Bitchin' Blog Posts
Pricing An Ebook - How High Is Too High?
by SB Sarah | by SB Sarah | January 27, 2009 | Tuesday at 7:06 pm | 73 CommentsToday on the Consumerist, there is an article detailing that 30% of books sold for the Kindle are now more than $9.99.
As a Kindle owner, I must say, that chaps my hide. I remember clearly that part of the sales tactics (though not guaranteed as a contract between me as the buyer and the company as the supplier, which is an important point) was the repeated statement that hardbacks were $9.99.
The article is scathing, and I can well understand why people are pissed off. Chris Walters mentions that publishers are the ones setting their own price points on ebooks, and many are attempting to do so between the price of the paperback and the price of the hardback.
Bullshit, I say. Bull. Shit.
As Jane pointed out in her most excellent article about epublishing, many users, myself included, would be in favor of paying more for ebook files that came with exclusive content and additional features. If an ebook is going to priced between paperback and hardback, yes, it should come with special double good bonus features, and a batch of chocolate fudge brownies besides.
But my question is this: what is the actual savings of ebook publication? More specifically, what’s the actual cost vs. paper? The Consumerist article lists the standard set of elements that are eliminated by ebook transmission, and Oprah herself advocated the sale of the Kindle based on lifetime usage savings because ebooks were, at the time, consistently less expensive.
While I certainly see the argument for savings in terms of gas, paper, transit, and storage and indirect costs of the bookseller/publisher industry, I also know that publishing, like every other industry in this economy except for those who manufacture piggy banks, is hurting and hurting bad.
Layoffs are everywhere, and folks fear for their jobs. So when Amazon and publishing houses are criticized because of the creeping cost of Kindle books way, way past the $9.99 range, I have to ask: has anyone quantified the actual savings of creating an ebook vs. creating a paper book?
The same individuals still work on the product: the writer, the editor, the editorial assistant, the copy editor, the production department folks, the art department. Is there a substantial savings over creating an ebook? Or is it similar in end cost before you enter in paper production costs simply because salaries and benefits are expensive, more expensive than gas, paper, and glue combined? Should paperback and ebook be similarly priced for that reason?
Without so much as a spreadsheet before me, I’m of the opinion that the price of books should be recalculated so that the cost of adequately compensating the individuals responsible for literary content production is the base cost, and then the addition costs of three-dimensional production should determine the cost of hardback, paperback or ebook. I’m guessing, with my vast years of experience in the book production industry (snrk), that the ebook copy would remain the lowest in price—but I could be wrong. Feel free to correct me on that one.
So I ask you: How much should an ebook version of a hardcover be in your opinion as a consumer? And if you’re in publishing or in the industry in one form or another, what’s your price point?
[Thanks to BEC for the link.]
Filed: But...that's not really about romance novels, General Bitching, Ranty McRant, Free or Cheap Ebooks
Tagged: publishers, oprah, kindle, epublishing, ebooks, art, amazon,
ev said on 01.27.09 at 07:14 PM • [link]
hmmm. they are raising their prices. What a shock. NOT.
I mentioned this to hubby when Oprah had the Kindle on her show- that now she has made it so popular, watch the prices go up.
They sold out of Kindles. Now people can buy the new titles that they want to read, or not. Are people willing to pay the higher price? Or would the price go back down again if owners stopped buying the ebooks- much like gas usage has gone down due to the cost? How far are the publishers willing to go before someone cries Uncle?
Alisha Rai said on 01.27.09 at 07:26 PM • [link]
I totally understand padding your costs to cover labor, but wouldn’t the labor for producing an e-book and a paper book be the same? I mean, it’s not like you have more people working on an e-book.
As for price point, I don’t mind so much paying close to the same for paperback e and print books (a lot of times, there’s no choice, since the e comes out first), but I rarely buy e-book hardcovers anymore, since they are getting too expensive. I’m more likely to wait until the paperback or get it from the library. I feel bad, because I totally would plunk down a little extra cash to get the book sooner in e-book form, but hardcover prices for something I won’t get to really loan out or put on my shelf or resell? Meh.
Meanwhile, the delay between print and e is so irritating. Lora Leigh’s Only Pleasure STILL is not out in e-book form, and it’s been three weeks. I’ve got curious kids running around my house, and I can’t keep overly explicit books all over the place :).
P.N. Elrod said on 01.27.09 at 07:29 PM • [link]
I’m pretty danged P.O.‘d about the high prices, as they absolutely contribute to e-book piracy.
I believe that most readers are honest and willing to pay for their e-books, but the publishers and venues like Kindle are only shooting themselves in the foot.
One of my titles in e-book format, and if bought from my publisher’s wbesite costs 24.95—the same as the hardcover! That is absolutely ridiculous!
This same book is 8.99 on a Kindle. Still too high when you can get a used PB version for three bucks and a little patience.
I think a e-book—which doesn’t need to be physically shipped, which doesn’t need paper—should cost considerably less than a paperback.
Once the file is uploaded to a website, the work is over and the seller can sit back and total up the sales.
So what if the profit margin is smaller, they’re making sales with the overhead costs spread out and supported by thousands of titles!
I’m a great believer in making fast quarters over slow dollars!
Volume sales, not gouging!
Lissa said on 01.27.09 at 07:30 PM • [link]
Like you, I would assume that the cost to publicize an ebook would be considerably cheaper than the cost to print a paperback or hard back book. Up to a point, the production cost would be the same, but once it came time to print or digitize, the cost for one ends while the other doesn’t.
I have no issue paying a price similar to a paperback for an ebook. The writer, the editor, the editorial assistant, the copy editor, the production department folks, the art department, and whomever transcribes and formats the ebook all still need to be paid - I understand that and have no issue with that. I also understand that the publishing house is looking to make a profit, I don’t really have any issue with that either; it is after all their business. My issue is when they start gouging my pocketbook for no reason that I can see. Charge me a reasonable fee for your product and I will purchase it. I love ebooks for the convience. I live in a very rural area with no readily available bookstores. I love that I can download a book whenever I want - no shipping charges, no waiting for it to arrive, in other words, instant gratification. Which I am willing to pay for - to a point.
Treat me fairly, charge me a fair price for your product and I will be a loyal customer. Start overcharging me for something I can get cheaper elsewhere? In this economy, I will go elsewhere - or not purchase it at all.
Alpha Lyra said on 01.27.09 at 07:31 PM • [link]
The weird thing about e-book “hardcovers” is there is no extra value (that I’m aware of). If you buy a real hardcover vs. a real paperback, you’re getting an obviously superior product. It’s bigger, it’s made of nicer materials, the print is usually larger and easier on the eyes. But when it comes to e-books, “hardcover” just means you are getting the material a year or so earlier than if you waited for “paperback.” Imagine a world where e-books were all that existed—no paper books at all. Would the publishing industry still price new books higher than books that have been out for a couple of years? I doubt it.
I honestly don’t feel that any e-book is worth more than $4 or $5.
While e-books remain (in my opinion) overpriced, I’ll continue to buy paper books. I don’t buy hardcovers anyway, unless they are deeply discounted (or YA, which is more reasonably priced). When I see a hardcover I want, I put it in my amazon wish list as a reminder to myself to buy it when it comes out in paperback. I don’t mind waiting a year or two. There are so many great books out there that, even limiting myself to paperback, I always have tons of reading material.
darlynne said on 01.27.09 at 07:38 PM • [link]
I know little about publishing and nothing about ebooks. In an economy where sales are substantially down and falling, however, raising prices is not going to improve revenues. The publishers are taking the “make money by selling fewer for more” approach, rather than increasing their turns, i.e., selling more widgets for less.
What’s worse, IMO, is that they’re doing this when ebooks are not yet the preferred format for the majority of the reading public. Raising prices on ebooks would make sense only if we all read ebooks; doing so on a still-emerging or fledgling technology may further halt or cripple those sales as well. Leaving out the green argument for now, with this price increase, what incentive do I have to buy either ebooks or a reader?
JoanneL said on 01.27.09 at 07:47 PM • [link]
I’d love to see the spreadsheet. I’d truly like to know the end cost difference for publishing ebooks vs paper books. Will we ever know that for sure? Dunno… but my fear is that publishers don’t know either.
I always love it when an ebook price is lower then the paper copy but I accept it when it’s the same. More then paper? nah, not buying.
Hardcovers are an entirely different matter. Some authors (not many) I have to have in hardcover but others I will wait until the ebook price is the same as mmp or the mmp is available.
KristenMary said on 01.27.09 at 07:54 PM • [link]
As a cost accountant in RL I have to say you are right on the money. E-books, hardcover, and paperback all have the same background work done. The editors, proofreaders, artists, and author will all cost the company the same. Its when the “production” of the final item that will be sold to customers that something changes, digitizing for e-books, printing for the other two versions.
Not being a cost accountant for a publisher I’m not sure of all the ins and outs, but if it were me, the agent, editor, proofreader, artist and author would all be part of my overhead. The true labor and materials would be how it was made, so the paper costs, the ink costs, the labor to bind the books etc. Not being in the publishing field, I assume that each book is digitized, each book is loaded to a server, whether its going to a print copy or not. How else would they print the books? Then from there if its an e-book it stays on the server and something happens so they can protect it and give access to folks. If its a print book, it goes on to the big production schedule and gets printed in whatever form. So that’s your cost difference. Does it cost the same amount to give people access to the e-book as it does to use paper and ink? I’m guessing not and I think most people see that same thing. And as others stated above, in this day and age, raising your price is not going to win you any fans.
Shiloh Walker said on 01.27.09 at 07:56 PM • [link]
I’m not a Kindle fan-I don’t like the look of it, among a number of other things that I’m not going into detail about.
But I knew the 9.99 deal was just a gimmick. A lady at the YMCA saw me with my Sony and asked if it was the Kindle and I told her no, it was the Sony. We started talking about them and she said something like, “but aren’t all the books for the Kindle 9.99 or less?”
I told her, “It’s a gimmick-trust me, those prices won’t stay.”
Oddly enough…*G* this happened last night, and then today I click over here and this is the blog topic. ;)
Sandia said on 01.27.09 at 07:57 PM • [link]
I agree with all the comments so far. I think that publishers and also Amazon is really hurting their own case - especially among early adopters of the technology. I’ve already paid a large amount for my e-reader, now I don’t get any benefit or true discount on the price of the books. Why should I continue to buy books via this method rather than buying used? The more they release new books at the higher price points (on the Kindle, I really dont’ think they should release any new hardcovers higher than $9.99 - heck, Amazon’s who trained me to this pricing strategy) - the less I’ll want to buy from them. I hope this is a hiccup rather than a new trend in ebook pricing.
Carin said on 01.27.09 at 08:32 PM • [link]
I don’t have any idea of costs, but the one addition you have in an electronic format is some sort of security or DRM, right? You have to have someone(s) to do that. I’m guessing ebooks are still cheaper than printed ones, but that is another factor to consider on your spreadsheet.
I don’t have a kindle or a sony reader (but I lust for them). I think bonus material would be really cool. Of course I don’t think I’d be willing to pay more for bonuses unless I already know I like it. For example, when I had to replace my family’s VHS tape of “A Christmas Story” with DVD, I absolutely shelled out a few bucks more to get the version with commentary. Normally I wouldn’t do that. I think books would be the same for me. Of course right now when I want bonus material I just go to the author’s website…
Teddypig said on 01.27.09 at 08:32 PM • [link]
Right but read the forum on Amazon….
Here is one persons search of their entire inventory…
Percentage of books over $9.99 (rounded off)
Fiction 2%
Mystery/Thrillers 3%
Romance 1%
Literary Fiction 2%
Nonfiction 50%
Biography 15%
Computer/Internet 80%
Text book and computer/software manuals have been a mess with pricing for years so this does not surprise me at all. I am a system admin so I get my company to buy these expensive books.
Kel said on 01.27.09 at 08:36 PM • [link]
For the people who ask if there are additional costs associated with producing an ebook version of a paperback, the answer is “yes”. Granted, you only have to produce it once, but you need a technically-minded human for formatting and programs for conversion. The same people who produce a paper copy of the book have to reformat the ecopy in order to produce the proprietary (or standardized) formats the individual ereader devices understand. Images have to be converted and scaled, and the new format tested.
Then there are server costs for distributing the book. Yes, it’s cheaper to host a website than to open a bookstore, but there’s still a cost associated. There’s also the bandwidth costs and security monitoring costs for taking direct sales. I don’t know the exact costs involved, but it’s not a matter of posting a text file on a web page… and even that costs money.
Teddypig said on 01.27.09 at 09:00 PM • [link]
OK, using Jungle Search to check out the Amazon Kindle Books listings for Romance here are my findings.
12,111 hits for Kindle Romance Books below $9.99
944 hits for Kindle Romance Books above $9.99
J.C. Wilder said on 01.27.09 at 09:10 PM • [link]
I have a Kindle and I love it. That said, I’m also very happy that it will read PRC files so I don’t have to buy the overpriced books from Amazon. ;)
Teddypig said on 01.27.09 at 09:15 PM • [link]
Oops looks like 806 hits for Kindle Romance Books above $9.99 and I a lot of these seem to be bundled books.
sugarless said on 01.27.09 at 09:24 PM • [link]
Hell, I was shopping for paperbacks online and several of them are now $11. Are you sure book prices in general aren’t going up, e-books along with them?
Becky said on 01.27.09 at 10:13 PM • [link]
One thing I never see mentioned in these discussions, and maybe it’s changed, but the authors’ percentage used to be significantly smaller for ebooks than print books. (That’s for traditional publishers. For epublishers it’s the opposite.) So, they want to pay the author less, there are no printing/binding/shipping costs, I have to buy an expensive unit that will be obsolete in a few years, and you want to charge list or near list for (sometimes more than list- Jennifer Crusie’s Faking It is $7.99 paperback and $9.99 Kindle) “paperbacks”? Um, yeah, I don’t think so.
For the handful of authors I really love who are published in hardback, the Kindle pricing is, or maybe I should say was, very attractive. For two bucks over paperback prices I could have my very own copy a year faster. And I’m occasionally semi-shut in because of my health, so the convenience of the Kindle is tempting. But the cost of the unit, and my annoyance at what I see as inflated book prices, has allowed me to resist.
Suze said on 01.27.09 at 10:13 PM • [link]
Funklord said in the comments of the article:
To which I can only say that e-books should then cost around 10% less than paper books, because I just can’t see electronic security and servers costing as much as paper, ink, printing presses, people to run them, transportation, storage, reporting-as-destroyed wastage, more people, etc.
A lightning-fast yet exhaustive survey at eharlequin.com reveals that a Harlequin Presents costs $4.75 in paper and $4.25 in electrons (before discounts and sales kick in), which is a 10% difference. Harlequin gets it right again.
Jessica G. said on 01.27.09 at 10:28 PM • [link]
I bought my Sony Reader knowing that most of the books I bought would be 5-10% off the pbook price (since I read mostly paperbacks), and I was happy with it. I was pretty happy with the hardcover prices too (usually for the first month or two at about $12-$15). I think amazon is getting into a tight spot, since they take a loss on those $9.99 books. I don’t mind paying the extra two bucks if it means they get paid and keep everyone happy. I have seen a few mass markets priced at $9.99 at Sony’s store, but it seems to be a publisher issue and they aren’t new releases (maybe an extra cost to get it into ebook form? I’m not sure).
I’m still extremely happy with my purchase.
Anya said on 01.27.09 at 10:43 PM • [link]
I’m guessing, but I figure the costs of producing a mass market paperback in paper and an e-book version is the same. Servers, hosting, websites, development software, security, shopping cart management, and the programmers and system administrators you need to create, run and troubleshoot all that (b/c there are always problems and people scream instantly when there is a problem) costs a lot. Therefore, I have no problem paying the same price for an ebook that I would a paperback. I’ve never bought a hardcover, they have always cost too much for me when I know in a year I can get it under $10.
I’m bummed that the Kindle book price is going up, as I’ve been considering buying one lately. And unfortunately, as ebook prices get higher I’m afraid it will lead to more piracy. However, I do want book prices to accurately reflect their true price because I want the author, editor, etc. to get paid well.
Lynn M said on 01.27.09 at 10:51 PM • [link]
Speaking as someone who used to work in the printing industry, printing anything is expensive. The cost of paper is always going up, the time to set up and run large presses, not to mention the bindery and subsequent shipping, is a huge expense. I have to believe in the total cost of producing a book, a big part of it is in the physical production. Look at it this way - the cost to write/edit/market a book is the same whether or not you print 1 book or 1,000,000 of them. The first book is really pricey, but after that it’s all production cost.
With e-books, the trick is to find the sweet spot - the price where after you’ve sold X number of books, you’ve covered your writing/editing/marketing costs and the rest of the books sold are all profit. Regardless, the savings of not having to print actually books should be reflected in a reduced e-book price. If you have to fork over the same amount of cash as you would for a real book, what is the motivation to go with an e-version?
I am willing to pay for the service of instant gratification if it’s reasonable. And today I was thrilled because Sony has the e-version of “Into the Night” for only $14. If I ordered on Amazon, I’d pay $15.93 plus shipping, plus have to wait a week or so to get it. If I went to my local B&N;, I’d pay more for the book plus the gas and time spent going there. I’m pleasantly surprised because Brockmann’s last book was over $17 for the hardcover e-version, and I wouldn’t pay that because I could get the actual book for less.
Diane Whiteside said on 01.27.09 at 11:03 PM • [link]
Kel is entirely correct correct. Some of my dearest friends are epublishers and they spend much time complaining about server costs, formatting costs (eek, ah, ooh - must be done entirely MANUALLY into all those formats!). To say nothing of the cybersecurity to protect their beloved websites against dreadful pirates who seem to see it as the golden goose.
And the bandwidth issue? Well, let me say, there’s apparently nothing like the first day of a much awaited, much promoted Latest Title in a Long Running Series by a Big Name Author to fully test your capacity.
Or make your checkbook groan as you write a giganormous check for all the new servers, new bandwidth and hopefully not a new ISP (ah, ah, eek!) you were hoping you wouldn’t need quite yet. Although you are, of course, extremely flattered you’ve grown big enough to need it now.
paper78? Paper printing is frequently outsourced to China, my dears, for the big NY print runs. That’s what’s called using a slow boat but much more predictable in some ways. Of course, a magazine editor I once worked for had some bitter complaints about that method, too.
Que sera sera.
Lynn M said on 01.27.09 at 11:09 PM • [link]
Oops - I meant “Dark of Night”, Suzanne Brockmann’s newest.
Kalen Hughes said on 01.27.09 at 11:13 PM • [link]
I’m currently fuming about the fact that Balogh’s latest has been out in Mass Market for weeks, but the ebook over on Fictionwise is still the same price as the Hard Back? WTF is up with that? It’s bad enough that they want to charge $20+ for an ebook in the first place, but to not lower the price when the $7 mm comes out?
megalith said on 01.27.09 at 11:16 PM • [link]
I work in printing, and the costs of ink and paper have gone way up. Is it possible that publishers are generally raising prices across the board to compensate?
BTW, don’t forget that once you get to printing, you’re looking at involving a whole other industry, with its associated costs. In order to even get to prepress, you have to have a digital file as well. A different digital file for each format. One for ebook, one for paperback, one for hardback. After that, the profits for most printers hover around 3%. So mainly, you’re paying for materials and labor to output the physical product.
For ebooks it seems that a lot of labor/setup would overlap or be frontloaded: once you set up the computer equipment and code the digital storefront, SSL, order-processing, etc., it must cost less to maintain that and add e-product than it does to purchase and consume physical materials with their resultant fluctuating costs?
SB Sarah said on 01.27.09 at 11:23 PM • [link]
If I can just sing your collective praises for a minute, I have to say - not that I’m surprised - the Bitchery is awesome. So often I see discussions about the price of eBooks or the necessity that authors, editors, art folks, production folks etc. be paid for their labors degenerate into rants against the evil industry for taking it out on the poor consumer.
I am learning a ton from the comments in this discussion, and the fact that everyone is approaching the problem of ebook and paper book cost from so many educated angles is just freaking spiffy.
Ok, I’m done. Someone can tell me I’m going to hell now.
kittyfischer said on 01.27.09 at 11:31 PM • [link]
From a consumer point of view, the reason you pay so much for a hardcover is either because you really really want that book RIGHT NOW and can’t wait for it to come out in trade or mmp; or because you love hardbacks. In fact you think hardbacks are the only “real” books. The former section of the hardcover market would not be attracted to buying e-books at all, I would think. However, I do think it might make sense to price an e-book based on its potential popularity and “new-ness,” e.g., a brand new Stephen King novel that was definitely going to hit the bestseller list could be priced the same in e-book and hardcover formats and people would still buy it.
Kalen Hughes said on 01.28.09 at 12:04 AM • [link]
Ur going to hell.
rebyj said on 01.28.09 at 12:10 AM • [link]
Ereaders aren’t bargain priced so why should ebooks be?
Publishers probably figure that if you can afford a kindle or sony for 300+ dollars that you can afford to pay whatever they want to charge you for the downloads.
Kismet said on 01.28.09 at 12:22 AM • [link]
Considering my finances (or lack there of) at the moment, I am not seeing the “perks” of Ebooks/readers. Also considering that I do not throw books away (I donate to the Women’s Shelter, or City Mission when I am done with them, unless they are on the keeper shelf), the I don’t see the E-book being more of a resource conservation than a regular book. And if I have to pay $300 for a reader, I would want the cost to even out somewhere.
It seems to me that amazon and sony have cornered the market, and they will price the books however they want. That is fine by me… I’ll continue my same old ways and save money by trading with friends (sorry authors, I know it is your bottom line… but my hours got cut and I have to cut expenses back somewhere :( ).
Stacey P. said on 01.28.09 at 12:28 AM • [link]
I got a Sony Reader from my husband for Christmas, and while I love the device, I was disappointed in the fact that their ebook prices are usually only slightly lower than paperback prices, since I’d expected them to be marked down more significantly due to the lack of overhead production costs. However, the more comments I read over here, the more resigned I am to Sony’s pricing. I still think there should be more of a price difference—if nothing else, ebooks don’t involve the more wasteful production costs of paper books that go unsold and are eventually sent back to the publishers—but I’m coming to terms with it more and more.
As it is, with expenses being what they are in the current economic climate, I’ve set myself up a system—when a book goes on my TBR list, I look for it first at the library, then on the Sony store, and only if it’s not available for either do I resign myself to buying a print copy. (Then again, we’re prepping for a new baby and a move in the next few months, and I promised my husband not to accumulate another six boxes of paperbacks before we pack up the house, *lol*). And if it turns out I really enjoy the book after I read it? I’ll make a note to buy a copy in either ebook or print format, just so I can reread whenever I want.
joykenn said on 01.28.09 at 12:44 AM • [link]
I have a Kindle but I have resisted the urge to buy a copy of a hardback book when it first comes out. It usually costs about 20% less in eformat that in print….but I often get 30% or more off on bestselling new hardback books from bricks & morter stores. I do buy books that are published in paperback at that 20% discount rate—sigh. For hardbacks I’ll put my name down at the public library to read the hardback. I’m sorry, I support writers but I read more books than my budget can support.
My taxes are high and pay for an excellent public library so I support that good cause. They routinely buy a dozen copies of new bestsellers so the wait isn’t very long and they have a collection of non-reservable bestsellers on a first come, first get-it basis. All very, VERY good things for those of us who like to read. At one time I remember reading that libraries accounted for most hardback book sales. Wonder if that is still true.
Julianna said on 01.28.09 at 12:51 AM • [link]
Getting an ebook reader did cross my mind. I’ve recently switched to iTunes for most of my music purchases. I’m finding my CDs bulky and annoying, and I do a lot of my listening on iPod anyway. I can burn a quick CD if I want to listen to something on my stereo. Most importantly, it’s only ten lousy bucks to buy an album off iTunes! That’s what tipped me over. You do miss that sense of entering the world of the band when you open the case and look at the liner notes, but I can adjust.
Maybe it’s because of when I was born. I never got the chance to get too romantic about vinyl, cassette, or CD, so I can adapt to a data-only format. Books are different. My apartment is a Temple of the Book, and it would take significantly improved convenience and price to make me change.
If I ever become an urban nomad, travelling from continent to continent, all my worldly posessions in a sleek little carryon, then I’ll think about fitting my library in my purse. Until then, I’m going to stay romantic about paper and ink.
hayley said on 01.28.09 at 01:08 AM • [link]
I’m jealous that you guys even HAVE this dilemma. Over here in Australia there is ONE ebook reader available to us…. for the bargain price of $900. Paper books over here are ridiculously expensive too - a paperback is usually around the $20-$30 mark, and a hardback… easily $40-$50. Before the AU$ became so crappy I was able to order my books from overseas, but it’s just not worth it anymore. *sigh*
My complaints aside, ebooks really should be the same or a little less than paperbacks. Servers, ISP, set up, bandwidth etc etc can get pricey, but surely it’s less than running printing presses and whatnot.
Also, I’m surprised publishers aren’t jumping on the ‘green’ bandwagon - ebooks as the environmentally friendly alternative, and selling them at a slighly less-than-paperback cost is their ‘green credibility’ :)
ev said on 01.28.09 at 01:24 AM • [link]
I am still waiting for Plum Spooky to hit the ebooks, besides on Kindle.
Harlequin said on 01.28.09 at 01:35 AM • [link]
I got an Sony Reader for Christmas - it was the one I wanted because pretty! but the Kindle isn’t available over here yet. I love it to bits and the only minor quibble I have is the cost of the ebooks. I got creative online and grabbed plenty for free from Gutenberg and other not so legal sites *ahem* but I’ve also bought a fair few. There isn’t a Sony ebook store over here - the partner shop is Waterstones books shop and frankly, their site is impossible to navigate and their prices aren’t fantastic. However, I’m buying in euros and the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar and the euro and the pound is fabulous at the moment! So I’ve been footling around on American sites and getting ridiculous bargains. I got a Neil Gaiman for less than the cost of a chicken salad sandwich in Starbucks. Some books aren’t available outside the States but mostly I’ve done very well.
I don’t buy a lot of hardbacks, except for the next one in a series that I’ve been waiting for, like the Wheel of Time or Harry Potter. And I buy second-hand or from discount bookshops or get bargains online. I don’t like paying full price for books unless I’ve already read it and am sure it’s worth it! I wouldn’t expect to pay as much for ebooks as for paper books but I wouldn’t expect to get them for half nothing either.
joanne said on 01.28.09 at 02:03 AM • [link]
You guys seem to be forgetting the huge costs of production, shipping, storage, and sales of a print book. I would think that the cost of producing a hardback, or even a paperback would be far greater than the cost of producing an e-book. Salary and benefits for production workers, transportation costs (truck drivers, trucks, fuel and maintenance) storage (both for the actual building and it’s upkeep and the employees that work in it), sales employees, and the list goes on. Not to mention the cost of materials. The cost of paper has skyrocketed (I do work in publishing).
Yes, all of the pre-production costs are similar, but that’s only part of the equation. No way, no how, not in this lifetime will I pay more for an ebook than a print book. For me, the whole point of the Kindle is for it to eventually pay for itself with what I save buying books.
sugarless said on 01.28.09 at 02:45 AM • [link]
Yeah it seems like a lot of the expenses that go into making e-books are start-up costs, not unlike buying the machinery to make paper books. Obviously, there are some costs involved, but comparatively, it should be less.
And I never thought of that, heyley, but I’m surprised the marketing teams for the readers haven’t jumped on the “green” idea too.
Approaching it from the convenience angle might be a better motivation for their target market though. You can’t come at it from too many angles, or your marketing lacks focus and impact. [/marketing major]
I’ve been drooling over the readers for a while now, but I just can’t afford one :( Maybe when I’m super successful or when I marry rich…
Pat Henshaw said on 01.28.09 at 02:51 AM • [link]
I too am waiting for the box of chocolates that should be distributed with some ebooks. I have a Kindle and am constantly pushing the “I would like to read this book on the Kindle” button because the “distribution” of ebook romances seems so odd. I keep wondering why publishers wouldn’t want their books to be available on Kindle or any other ebook reader since most books are electronically sent to the printer these days.
I do agree that raising prices on ebooks is completely silly. Although I love my Kindle, I’ll stop using it if books get too expensive for it.
SonomaLass said on 01.28.09 at 02:56 AM • [link]
I don’t buy very many e-books, because my only “e-reader” is my laptop. I have read quite a few free-e-books (my fave—thanks Baen and Tor!), and that led to me buying a few that were highly recommended (usually here or over at DA) and not available in print. Then the newest release by one of my favorite authors, Naomi Novik, came out in hardback, when the first four books in the series were paperbacks. Aaaargh! The set must match, dangit, but I cannot wait…. In that case, I found the e-book on sale, and I realized that the cost of the e-book plus the eventual paperback for my collection would be the same as the hardback alone. Sold!
In general, though, I’d say e-books don’t tempt me unless they are at or below the print price that’s available—including my Borders card discount and all that. They aren’t really much more convenient, since I don’t have a dedicated reader, and I agree with others here that they lose some value when you can’t pass them along when you’re done with them. (If my aunt hadn’t passed along all those Harlequin Presents during boring summer vacation at my grandparents’, I probably would never have become a romance reader!)
Bonnie said on 01.28.09 at 02:59 AM • [link]
Ya know, I only looked up a a few authors at Amazon, but I don’t see that the Kindle prices are higher than the paper books. But then, I’m looking at romances only. All of them have been less $$ than the paper books. Even the hardcovers.
What’s the deal? Am I crazy?
Are they supposed to give them away?
jude said on 01.28.09 at 03:03 AM • [link]
FYI, from today’s edition of Shelf Awareness:
“Calvin Reid, still at PW, reports that Amazon.com plans to stop offering e-books in Microsoft Reader or Adobe e-formats and will offer e-books only in Kindle or Mobipocket formats. Amazon owns the Kindle and Mobipocket. “
Jen said on 01.28.09 at 03:20 AM • [link]
I think they need to go back to the drawing board on the pricing model, for a couple of reasons.
First, there’s fairness to their early-adopter customers, who took a leap of faith partly because they were promised savings on books. It’s stupid to betray your early loyal customers when the idea of your product is so new.
Second, by pricing “hardback” higher, they seem to be going with some sort of theory that “hardback” equals “new release.” But book customers aren’t going to find that model familiar - books that are released originally in pback don’t suddenly get cheaper a year later. The paperback cover price is always the same.
Have any of the e-book companies experimented with a “rental” model, like Netflix? I don’t have an e-book reader, so I’m not sure how that would work, but that is how I would want to use an e-book. I don’t imagine myself keeping storage media full of used e-books.
Alpha Lyra said on 01.28.09 at 03:37 AM • [link]
Sometimes I think a subscription model may be where we are ultimately headed, especially once libraries are commonly “lending” e-books rather than paper books. An e-book can be replicated at no cost, so infinite copies of books could be “loaned.” But then how do the authors and publishers get paid? Perhaps royalties based on how often a book is borrowed?
Denni said on 01.28.09 at 04:01 AM • [link]
I’ve also recently become aware of libraries “lending” e-books. If it’s copyable or keepable, there needs to be an arrangement like iTunes selling music. Otherwise it’s just theft from the authors. Heck, will everyone have the ability to download all books free at the library? Can they then keep them forever, trade, or resell them?
Shelley said on 01.28.09 at 04:27 AM • [link]
Exactly!!!! And ditto on the green issue! Personally, I’m all for using as little paper as possible and would be happy to read ebooks exclusively. I love technology!
But still, once the software is bought and downloaded and the files are converted and that person’s salary is paid, what exactly are ebook buyers paying for? Surely these few humans are not collectively making the same as hundreds of workers who are involved in the actual printing of the book. I swear I’m not being snarky. I could be totally off the mark on this. Help me understand if I am.
A question - why is the word “hardback” used in reference to ebooks? Is that the seller pulling us in with mind-control tricks to make us think we are getting such a great deal that we would be willing to pay just about anything to get that book?
One last thing. I think the Kindle is the ugliest piece of machinery ever and the price is ridiculous. I can stuff 8 megs of crap on my iPod nano and be entertained for hours and hours and nobody knows (ok, maybe a little snarky here).
J.C. Wilder said on 01.28.09 at 04:31 AM • [link]
Jude wrote: ‘Calvin Reid, still at PW, reports that Amazon.com plans to stop offering e-books in Microsoft Reader or Adobe e-formats and will offer e-books only in Kindle or Mobipocket formats. Amazon owns the Kindle and Mobipocket. “
This is old news and PW was sleeping at the wheel. Amazon quit selling these formats about 2 years ago.
Denni wrote: I’ve also recently become aware of libraries “lending” e-books.
Many of them use a technology that allows the file to be read for a certain period of time (say 3 weeks) and then its disabled.
Someone mentioned the formatting of ebooks - once the file file is ready (for the printer or the ebook formatter) it takes approximately 15-20 minutes per format. So for each book you’re looking at maybe 1.5 to 2 hours of work to create the 6 most popular formats. You can download Stanza for free and that program creates about 20 different formats. :)
Shelley said on 01.28.09 at 04:35 AM • [link]
Oops…that would be 8 gigs.
Jane said on 01.28.09 at 04:51 AM • [link]
Denni, the library e-books do have copyright protection. The files automatically expire when the lending period is over and you can’t open them anymore.
Angelia Sparrow said on 01.28.09 at 05:02 AM • [link]
I know a little about the library side.
The library purchases the e-books.
The borrower does not download it. When they check it out, the program simply moves it to a reading shelf where it stays for three days and then evaporates.
It is not copyable, printable or keepable.
As for e-book pricing, I think $6 is too high for an e-book, really. I download a lot from Project Gutenberg. The publishers I buy from top out around $6
delphine said on 01.28.09 at 05:13 AM • [link]
I didn’t want to wait for a Kindle, so I decided to just get an iphone and use that as an ereader (yay, Stanza!). That has worked well for me, and I’m doubly glad now that I didn’t go with the Kindle. Even though, since my own books are epublished, I probably could’ve written the thing off…
After thinking about this whole price issue, I’d vote for the “ebooks have to be cheaper than print to produce” position, if only for the factor of incremental cost.
Think about it. Any publishing house has a web site, so you can’t really say that’s an additional expense the publisher wouldn’t incur anyway, these days. So that overhead is the same, print or e-publishing. Any publisher has editors, cover artists, etc., so that’s the same. But coding? You pay somebody clerical wages to do that stuff these days, it’s not really that highly specialized any more. I’d bet there are a lot more coders out there than people who know how to work printing equipment.
So the author submits the book (which, if you’re an epublisher, you’re probably already requiring in an electronic format following a particular template), the editor and author do their little dance back and forth a bit, and then that book gets coded into html and/or converted to pdf, mobipocket, etc.. That coding process happens ONE TIME. And then the book is stored, digitally, ONE TIME, taking up a fixed amount of space, with a link to the shopping cart that’s already in place. Even if it’s a big, graphic-intensive book of some sort, it’s a one-time cost. No further incremental cost for that book’s production, storage, or sale, whether you sell it once or a hundred thousand times. No remainders to deal with, even.
It’s price-gouging. And yeah, I admit, it ticks me off even though I opted for not-Kindle.
Security word: couldnt97 - it was so hard to type that without the apostrophe…
Melissa S. said on 01.28.09 at 05:31 AM • [link]
I’m getting my new Sony E-Reader pretty soon and I’m really excited about it. When I first started buying ebooks mostly to read on my computer when I was aboard, I shunned e-books that were close to same as the paperback, but all things considered it’s a fair price when you think about the fact that the books have to be formatted and stored. By selling ebooks, Amazon has to double if not triple their servers for storing not only the books, but the buyers purchases so they can redownload them. Then there’s also the “free” wi-fi. You need a team of people to constantly watch those servers to keep them from crashing and if they do crash to be able to back up every purchase ever made for the Kindle. With the Kindle becoming not just popular but Uber popular that means more servers and more people to monitor those servers. And then, what’s going to happen in couple of years when Amazon and Sony discover a new format for e-books that better?
But in answer to your question, I wouldn’t want to pay more than 12 dollars for an e-book even with a horrible economy.
Heather said on 01.28.09 at 06:59 AM • [link]
Honestly, the cost of e-books is the main reason why I don’t buy an ebook reader. It’s just not worth it to me to spend $300.00+ on a reader and then have to pay the same price or close to it when I can go out buy a paperback version at the same price. I don’t have to worry about people stealing my paperback version or breaking it when I drop it. The convenience of an ebook reader makes me want one, but when I crunch the numbers, it’s just really not worth it to me, not if ebooks are going to be as expensive. I can’t imagine that it’s all that pricey to do. Even I, a relatively uneducated, lower middle class administrative assistant can turn a simple .doc file into a .lit or PDF in a matter of seconds, then anyone can do it. It’s not like they’d need to hire a bunch of specialized labor for it. A college kid will do it for 8 bucks an hour (or free if you want to call it a publishing internship.)
Aunt Lynn said on 01.28.09 at 07:38 AM • [link]
I just use my laptop for PDF and MSReader files. Not ideal, but it works all right for me right now. I like the idea of the Kindle, but device cost and some other issues (like DRM) have made me hold back. I refuse to pay more than the cost of a paperback for an ebook, and I expect it to be at least 10% less than the cost of one—and generally actually pay much less. For example, an ebook I recently bought from the pub cost $4.95, while the print version is $13.95.
My library contracts with NetLibrary for ebook viewing and lending, but they only currently have a collection of 198, all non-fiction self-help-ish books, almost every title in law or related (such as Represent Yourself in Court: How to Prepare & Try a Winning Case or Starting & Building a Nonprofit: A Practical Guide). Audiobooks and ebooks available for actual lending are available for 21 days, after which time they “cease to be playable and viewable.” I have inquired about fiction being made available, but the answer was not yet.
Darlene said on 01.28.09 at 07:48 AM • [link]
I have had an account with Ereader.com for many years. Previously used a Palm PDA before purchasing my IPhone. Love the convenience of being on the road and having several books with me without the bulk. Hate the limited selection offered. Thought about buying a Kindle, but I have an extensive bookshelf at Ereader that Kindle can’t access. Still buy hardback and some trade paperback. My e-book purchases are for the books I would have only purchased as paperbacks. I haven’t noticed a difference in pricing between e-books and their paper versions. Must be a Kindle/Amazon thing.
Alpha Lyra said on 01.28.09 at 09:28 AM • [link]
I’m a software industry professional, and I used to work in electronic publishing. (I saw some very, very early e-readers!) That was 8 years ago, so my knowledge is significantly out of date. Even so, I am finding it hard to grasp why publishers are claiming it is expensive to publish an e-book. Sure, creating the infrastructure is expensive. But after that’s established, where’s the money going?
When the Kindle first came out, an enterprising friend of mine grabbed some public domain documents (e.g. the U.S. Constitution) and packaged them up into kindle books. He made some sales. He was just a guy messing around at home, seeing what he could do. I know it’s not the same thing as publishing an original work, where you have to worry about editing, copyediting, cover art, and payment to the author. But I’m still having trouble understanding where the huge expense is coming from, when my friend cobbled together some e-books with hardly any difficulty at all, and no expense.
Shreela said on 01.28.09 at 09:43 AM • [link]
Why should they lower their prices as long as enough people are willing to pay the higher prices? Later, competition will undercut them enough that price wars will begin. When that happens with both readers and ebooks, that’s when I’ll consider buying a reader and ebooks.
Tae said on 01.28.09 at 12:24 PM • [link]
Hayley,
I’m in Korea and I have a Sony PRS in shiny red and an Ebookwise Reader. Now I am an American citizen and I do have a US credit card which I believe you need to purchase books off the sony website. However, Fictionwise will take Paypal… and so if you know someone stateside who can buy and ship it to you, you might be able to work it out.
Kathi430 said on 01.28.09 at 01:01 PM • [link]
I got the Sony for Christmas and LOVE it. The irony is, I wanted a Kindle, so was initially disappointed with my Sony.
It took a few days for me to get past the whole this-isn’t-a-Kindle-so-I-can’t-possibly-like-it issue, but once common sense set in, I found myself forgetting it wasn’t a paperback, reaching up to turn the page while reading.
Yesterday I saw there was talk of a Kindle V2 and I was doubly glad I hadn’t gotten my Heart’s Desire. I’m annoyed with Amazon’s overly proprietary attitude and what I see as price gouging.
As for price, I don’t want to pay the same for an ebook as for a hardcover. I’d like a reward, even a small one, for being green. I’m Old Skool at heart about books and feel a twinge not to hold the tangible thing in my hands, to give up running my fingers over the silky face of a paperback and being able to flip the pages back and forth in order to skim text already read. I’m willing to adapt, mind, but think a small price reduction isn’t too much to ask.
ShellBell said on 01.28.09 at 01:12 PM • [link]
I read my ebooks on my Palm T/X. What I like about it is that I can read pdf, mobi and ereader formats on my Palm so it depends on which format the book is available in as to which format I purchase. My two negative comments about the Palm T/X are: 1. I wish the screen was slightly bigger and I wish Adobe Digital Editions books were readable on the Palm.
I get extremely irritated about the inconsistent pricing and the inconsistent release dates and am no longer prepared to purchase ebooks that have an overinflated hardcover/trade price.
Do ebooks count in any way towards the NYT Bestsellers list?
Surely you there would be costs associated with print books that would not be associated with ebooks e.g ink and paper, distribution costs, production costs etc. The costs for servers, bandwidth, conversion etc wouldn’t be additional to the production of print books, they would be instead of those costs relating to the production of the physical book.
Keira said on 01.28.09 at 05:03 PM • [link]
I would say the time spent and the people used in ebook production must be significantly less. You have maybe a team of two (three if you’re extremely excessive) pull the pdf and other file formats together… which is significantly less than those that would be needed to book layout, printing, and distribution. I think ebooks should be cheaper than paperback and universal DRM free file formats. Buying an ereader is expensive and until they can bring the cost of that down I don’t see how they can justify upping ebook prices. If the reader was cheaper, the ebooks could be higher. As it is I understand that the publishers suffer due to the price points on the readers at the moment, but if the publishers bought stock and funded the companies with the readers they would get some money back.
Kelly C. said on 01.28.09 at 06:16 PM • [link]
All I can say is that the more I hear, read and see about “e-book readers”, the less and less inclined I am to ever own one. Period.
non-spam word : costs92 I think that says it all on the subject.
Madd said on 01.28.09 at 06:20 PM • [link]
I don’t have a reader. I read y e-books on my pc and it’s a pain in the ass. I want a reader that will work with my .pdfs.
I will not pay more than pb price for an e-book. True, most of the e-books I buy are not available in print, but I’d rather pass than pay more for it than I would for another book I’d like just as well from the bookstore. Start-up and maintenance costs aside, selling e-books has got to be less expensive than print runs.
Tibbles said on 01.28.09 at 07:04 PM • [link]
While I am a day late, I would like to make a point. Web hosting (At least through the people I know) is between $10 and $100 a month depending on the size of the site. Two to four people can usually comfortably run a site once the initial setup is over. Most around here charge about $50 an hour to setup and any maintenance.
Now, let’s take Barnes & Noble for example. You have:
1)Property Costs-buying, building, taxes, upkeep
(1/4 to 1/2 million setup 5k+ yearly taxes
2)Employee Base-Between 2 and 10 people at any given time
3)Electric bill, Telephone bill, DSL/Internet (& Webhosting!!) bill
Seem to me like e-books should be at least the same as paperback, if not a dollar or so cheaper. I don’t think the e-book people should screw themselves over but there is no need for them to screw us either.
Lavinia said on 01.28.09 at 08:39 PM • [link]
One point I haven’t seen anybody make directly is that the price difference between a traditional hardback and a paperback is probably not all in the production cost. I believe that publishers (and authors) do make a higher profit margin on hardbacks. Readers are paying to get the book right away. I am sure, at least in romance and mass market fiction, that the books that come out in hardback mostly have authors who get bigger advances (and more publicity) and these costs must be worked into the books price.
I do think that ebooks should be cheaper than than the paper version, but for new books that have been released in hardback I would bet that the publisher is depending on the extra money from the hardback to make the book profitable. I think it unrealistic to expect that a book released in hardback to sell for a pb price in ebook format.
That said—Amazon probably was deceptive in what it could realistically price hardback ebooks at.
Suze said on 01.28.09 at 10:51 PM • [link]
I wonder if the pricing has been set up to cover the whole publishing spectrum.
For example, in restaurants, they have a higher profit margin on cheaper items so that they can afford a smaller profit margin on more expensive items. Like, you spend $10 on a breakfast that cost them $3 to produce, so that they can charge $23 for a steak that cost them $20 to produce. (Not real numbers, in case you’re pulling out your calculator. Just random guesses based on what I’ve been told is a real practice.)
Which is understandable, I guess, but if you’re the guy that only eats breakfast, you’re subsidizing the guy who only eats steak. Similarly, it used to be that long-distance phone calls subsidized cheap local lines, and now it seems to be the other way around.
And whatever the case, they’re certainly not presenting this price discrepancy in any way that’s palatable to the consumer. If an e-book is less than $1 cheaper than a paper book, that’s still enough of a difference to satisfy me psychologically, whereas charging more than a paper book just outrages and offends me.
Tina said on 01.29.09 at 12:17 AM • [link]
I can tell you that selling through KINDLE is sort of rough because Amazon takes 65% per download. Of the $3.99 they charge for ‘Gadarene’, they make more off it then we do. I noticed this same trend with Diamond Distro and selling manga through them—they take a large percentage of the retail price, so pubs price high in order to offset their take and still pay whatever royalties are owed the creators.
I wanted tempted to raise the price of Gadarene so that CB Potts and I could get a little more out of it in terms of royalty, per download—but decided against it. We’re making more in print sales.
Alpha Lyra said on 01.29.09 at 07:07 AM • [link]
Wow. Seriously? Amazon takes 65%? If that’s so, then I think we need look no further for where the price gouging is coming from.
Amie Stuart said on 01.29.09 at 05:08 PM • [link]
I noticed yesterday while checking out the app for the iTouch that Stanza’s (can’t remember who the actual seller is) prices are the same for paperbacks and trade paperbacks. Honestly, even as a writer, this pisses me off.
Leeann said on 01.29.09 at 05:11 PM • [link]
The 65% is one of the reason my publisher will not put her books up at Amazon Kindle.
Personally I prefer to pay up to $6 per ebook. If it’s more than that I think twice before making the purchase. If its the same price as the print copy I pick up the print one over the ebook.
Tina said on 01.29.09 at 05:14 PM • [link]
—my bad. So I’m not accused of lying, I went back and checked my DTP account and noticed some changes.
As per 1/2009: “Provided you are not in breach of your obligations under this Agreement, we will pay you, for each Digital Book we sell, a royalty equal to thirty-five percent (35%) of the applicable Suggested Retail Price for such Digital Book, net of refunds, bad debt, and any taxes charged to a customer (including without limitation sales taxes) (a “Royalty”).
When I first signed on at Amazon’s DTP to sell Gadarene as a Kindle book, they were taking 65% per download and my first quarter sales report reflects this. I first priced it at $7.99 just to cover it. I noticed it wasn’t selling so I decided to lower the price to $4.99 and then we started selling about 2 downloads a month. Amazon reduced the price further to $3.99 - now I see why—since I don’t get a check for my royalties until they accrue $10, I’ve now noticed that the royalty amount has changed. Sadly, Kindle doesn’t make enough in sales for me to keep an eye on it.
Createspace also changed their royalty structure in the middle of last year, which was very beneficial to us when it came to Gadarene. I can’t imagine any eBook publisher not wanting to utilize their service for print editions of profitable books—it’s very rewarding.
Tina said on 01.29.09 at 05:17 PM • [link]
Sorry - ‘they were taking’ means—THEY ARE TAKING.
The changes in TOS I pointed out are still lame, but they’re worded to make me feel better: as opposed to saying we get 65%, they felt that saying I get 35% just looks nicer. :)
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