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Same here. But on rare occasions when I do avail the buy-one-get-one-free offer, the second book invariably goes unread. Also does anyone know why these 50% di

by kops 13y ago

Same here. But on rare occasions when I do avail the buy-one-get-one-free offer, the second book invariably goes unread. Also does anyone know why these 50% discount offers are limited to ebooks only?

cmaggard 13y ago
Because the margin is obviously higher on ebooks than print books. I imagine that more profit is made on an ebook sale at 50% off than a print book at full price.
- kops 13y ago
  Thanks, that seems to be the only reasonable explanation. Comparing the prices of a book on oreilly[1] and bookdepository.co.uk[2] seems to suggest a print book has about 50%(just a guess) margin while the ebooks sells for almost 100% margin once it is produced. So knocking the prices of ebook down to 50% to drive sales would make sense. Thanks again, [1]http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596529321.do http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596529321.do [2]http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Programming-Collective-Intelligence-Toby-Segaran/9780596529321 http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Programming-Collective-Intel... I assumed that these guys buy the book for 20 dollars and sell for 20 euros and make 25-30% profit. Great site btw with free worldwide shipping although delivery takes anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks.
- pydanny 13y ago
  As soon as you involve Amazon, that's surprisingly not true. Really. O'Reilly makes more on e-book sales directly through their on-line store then they do on print. However, every e-book they sell via Amazon, their margins are very, very different. Here's a rough guide for a $40 book: * O'Reilly E-Book Online Store: Approx 99% margin or $39.60 * O'Reilly Store selling print book (bulk print discount assumed): 95% margin or $38.00 * Amazon selling print book (bulk print discount assumed): Approx 90% margin or $36.00 * Amazon selling kindle e-book: 35% margin or $14.00 (minus the Amazon processing fee so it's actually worse) Odds are the bulk of O'Reilly e-book sales are probably done on Amazon, where the margin is AWFUL. The constant huge sales by O'Reilly are a way to recoup the painful margins insisted upon by Amazon. Yeah, Amazon makes boatloads off of kindle book sales.
  - kops 13y ago
    <quote> * O'Reilly Store selling print book (bulk print discount assumed): 95% margin or $38.00 </quote> Is that really the kind of margins they operate at or is that a typo?
    - thefrostytruth 13y ago
      No. Those numbers above are ill-informed. But yes, the average print costs for a single-color book per unit are in the 2-4 dollar range (that is, manufacturing alone, no design, marketing, editing). And how would it be possible for Amazon to "keep their lights on" selling physical books at 40% off list price, if they pay O'Reilly $36 for a $40 book? Amazon buys from O'Reilly and most other pubs at 60% off, non-returnable. So the math for the publishers' take from Amazon on physical books looks like this: [list price] * [.4] - [print costs / overhead] - [author royalty]
      - kops 13y ago
        Thanks. I was mixing up margin with pre-tax profit.

by kops 13y ago

cmaggard 13y ago

Because the margin is obviously higher on ebooks than print books. I imagine that more profit is made on an ebook sale at 50% off than a print book at full price.

kops 13y ago
Thanks, that seems to be the only reasonable explanation. Comparing the prices of a book on oreilly[1] and bookdepository.co.uk[2] seems to suggest a print book has about 50%(just a guess) margin while the ebooks sells for almost 100% margin once it is produced. So knocking the prices of ebook down to 50% to drive sales would make sense. Thanks again, [1]http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596529321.do http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596529321.do [2]http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Programming-Collective-Intelligence-Toby-Segaran/9780596529321 http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Programming-Collective-Intel... I assumed that these guys buy the book for 20 dollars and sell for 20 euros and make 25-30% profit. Great site btw with free worldwide shipping although delivery takes anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks.
pydanny 13y ago
As soon as you involve Amazon, that's surprisingly not true. Really. O'Reilly makes more on e-book sales directly through their on-line store then they do on print. However, every e-book they sell via Amazon, their margins are very, very different. Here's a rough guide for a $40 book: * O'Reilly E-Book Online Store: Approx 99% margin or $39.60 * O'Reilly Store selling print book (bulk print discount assumed): 95% margin or $38.00 * Amazon selling print book (bulk print discount assumed): Approx 90% margin or $36.00 * Amazon selling kindle e-book: 35% margin or $14.00 (minus the Amazon processing fee so it's actually worse) Odds are the bulk of O'Reilly e-book sales are probably done on Amazon, where the margin is AWFUL. The constant huge sales by O'Reilly are a way to recoup the painful margins insisted upon by Amazon. Yeah, Amazon makes boatloads off of kindle book sales.
- kops 13y ago
  <quote> * O'Reilly Store selling print book (bulk print discount assumed): 95% margin or $38.00 </quote> Is that really the kind of margins they operate at or is that a typo?
  - thefrostytruth 13y ago
    No. Those numbers above are ill-informed. But yes, the average print costs for a single-color book per unit are in the 2-4 dollar range (that is, manufacturing alone, no design, marketing, editing). And how would it be possible for Amazon to "keep their lights on" selling physical books at 40% off list price, if they pay O'Reilly $36 for a $40 book? Amazon buys from O'Reilly and most other pubs at 60% off, non-returnable. So the math for the publishers' take from Amazon on physical books looks like this: [list price] * [.4] - [print costs / overhead] - [author royalty]
    - kops 13y ago
      Thanks. I was mixing up margin with pre-tax profit.