More Price Whinging -- Feel free not to click.

[akpak]

Getting disappointed over and over on Kindle book pricing. Still lamenting Amazon caving to the publishers (with the abnormally un-helpful push from Apple).

Latest example? Reading the "Guilty Summer Pleasure" thread, and looking at Nora Roberts' Bride Quartet. All 4 Kindle books are more expensive than the paperbacks.

Grr... Sorry Nora, I love your work but I just can't pay those prices.

[Luvmy4brats]

You changed your member name! I was looking at it going "who's akpak??

I want her new one coming out on July 6 "The Search" but it's 12.99 and I just can't bring myself to click the buy button at that price. I'll probably wind up getting it from audible instead. It'll be cheaper.

[akpak]

You changed your member name! I was looking at it going "who's akpak??

It's cuz as of a week ago my last name is different

[PhillipA82]

Yeah, I gotta agree, there price is a bit high.

[Brodys Mom]

I refuse to buy a Kindle book priced over $9.99.

[Seamonkey]

If a book is over $9.99 (with extremely rare exceptions) I just get a sample to remind me to check later for a price drop.

[Pecos45]

I refuse to buy a Kindle book priced over $9.99.

I agree.  In fact, my most expensive book to date was $6.99.  Buying the latest books on the market has always been the fastest way for a reader to get separated from their $$$.  It's an addiction I refuse to get addicted to.   

And the good news is this is all totally unnecessary.  There are tons of excellent books out there practically free.  Wait...many ARE free!!!

Price is and never has been a valid indicator of a good book.

My point is no one should suffer or complain about high priced books until they have read all the less expensive books.  And that will take you a few centuries.  So if you're suffering, it's a self inflicted wound.

I'm a new Kindle user and I plan to turn getting the most bang for my book bucks into a sport.     See how many great books you can find for little or nothing.  Is this being cheap or smart?  I'll let others judge.

PS - I just downloaded a complete classic I've been wanting to read.  Cost me .55 cents and should equal about .05 cents per hour of pure enjoyment.  A hot new book that may or may not be good will cost a fast reader more than $1.00/hour.  Forgive this crude way of looking at books but like it or not, this is what we are really paying for.   

[farrellclaire]

Congrats on the wedding!

And I wouldn't pay for them either.  Kinda feels like being punished for reading ebooks.

[larryb52]

no one likes the new prices but they are not changing or dropping...sorry just being realistic...look at the new Patterson at 14.99 I will probably get it...

[threeundertwo]

It's cuz as of a week ago my last name is different

Congratulations! 

I'm a new Kindle user and I plan to turn getting the most bang for my book bucks into a sport.     See how many great books you can find for little or nothing.  Is this being cheap or smart?  I'll let others judge.

PS - I just downloaded a complete classic I've been wanting to read.  Cost me .55 cents and should equal about .05 cents per hour of pure enjoyment.  A hot new book that may or may not be good will cost a fast reader more than $1.00/hour.  Forgive this crude way of looking at books but like it or not, this is what we are really paying for.   

I'm with you on that particular sport.  It's fun.  I highly recommend the Magic Catalog to find free classics to read.


I predict the agency model will not be renewed after it's one-year trial run, and we will see changes in book prices again next April, if not before.  I'm willing to be patient.  I have so many other things to read.

[R. M. Reed]

Can someone please change "whinging" to "whining" in the thread title? It annoys me every time I see it.

On prices, in all my life of book buying, I had to wait a year or more for the paperback to come out when I really wanted a particular book. Ebook prices will come down over time too.

[ProfCrash]

Whinging = Whining in the UK. I kind of like whinging.

[R. M. Reed]

Really? I did not know that. How do you pronounce it? Every time I think I know everything about English English, I hear something new.

[roderpol]

Agreed, very disappointed... The kindle edition of Sh*t My Dad Says is more expensive than the print edition... I don't get, it doesn't make sense and makes me feel like they're trying to rip me off...

[akpak]

Really? I did not know that. How do you pronounce it?

I don't know how to construct pronunciation thingies like in the dictionary, but it's pronounced like it's written, the "G" is not silent. So "win jing"

[rayvn]

If a book is over $9.99 (with extremely rare exceptions) I just get a sample to remind me to check later for a price drop.

That's a great idea!!  I've been putting them in my wish list, but I like your idea better - that way I can read a bit of it as well

[KeRaSh]

I refuse to buy a Kindle book priced over $9.99.

I read that statement so many times in the short time I've been visiting this site...
My version: I refuse to let a few dollars keep me from reading a book I want to read.
However I only read 1-2 books per month, so it doesn't really affect me that much.
But even if I did read 10 books per month, I'd still buy the books I want and when I want them.

[Todd]

I read that statement so many times in the short time I've been visiting this site...
My version: I refuse to let a few dollars keep me from reading a book I want to read.
However I only read 1-2 books per month, so it doesn't really affect me that much.
But even if I did read 10 books per month, I'd still buy the books I want and when I want them.

I 100% agree  ...I didn't buy my Kindle to save money on books  I bought it for convenience  ... I love the kindle and being able to read on it and not lug around a book all the time... any way to each his own 

[4Katie]

I read that statement so many times in the short time I've been visiting this site...
My version: I refuse to let a few dollars keep me from reading a book I want to read.
However I only read 1-2 books per month, so it doesn't really affect me that much.
But even if I did read 10 books per month, I'd still buy the books I want and when I want them.

I don't have as much of a problem paying over $9.99 as I do paying more for an eBook than a DTB. It just doesn't make sense.

[akpak]

I don't have as much of a problem paying over $9.99 as I do paying more for an eBook than a DTB. It just doesn't make sense.

This.

I wouldn't mind paying over $9.99 for an eBook of something that just came out in hardback. But I WON'T pay full HB price, and I surely won't pay more for the eBook than the price that publishers let WalMart and Costco set >.<

Pricing needs to be: HB > pocket/trade paperback >= eBook (only equal if no paperback exists yet)

[jmiked]

Ebooks are no different than any other item I purchase. I take a look at the price and if I think I'm going to get sufficient value for my dollar, I'll buy it. I don't have any arbitrary rules for it.


Mike

[Victorine]

http://kindlehomepage.blogspot.com/2010/06/right-on-schedule-amazon-changes.html

For those of you who haven't read it, this is a great article.  It really shows how this new royalty rate will help bring the prices down.  Amazon is SO smart.

Here's a quote:

Equally important, the conditions upon which eligibility for the 70 percent royalty option is based will be a powerful force in organizing Kindle content prices into a mandatory $2.99 to $9.99 price range and setting a maximum price ration of 4:5 between a qualifying Kindle book and "the lowest list price for the physical book."

This means, in order for publishers to get the higher royalty, they can't be pricing their ebooks HIGHER than their lowest list price for their physical book.  *Awesome*

This will bring prices down folks.

Vicki

[Steph H]

Maybe, maybe not.  It won't apply to the big house publishers any time soon, and they're the ones who have the most ridiculous prices right now.  It only applies to 'self-published' authors who use the DTP platform, and most of them have lower prices already anyway.  I see where the article says that Amazon hopes to use the new structure to bring pressure on 'regular' publishers too, but I doubt that will happen any time soon...

[Marisa14]

I refuse to buy a Kindle book priced over $9.99.

Yeah, that's my rule too

[EllenR]

Thank you for returning my pet peeve to the forefront again! I refuse to pay more than $9.99 for a book simply because I refuse to allow the publishers to push me where I do not wish to go. I would pay more if I were purchasing a hardcover book, but I no longer do that. As such, I will not pay these prices.

I will NOT pay more than the price of a paperback for an ebook. It's patently absurd to price an ebook higher. I have SO many books to read, I can afford to wait for a very long time. If the buying public would put their considerable influence into making a financial statement, this would resolve itself. However, Amazon seems to have found a way to make it happen faster, for which I am very glad.

I could have SWORN price fixing was illegal in this country. Free market should prevail to bring prices into line. Publishers should not be allowed to force merchants to sell at a given price or above a given price point. In my opinion, that's just un-American!

Any lawyers about who can speak to the legality of price fixing and educate me on it?

[EllenR]

Maybe, maybe not.  It won't apply to the big house publishers any time soon, and they're the ones who have the most ridiculous prices right now.  It only applies to 'self-published' authors who use the DTP platform, and most of them have lower prices already anyway.  I see where the article says that Amazon hopes to use the new structure to bring pressure on 'regular' publishers too, but I doubt that will happen any time soon...

Oh well, darn.

[Victorine]

Maybe, maybe not.  It won't apply to the big house publishers any time soon, and they're the ones who have the most ridiculous prices right now.  It only applies to 'self-published' authors who use the DTP platform, and most of them have lower prices already anyway.  I see where the article says that Amazon hopes to use the new structure to bring pressure on 'regular' publishers too, but I doubt that will happen any time soon...

It might not take as long as you think.  Any publisher who wants the 70% royalty will have to play by Amazon's rules.  Otherwise, they only get the 35%. 

Just for kicks... let's take a novel priced at $14.99.  With the 35% royalty, the big publishing house is making $5.25 on each book sold.  (Not counting anything being paid out to the author.)  If they lower their price to $9.99, and get the 70% royalty, they get $6.99 per book sold.  If they're selling 1,000 books a day, they're losing $1,740 a day.  On one book.  And that doesn't take into account how many more books they would sell at the lower price.

I can't imagine they won't start playing the game with money on the line.

Vicki

[Steph H]

It might not take as long as you think.  Any publisher who wants the 70% royalty will have to play by Amazon's rules.  Otherwise, they only get the 35%. 

The 70% royalty only applies to authors who 'self-publish' using the DTP platform.  The 'Big 6' (as I think I've heard them referred to -- Macmillian, Penguin, etc.) publishing houses don't use DTP, and thus are subject to completely different payment/royalty rates than the 70%/35% rule.  All but one, as I recall Random House being the only hold-out, have the agency model agreement they forced Amazon into now, that basically lets the publisher choose whatever the heck price they want and Amazon *has* to agree to it, no matter how ridiculous it is.  You can tell which ones those are, by the 'price set by the publisher' tag just underneath the price amount on those Kindle pages.