not be cheaper? If customers don't get their ebooks cheaper from the major publishing houses, they'll get them cheaper from someone else.
alayne 11y ago
What logic? The cost of the physical paper/ink is not what you are paying for. Some Kindle books have more features than the print versions as well. What about the ongoing server costs for Kindle book distribution and syncing?

by helipad 11y ago

jonknee 11y ago

Turns out Amazon knew what they were doing when they were selling ebooks for cheaper. The publishers come in with agency pricing and boom, sales plummet.

xlm1717 11y ago
This is what is really frustrating about the article. It spends the entire first half boosting print books like there is something magical about them that prevents them from being disrupted like movies and TV were. >E-books’ declining popularity may signal that publishing, while not immune to technological upheaval, will weather the tidal wave of digital technology better than other forms of media, like music and television. And only until near the end of the article does it reveal the actual reason why print is far from dead. >Higher e-book prices may also be driving readers back to paper. The publishers put print books on life support by artificially inflating the prices of e-books. They are just delaying the inevitable in my opinion.
- jonknee 11y ago
  Not surprising that print journalists in the publishing hub of the US are rooting for print.
- coliveira 11y ago
  There is in fact something magical about printed books :-) Well, not magic, but books are not just the medium of data transfer, they are also integral part of the reading experience. This is unlike music, where it doesn't matter if you're playing the content from a CD or transferring it over the network. The feeling of reading a book will always be different from using a reading device, it doesn't matter how to great the device is. Once the novelty of e-readers wears off, you will start to see a steady-state of sales on paper and other media for books. It seems that it is already happening. I, for example, read books in printed as well as electronic forms. I use e-readers for the convenience, but there are some types of books that don't work in electronic format in my personal opinion - and I think there are lots of people like me.
hullo 11y ago
That really depends on what you mean by that. With the initial release of the kindle, Amazon was selling major publisher new release ebooks for less than $10 by simply eating the difference between their wholesale cost and the markdown. Agency means Amazon gets a reliable 30% margin on them. All evidence supports that publishers are generally speaking selling exactly as many ebooks as they want to be selling, since they have granular control over pricing - it doesn't help digital readers, but it does keep a moat around their physical business, which ultimately serves print readers.
dlevine 11y ago
I buy most of my books on Kindle (like probably 90-95%). This includes a ton of indie books that are only available (or predominantly available) in electronic form. The only books I buy in print are books by major publishers, which are now more expensive on Kindle than they are in print (this is a new development in the past couple of years). Still, I find electronic more convenient (especially in the case of large books with lots of pages). In my opinion, this isn't going to hold up long-term. Amazon makes a good point when they say that publishers will make more money (in the form of more copies sold) at a lower price, and I think that major publishers will eventually come around (either that or they will perish). To some degree, digital distribution obviates the need for traditional publishers, and as more popular authors start ditching publishers entirely, I predict that eBook prices will gradually drop, and print books will resume their decline.

douche 11y ago

> Prices like this will likely drive me, and others, to piracy. Especially since ebooks are small enough that you can download them in seconds. I love getting juiced for out-of-print books, especially ones that are in that gray area where the author and his direct descendants are dead and buried, but copyright lives on.

ghaff 11y ago
It's not just very old out-of-print books. There is a whole class of, for example, 10-20 year old fiction for which print copies are often readily available from Amazon sellers for the cost of shipping/handling ($3.99) or just a little more while the Kindle copy is still $9.99 or more. The thing is that I would much rather have the digital copy because I end up reading most of my books on planes or otherwise while traveling but it really bugs me to pay a big premium to do so.
- dublinben 11y ago
  If you're opposed to downloading these ebooks for free, you might consider getting an inexpensive used copy digitized.[0] [1] http://1dollarscan.com/ http://1dollarscan.com/
  - ghaff 11y ago
    >If you're opposed to downloading these ebooks for free I sort of am although I realize the only net difference between buying a very cheap used book and downloading a free copy is to make a bookseller some place and the USPS a few pennies each. I can't imagine going to the trouble of ordering a used copy and getting it digitized though.
jay_kyburz 11y ago
Whats happening is that people are publishing large bundles of e-books in a single torrent. Or like music, every book from a particular author. I think fiction published need to look at what is happening in Free to Play games and Kickstarter if they want the industry to survive. Oh oh.. thats my Startup idea. Nobody steal it. Kickstarter for fiction. You go and read the first chapter and pay to get the rest of the book written. A good author should be able to raise 50-100k which should be enough to get a good story pumped out.

hullo 11y ago

Logic actually suggests that publishers will optimize prices to benefit themselves - that they are still in business & increasingly profitable many years after their imminent demise was announced seems to suggest that they are not making a total mess of it.

phinneas 11y ago

When I can find recent books at thrift store prices, I'll be ready to convert.

saturdaysaint 11y ago

Well, with an Audible subscription, that book is 1 credit, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of $10. Speaking of which, I'm disappointed that audiobooks weren't broken out in the story - anecdotally, I know more people that listen to Audible/audiobooks regularly than use a Kindle (somewhat naturally, since most people carry a phone everywhere). So I sort of question the implication that people are returning to paper when a rising category has been excluded.

chestnut-tree 11y ago

"I've been really disappointed with the pricing of eBooks." E-book pricing is a bit of a mess in the EU. Many countries have a reduced rate of VAT on print books, For example, in the UK it's 0%, in France it's 5.5%. However, the EU deems e-books an electronic service and has ruled that they should be charged at the full rate of VAT, not the reduced rate applied to print books. It's pretty ridiculous really. In fact, France and Luxembourg have been applying reduced VAT rates to e-books for some time leading to the EU Court of Justice to rule that they are in breach of EU rules and must apply the full rate of VAT to e-books. A very consumer-unfriendly policy.

rhino369 11y ago

>All logic suggests the electronic version should be cheaper. You get the same book either way. Why should it be cheaper. You could even argue that instant download to your kindle is a convenience worth paying for. But it's silly that Amazon is selling them for more. Often times much more.

hga 11y ago
Indeed, it's a lesson many of us find very difficult to learn, that the price someone is willing to buy something at has little relationship to what it costs. This book is the best I've read on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Walking-High-Tech-High-Wire-Entrepreneurs/dp/0070004684 http://www.amazon.com/Walking-High-Tech-High-Wire-Entreprene... But it's silly that Amazon is selling them for more. Often times much more. Not by choice. Amazon tried to set some reasonable price points, and the big five refused to play ball (remember their conspiracy with Apple?), ultimately renegotiating their contracts to agency pricing. Which is why so many of their books cost so much now.
Turing_Machine 11y ago
"You get the same book either way. Why should it be cheaper." Because it's not being printed in China on slices of dead tree, shipped across the Pacific Ocean, shipped to a wholesaler, shipped to a retailer, sitting on expensive retail shelf space for months, and then (if it doesn't sell) being shipped back the other way for full credit? Why should it not be cheaper? If customers don't get their ebooks cheaper from the major publishing houses, they'll get them cheaper from someone else.

alayne 11y ago

What logic? The cost of the physical paper/ink is not what you are paying for. Some Kindle books have more features than the print versions as well. What about the ongoing server costs for Kindle book distribution and syncing?