My wife is going nuts (ebook pricing)

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Michael Davis

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As I sit here, trying to finalized the draft of my next novel, my wife is raving my ear off about the skullduggery being exercised by the publishers of her favorite authors. Seems they are now charging as much for E format as for paperback. She is so "perturbed" she's actually taken to fire off letters to the authors explaining she will no longer read their books "after this mockery" ( her words, not mine.) Course I realize its not the authors at fault, but you tell her, I'm sure as heck not going to just into this one (g).

I'm fortunate that my publisher has a brain and loyalty to their readers and retains a sane pricing structure ($6 for my new releases and $3 for many on my back list). This eventually has to backlash on these blind mice, like the brain dead corporates at Spirit airline denying a stage 4 cancer patient a refund. Amazing some of the decisions companies make.
 

Jonathan Dalar

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Much of the cost of publishing is sunk into editing, copyediting, proofing, and marketing, much more than the actual cost of paper and ink. That is one of the key reasons why ebooks are as expensive or almost as expensive as print. It's a huge misconception among readers, who think almost all the cost is the cost of cutting down trees and marking them up.
 

Rubay H.

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Whether it's amazon't fault or the publishers, I'm a little concerned that neither one of them really cares that the customer feels as they they are getting blunt objects shoved up their backside.
However you look at it, it's not good for business.

You can tell your wife that I sympathize and that she should demand from you some chocolate. ;)
 

squalorcat

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As a former publishing house intern, lemme tell you something, buddy:

The publishers aren't going to read the hate. They're going to pass it off to the intern, who will then write an apologetic letter and RUN TO THE MAILROOM BEFORE CLOSING TIME.

Once they start losing money and sh** gets real, they'll start to reconsider.
 

shadowwalker

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Do many authors with websites/blogs make an attempt to educate their fans about this? Just curious.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Amazon set prices artificially low, losing money on each sale, in order to put their rivals out of business and gain a monopoly.

If Amazon gains that monopoly ... watch out for prices then.
 

Kerosene

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If Amazon gains that monopoly ... watch out for prices then.

B-B-but it's not a monopoly...


I think the e-book and self-publishing through amazon (and other companies) is very smart and ideal.

Some (physical) publishing can kill the author. But that's a fact and really can't change for the better.
 

Namatu

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Whether it's amazon't fault or the publishers, I'm a little concerned that neither one of them really cares that the customer feels as they they are getting blunt objects shoved up their backside.
However you look at it, it's not good for business.
It's not good business to set your prices so low you don't make money. Publishers need to make money so that their staff and their authors can make money.

Amazon set prices artificially low, losing money on each sale
And this has warped expectations of how much ebooks should cost.

I'm sorry, but just because it's not a print book you can file on your shelf doesn't mean it's worth less. The same amount of work, effort, and investment went into creating the digital product, just like the print.

Ebook sales are increasing rapidly, as they have been for the last several years. An increase in demand isn't conflating prices above what you would normally pay for a book. It's setting prices for e and print on par with one another. (Unless you're Amazon.) That's not going to change.
 

Michael Davis

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Ref sending to the publisher, I think my wife did the smart thing and sent her "feelings" to the authors themselves via their web sites. Already got several responses.

Ref the cup a tea, I aren't made her favorite cup of java (DD) and it soothed her feathers, but only to the bottom of the cup (g).
 

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Whether it's amazon't fault or the publishers, I'm a little concerned that neither one of them really cares that the customer feels as they they are getting blunt objects shoved up their backside.
However you look at it, it's not good for business.

You can tell your wife that I sympathize and that she should demand from you some chocolate. ;)
I can't help but marvel that people will happily pay $5 for a Caramel Macchiato that will be gone in fifteen minutes, but get the vapors when asked to spend $8 or $9 on a book. 'Sweird to me.
 

Soccer Mom

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I can't help but marvel that people will happily pay $5 for a Caramel Macchiato that will be gone in fifteen minutes, but get the vapors when asked to spend $8 or $9 on a book. 'Sweird to me.

This. Publishers will charge what the market bears. I don't mind paying paperback prices for an ebook. If it's an author I want, I happily plunk down my $12 for that brand new release. For me, it's worth it.

As an author, I'm not interested in selling my full length novel for $2.99. There is a lot of labor there. I like making more than the price of a cuppa joe off the hours of labor. Funnily enough, the cover artists, editors, and marketing team for my publisher feel the same way. A book is a product with many people involved in the making, people who do this professionally need a living wage.
 

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A book is a product with many people involved in the making, people who do this professionally need a living wage.

In an ebook, all the editing, copyediting, cover design, and marketing that goes into the paper version still gets done. The typesetting costs are still there as formatting. And then it's nice to pay the author, too.
 

Jamesaritchie

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I seem to be teh only one on earth who thinks prices for pretty much all fiction, e-books or print, are remarkably low. I see people screm at teh price of a book, and then spend twice as much for DVD. Or for weekly trips to Starbucks. Or for you name it.

Books aren't overpriced, they're undervalued.

And Amazon sucks.
 

veinglory

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The most expensive thing in a novel is not the paper, it is the words. That is why different formats are similar prices.
 

bkendall

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Books are definitely undervalued, james. I agree completely. I think it's just that convenience is taking over and has been for years. I offer an apology for derailing OP.
 

Soccer Mom

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In an ebook, all the editing, copyediting, cover design, and marketing that goes into the paper version still gets done. The typesetting costs are still there as formatting. And then it's nice to pay the author, too.

Exactly. The different venues have different formatting requirements (Kindle vs epub) which complicates matters and requires even more labor.
 

IceCreamEmpress

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Ref sending to the publisher, I think my wife did the smart thing and sent her "feelings" to the authors themselves via their web sites.

I don't see how that's "the smart thing"--the authors have no control over what prices publishers set for ebooks. That's like writing to Steven Spielberg because you think the prices at the movie theater are too high.
 

Bubastes

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We writers know that ebooks cost as much to produce as paper books, but the average person doesn't know that and doesn't care. It's all about perception (as Mr. Bubs likes to remind me, perception is reality). I don't know how to change that perception, but there you go.
 

Deb Kinnard

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I'm still out with the rest of the jury as far as why e-book prices must of necessity be set so high. I usually go to the Passive Guy or Boing Boing for cogent explanations, and here's what I've gathered from what these dudes say:

Let's say you're a print publisher. Once you acquire, edit, design a cover, layout, and print a book, all those costs go into that print book. If then you release an e-version, all these tasks are already finished except formatting the text for the various e-reader platforms. Where then is the additional cost that makes the e-book price point the same as the print book?

I submit that once you've done all the routine things for a print book, the marginal additional cost to produce the e-book is very minimal. Certainly not additional expense that would justify charging one price for both types of release.

My understanding. Of course in this economy our readers don't want to pay exorbitantly high prices for much of anything.
 

Namatu

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Let's say you're a print publisher. Once you acquire, edit, design a cover, layout, and print a book, all those costs go into that print book. If then you release an e-version, all these tasks are already finished except formatting the text for the various e-reader platforms. Where then is the additional cost that makes the e-book price point the same as the print book?

I submit that once you've done all the routine things for a print book, the marginal additional cost to produce the e-book is very minimal. Certainly not additional expense that would justify charging one price for both types of release.
Why should the price for an ebook be different than the print? It's the same book, different format. Yes, the same work went into it, because it's the same book. Whether you store it on your ereader or on your bookshelf should not affect the price you pay for it.
 

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I submit that once you've done all the routine things for a print book, the marginal additional cost to produce the e-book is very minimal. Certainly not additional expense that would justify charging one price for both types of release.
The two formats aren't the same price. Here's our own Alex Adams' WHITE HORSE at B&N - a discounted $13.31 for Hardcover (Normally $19.99) and $9.99 for Nook

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/white-horse-alex-adams/1104277503?ean=9781451642995

Ebooks are about 10% cheaper to produce than print books.
 
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James D. Macdonald

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Where then is the additional cost that makes the e-book price point the same as the print book?

Much as I like Cory....

The cost is in the sales. A sale is a sale is a sale. Regardless of the platform.

Why should publishers undersell themselves? How does that make the slightest lick of sense?
 
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