e-Book pricing changes

[calicokitty]

But the new pricing agreement among publishers effectively prevents retailers from discounting e-books without a publisher's permission, and no such agreement exists when it comes to printed books, according to the story. That means retailers can still slash the price for physical books as much as they please in order to entice readers to buy, but they'll have to comply with the new, higher prices for e-books set by the publishers.

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_new...-on-the-wallet

Some examples of these pricing snafus? Well, the WSJ cites Ken Follett's 985-page novel "Fall of Giants," which costs $18.99 as an e-book, but can be purchased in paperback for $16.50 on Amazon.com

[DianeP]

That sucks. But I can see why they'd want to do this as e-book prices have been so low for so long. Long enough to get a lot of people on the e-book bandwagon. Now they can make up for what they've been losing by not selling as many hardback books, which may eventually go the way of the dinosaur. I'm glad I got Fall of Giants back when it was published for a lot less money. It's a question of wanting to read it "now" or waiting for the paperback version. Even before e-books, I always wanted to read it "now."

[Yasmine]

I could say so much about this situation, knowing the industry as I do, but I don't want to rant. *grins* Authors are being edged out every which way we turn. Lower prices means lower royalties on already penny-ante earnings for a lot of writers.

Yazza

[DianeP]

I could say so much about this situation, knowing the industry as I do, but I don't want to rant. *grins* Authors are being edged out every which way we turn. Lower prices means lower royalties on already penny-ante earnings for a lot of writers.

Yazza

I understand that, but if people can't afford to buy books, it will mean even less for authors. Hardbacks are really far too expensive these days, one reason I go the Kindle in the first place -- it's really a Catch 22. How much to the publishing houses make off of books? It seems it'd be a larger percentage for e-books given there aren't the publishing expenses of paper and ink, not to mention printing presses and employees needed to publish.

[Yasmine]

I understand that, but if people can't afford to buy books, it will mean even less for authors. Hardbacks are really far too expensive these days, one reason I go the Kindle in the first place -- it's really a Catch 22. How much to the publishing houses make off of books? It seems it'd be a larger percentage for e-books given there aren't the publishing expenses of paper and ink, not to mention printing presses and employees needed to publish.

Actually, there's a LOT of overhead going into ebooks. Not as much as paper, but you still have to hire editors and formatters and marketers and buy the equipment needed and hire the IT people who know how to do it. And while hardbacks are priced out of range for most people, they don't make a lot of money for most authors, considering the lower print runs. Which is why I'm in MM PBO, instead of HB. BUT...a lot of people expect way too low of a price on ebooks--they need to realize they're buying content, not just pixels. And content is created by the author. As it is, our royalties are already small on most print books. Ebooks, when priced at a reasonable rate, often give us higher royalties.

Yazza

[DianeP]

Actually, there's a LOT of overhead going into ebooks. Not as much as paper, but you still have to hire editors and formatters and marketers and buy the equipment needed and hire the IT people who know how to do it. And while hardbacks are priced out of range for most people, they don't make a lot of money for most authors, considering the lower print runs. Which is why I'm in MM PBO, instead of HB. BUT...a lot of people expect way too low of a price on ebooks--they need to realize they're buying content, not just pixels. And content is created by the author. As it is, our royalties are already small on most print books. Ebooks, when priced at a reasonable rate, often give us higher royalties.

Yazza

Unfortunately when Ken Follet's "Fall of Giants" was priced so high, it got very low ratings on Amazon Kindle because of the PRICE, not because of the content. It was really unfair because I think it kept a lot of people from buying it. I bought it anyway because I love Follet's books, and I figured for that many pages it was worth the $15 or so I paid for it and then some -- it was like buying two books! I see it's since gone up in price. You're right of course, we pay for content and should be willing to pay more for "more and better," but a lot of people don't look at it that way. And it's harder with an e-book to "see" what you're getting for the higher price as opposed to a hardback which you can pick up and tell that 937 pages is lot more than 235. Most of the time when I'm buying an e-book I don't even have any idea how many pages it is because the old Kindles don't compute in pages.

[LindaD]

Yaz: If I thought that the author was going to get the difference between the cost of printing and the e-book, I'd gladly pay the price. But, I'm sure that is not the case. The publishers are going to get the difference without the expense of printing and transportation.

The book business is going to get in trouble, much like the music business. The music business priced themselves out of business because of the high price of CDs. Piracy was rampant until iTunes. It's a whole different paradigm now. The book business is going down the same road. I've got my kindle but I'm not paying the high prices of the best sellers for an ebook. I'll take my time and get them from the library, maybe not right away but in the first year after publication. And they have now instituted an e-book lending library in MD so that's a different option too. Anyway, I'm now reading much more non-fiction than I did a few years ago. I've found so many good non-fiction books on the Kindle that I wouldn't have known about before. And most of them are priced right for me.

I'm just rooting for the authors to get more of my dollar when I buy a book. They are the ones that are getting left out of this business and without them we wouldn't have books.

Linda

[Yasmine]

Yaz: If I thought that the author was going to get the difference between the cost of printing and the e-book, I'd gladly pay the price. But, I'm sure that is not the case. The publishers are going to get the difference without the expense of printing and transportation.

The book business is going to get in trouble, much like the music business. The music business priced themselves out of business because of the high price of CDs. Piracy was rampant until iTunes. It's a whole different paradigm now. The book business is going down the same road. I've got my kindle but I'm not paying the high prices of the best sellers for an ebook. I'll take my time and get them from the library, maybe not right away but in the first year after publication. And they have now instituted an e-book lending library in MD so that's a different option too. Anyway, I'm now reading much more non-fiction than I did a few years ago. I've found so many good non-fiction books on the Kindle that I wouldn't have known about before. And most of them are priced right for me.

I'm just rooting for the authors to get more of my dollar when I buy a book. They are the ones that are getting left out of this business and without them we wouldn't have books.

Linda

Royalties depend on what your contract says. HB will make more royalties than PB. EBook, generally gives you more royalties, but if the price is far lower, then it may not make a difference. For example, I get 8% royalties off my PB sales. And, I believe 15-25% off ebook sales. The most important thing to authors today is that people BUY the book, not steal it.

And pirates are ripping me ragged. Piracy is theft, there's no way to rationalize it--it's theft, pure and simple. I've lost tens of thousands of dollars to piracy. A person who walks into a store and steals a book is a thief. A person who downloads it illegally (not in a for-free offer by the publisher or author) is also a thief.

Yazza

[calicokitty]

Here is some background on the analysis of what is going on, and implications.. For instance: Lorraine Shanley says high prices for mainstream e-books could easily persuade more readers to try self-published novels from authors using Amazon’s Kindle publishing platform—since many of them are priced at $5 or less. Self-publishing success stories, such as Amanda Hocking’s and John Locke’s, have shown that sales in some cases can jump as much as 20-fold when the price drops.

http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...-12152011.html

[Yasmine]

Here is some background on the analysis of what is going on, and implications.. For instance: Lorraine Shanley says high prices for mainstream e-books could easily persuade more readers to try self-published novels from authors using Amazon’s Kindle publishing platform—since many of them are priced at $5 or less. Self-publishing success stories, such as Amanda Hocking’s and John Locke’s, have shown that sales in some cases can jump as much as 20-fold when the price drops.

http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...-12152011.html

LOL, I'm not even getting into a discussion on the SP industry. I have strong feelings about people who put up stuff without editing it, without it being vetted through a publishing system, etc. And while *some* SP authors have some success, the vast majority will never make enough to pay for what it cost them to put up their books. (I'm a firm believer in paying your dues the traditional way).

Yazza