What’s An Ebook Worth?
March 21st, 2012I don’t pay close attention to new releases, but lately I’ve had the feeling that the price of ebooks from traditional publishers is going up–or maybe it’s just the prices of particular books? I presume this is the result of agency pricing, but I’m okay with that.
I think I’ve mentioned here and there that I’m not averse to paying $7.99 for a novel that I really want to read and I’ve bought several in this price range. I even bought one or two for $9.99 when I first got my Kindle in the fall of 2010. I think prices dropped for a time after that, and I didn’t think I’d ever be lured into paying more than $9.99 for a novel.
But I was wrong.
Yesterday I set aside my principles on ebook pricing and paid $10.99 for the third Sandman Slim novel, Aloha From Hell, because I really wanted to read this book now. And you know what? The author, Richard Kadrey, deserves to make some real money on this series. I hope he’s doing just that.
I would have felt better paying less, and I suspect there aren’t very many books that I have to have right now — but as I’ve said before, when it comes to reading, it’s my time that’s the limiting factor. If I have to pay more to read the books I really want to read in the time I have available, well, evidently I will.
Posted on: Wednesday, March 21st, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Categories: Publishing, Reading.
Tags: ebook pricing, Sandman Slim
March 21st, 2012 at 1:59 pm
$10 is about my limit, too. I’ve gone a little higher on a new release, but won’t pay more than that for a book that’s been out for a while, and certainly not for a re-release.
March 21st, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Yes, I think it has to be a hotly anticipated book to get away with high prices. OTOH, I have to always remind myself I’m not a very good example of a typical buyer…
March 21st, 2012 at 3:56 pm
If it’s something I’ve been waiting for then I will sometimes pay more than $10.
March 21st, 2012 at 4:04 pm
You know, it’s good, hopeful news for writers that readers are willing to support their work. Still, as a reader I’m glad there are lots of greats books to be had at lesser prices.
March 22nd, 2012 at 4:19 pm
I’ve also found that books from traditional publishers are getting more expensive. Apparently this may be part of a conspiracy on the part of Apple and four publishing houses in an attempt to make the Apple Bookstore more viable, and eBooks more profitable for these publishers. The DOJ is investigating these allegations, anyway.
These allegations aside, I read little fiction these days and I’ve been okay paying extra for technical books that fill my head with knowledge about how to make more money, though I’m not sure I would pay a whole lot more than $9.99 for fiction. I know everyone in the eBook game is saving money, so I feel a cut of those savings should be passed along to the consumer as well, and if someone is reneging on that social contract, they don’t get my business.
March 22nd, 2012 at 4:46 pm
I suspect the DOJ is way behind the curve, but it’ll be interesting if they decide that publishers can’t set their own prices. In the meantime, Amazon continues to dominate the market.
With physical books, it’s said that publishers have to print and ship two to sell one, and the second gets returned, with a cost added on for shipping. But with a $10.99 price on an ebook (and tax charged on top of that!) they’re probably making two to three times the profit that they would on a print book. I’m just guessing of course. But still, no risk of returns, so it has to be a very nice deal for them.
But remembering the pricing book you gave me to read, it does makes sense, if you have an anticipated book, to try to get the maximum profit out of the most eager readers, and later lower the price to gather up the rest–assuming the rest don’t resort to pirated versions, of course.
March 22nd, 2012 at 5:01 pm
Naturally! I still find it just slightly galling when they try to charge the same amount for a eBook as a print book. If the hard-back version is $30, the paperback $20 and the ebook $15, cool (and generally keeping the same ratio across formats), but when you’ve got a $20 hardback and a $17 ebook or something like that…yeah, I feel abused as an informed consumer who knows the margins they’re working with.
March 22nd, 2012 at 5:13 pm
You’ve inspired me to look at the cost of the physical version of the book that initiated this post. It’s fairly new and only available in hardcover, with a list price of $23.99 discounted by Amazon to $14.62. So I’m not feeling all that bad about what I paid for the ebook. Amazon isn’t allowed to discount those, which is what the DOJ is looking into. But I have to wonder how much Amazon is making on the hardcover.