Can someone explain this pricing to me?

Different publishers printing the book maybe? That's a crazy price for the e book.

It probably has a lot to do with that particular novel. It's "controversial" and people have various strong and different feelings about it and the author, but the important thing about this 1957 book is that it's been in print all this time, and in recent years its sales have been increasing - last I heard, it's selling more copies now than at any other time in its publication history. I'm guessing this pricing is just the publisher(s) taking advantage of the book's popularity and current demand. Damn capitalists...

*dons bookseller hat*

Okay, I went to the wesbite and looked it up:

- E-book: no clue, sorry.

There are three different sizes of paperback mass market (A format), midsize (B format), and trade paperback. (I'm using UK terms, so maybe they're called something different in the US.) These are all priced differently by the publisher because they're different sizes, costs etc.

One of the hardbacks and paperbacks are special editions for the centennial. They may have extras, new content, whatever, and yes, the price would have been higher because of it. I work across the pond, so these are different editions than I'm used to dealing with and I'm guessing a bit.

About the differences in HB price--I'm not sure what it's like in the US, but in UK/Ireland we get discounts for some new books that means we can sell them at a lower price when they first come out. The discount eventually runs out and then it reverts back to the normal price.

Some people do spend extra money on books - one of my co-workers spent €60 on a special slipcased edition on a new book by an author he likes, alone with getting other editions of his books. I bought a new set of HDM that had new extra content, even though I already had one. Some people like collecting different editions. There's nothing wrong with it.

Most things are priced at whatever amount the seller believes people will pay. If the e-book is selling at this price, and it might well do so because of so many people who only read e-books now, then so be it.

A) Some people may pay more for the convenience of having an ebook.

B) The book is long for a mass-market paperback; generally, a mass-market paperback of over 600 pages won't stand up well over time, so people who treasure the book and want to reread it may prefer a different format.

C) Some people want to own their favorite books in hardback, because that format has a longer life and looks better as it ages.

Amazon has a note on the listing that the price was set by the publisher, Penguin. Most of Rand's have a much higher ebook price. Like Caopaux, I assume it has to do with how she sold the rights.

Personally, I won't pay that much for an ebook, but obviously others will.

LOG said:

This is going to come across as ignorant...but were E-books even around before 1982?

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Beat me to it. Ayn Rand never sold an E-right to anything.

Not that should wouldn't have if she had had the chance. Enlightened self-interest and all that.

Soccer Mom said:

Amazon has a note on the listing that the price was set by the publisher, Penguin. Most of Rand's have a much higher ebook price. Like Caopaux, I assume it has to do with how she sold the rights.

Personally, I won't pay that much for an ebook, but obviously others will.

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How she sold rights wouldn't matter, though I'd assume the publisher either got them for nothing originally, or bought them from the family after she died. But this has nothing to do with pricing.

But the real question is why not sell them at this price? If readers are buying them, Penguin will make a lot of money. If readers aren't buying them, Penguin can always cut the price and give readers a "deal".

Supply and demand, or simply how much buyers are willing to pay, sets price.

There is no logical explanation for eBook prices. It's just mental. I think they set them by having a monkey pull bingo balls out of a hat.

blacbird said:

Beat me to it. Ayn Rand never sold an E-right to anything.

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I think we can assume that Rand's estate has an agent, and that agent negotiated the ebook rights.

Maybe the agent was short-sighted and insisted on ridiculous pricing. Maybe the publisher was following a formula based on size or popular appeal, and the formula failed to account for that specific book correctly. Maybe the publisher is testing out a new higher pricing plan, and decided to use a reliable seller as a trial case. Maybe that book is often used as a textbook, and so the publisher priced the ebook at competitive e-textbook prices.

There could be a hundred reasons why the pricing for that book is idiotic. The ebook world is like the wild west right now. I'm staying in the saloon with my paperbacks until the shooting's over.

I think the answer's pretty simple. Penguin has no interest in selling ebooks, and it isn't going to do anything to encourage their sale, such as by setting a realistic price. Instead, Penguin is sticking it's little head in the sand and hoping ebooks go away.

junkfoodmonkey said:

There is no logical explanation for eBook prices. It's just mental. I think they set them by having a monkey pull bingo balls out of a hat.

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No, that's how airline prices are set.

There are a ton of reasons why the price for the e-book is so high. Maybe they printed too many of the hardbound books and need to clear them out?

Maybe they are charging for the content of the book rather than the presentation of the book? The book is the same any way you get it.

Maybe they are intentionally gouging people. In any case, follow your own enlightened self interest and buy the paperback.

Strange. It's $18.79 on Kobobooks.com for the ebook. I'm surprised. I have bought dozens of books off of Kobo and I have never seen one this expensive.

And now, having read through the thread, I see that there is a reason for the high price. (-: carry on.

Rand's books are ever so more popular, but due to its controversy, it likely has a demand for "brownbagging." Thus E-books might be a bit more in demand.

LOG said:

^
Is this a good idea?

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It may or may not be a poor analogy, but I think it's a fine idea.

Google finds much info on the title, especially interesting is the the news search:
(quoting the news search results for "Atlas Shrugged")

Ayn Rand's fourth and last novel, published in 1957 — may be second to the Bible as the most influential book read in America, ...

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That might be overstating it, but certainly a lot of people think this is an important book.

From this link:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/the-bush-tax-cuts-and-fiscal-responsibility/

And the overextension of government is again a big theme; sales of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” are up sharply, although the book was first published more than 50 years ago (it is in and out of the Top 100 list on Amazon).

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Atlas Shrugged appears to be the "The Dark Side Of The Moon" (in the top 200 selling albums for not just a few weeks or months, but most of the 1970's) of books.

Oh, and there's this entry on the Internet Movie Database, something scheduled for 2011:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480239/

Here's an interesting point - considering its length (over 1,000 pages), the per-page cost is probably a better deal than other popular books, in print and ebook formats.

More likely it's an oversight on the part of the publisher.

The e-book versions of one of my older titles is the same price as the hardbacks--which are out of print. The publisher just sort of forgot them.

Not a lot of e-book fans are going to drop 24 bucks on an e-version when they can visit a pirate site for a free download. Which they have and do.

Until recently, most publishers just weren't taking e-books seriously. The suits in charge have spent most of their professional life dealing with paper and they just weren't thinking things through. Sooner or later e-readers are going to be the hot new toy--oh, wait, they ARE!--and the Suits are caught off guard. Oh woe!

I just saw an even more interesting aspect of this crazy publishing world. Apparently, a popular thriller writer, Laura Lippman, has a new hardcover out called “I’d Know You Anywhere." I say apparently because I don't normally read thrillers, so I didn't know who Lippman was until today.

Anyway, her publisher, HarperCollins, just said that she has sold more ebooks (about 4500) than hardcovers (4000).

Knowing that HaperCollins is one of the major NY publishers resisting Amazon's effort to keep ebook prices below $9.99, I wondered how much the ebook sold for.

I checked Amazon's website. Amazon lists Lippman's book new at $15.20 for the hardcover, and at $12.99 for the Kindle version. So people have to pay almost the same amount for an ebook as the hardcover, and they're still doing it. I find that amazing.

LOG said:

This is going to come across as ignorant...but were E-books even around before 1982?

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For about 11 years, starting with Project Gutenberg ('71). Maybe earlier.