E-book pricing

[RBRAWER]

Today's Wall Street Journal has an intersting article on how big publishers forced Amazon to change the price of their e-books for best selling authors.

Here is the link:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204336104577096762173802678.html?KEYWORDS=e-books

If you have books on Kindle, make sure you read the last paragraph

Richard Brawer

[kindlegrl81]

I couldn't read the full article since I don't subscribe to the WSJ but I did find this by googling the article's title.

http://benton.org/node/107220

E-Book Readers Face Sticker Shock
Submitted: December 15, 2011 - 8:20am
Source: Wall Street Journal
Author: Jeffrey Trachtenberg

Cheap new e-readers are expected to be one of the hottest gifts this holiday season. But new owners of Kindles and Nooks may be in for sticker shock on Christmas morning: The price gap between the print and e-versions of some top sellers has now narrowed to within a few dollars—and in some cases, e-books are more expensive than their printed equivalents.

When Amazon introduced its first Kindle e-reader back in November 2007, the $9.99 digital best seller was a key selling point. Today, the price of a Kindle has plummeted to under $100 -- from $399 back then. But e-book prices for some popular titles have soared. The digital price increases are the result of a decision by the six biggest publishers to set their own consumer e-book prices, a move that effectively bars retailers from discounting their e-books without permission. No such agreement exists for printed books—where retailers are free to set their own prices. So while a best-selling e-book price is often less than half of the hardcover price, heavy discounting of the print version closes the gap.

[jbcohen]

This is one of the reasons why I have set a hard price limit on the books.  I will not buy anything priced more then $8, I could care less how good it is or who wrote it no one is worth more than $8.  There are simply too many low cost ebooks available at $4 and under for me to be willing to shell out more than $8 for anything.

[DYB]

I saw this article highlighted on Google, but you need a subscription to read the whole thing, so I couldn't finish it.

[RedGolum]

Honestly, this has limited the amount of books we have bought in the last 12 months.  When I first got my K2, there was a real savings on ebooks. Now, I can't justify it.  So I either wait for a book to go on sale, buy it used, or don't buy it at all.

Which I think is the big 6's plan.  They are not very comfortable with e publishing.

[The Hooded Claw]

I have noticed prices rising, but I have accumulated a big enough backlist of books I bought but haven't read, that I won't suffer for a long, long time.  I also am rather a cheapskate about the books that I do buy (I really ought to stop buying new books altogether while I draw from the backlist, but I haven't had the self-discipline to do more than reduce my purchases of new books).  I seldom pay $9.99 for fiction, though I've done it for a books by beloved authors.  And won't pay over $9.99 for nonfiction, of which I read quite a lot (I've broken that rule three times now, but I generally keep to it).  Indie publishers, and some of Amazon's efforts, generally are a help to readers and an annoyance to publishers.  The publishers will do their best to jack up ebook prices (or better yet, marginalize the format altogether) but we readers have enough options that I am not sure they are going to have things their way.

[The Hooded Claw]

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/publishers-are-still-missing-the-boat-on-ebook-prices-12152011.html


http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-12-15/business/chi-readers-getting-cheaper-but-rising-ebook-prices-causing-sticker-shock-20111215_1_e-book-digital-books-kindle

The above articles appear to make many of the same points of the WSJ article.

[dknippling]

I set my personal limit at $9.99 for single-title ebooks (I'll go higher for bundles).  For print, I'll go higher for hardcovers--but only for, like, three authors, and those are the ones that I want on my shelves.  I'm tempted to break my rule for REAMDE, because a) it's a huge book for the author to write, and b) it'd be a pain to carry around, but...no.  I'll read my backlog and wait for the library to pick it up or the price to drop.

[Ann in Arlington]

Honestly, this has limited the amount of books we have bought in the last 12 months.  When I first got my K2, there was a real savings on ebooks. Now, I can't justify it.  So I either wait for a book to go on sale, buy it used, or don't buy it at all.

Which I think is the big 6's plan.  They are not very comfortable with e publishing.

I think what they really want you to do is to buy it new in paper!  

But, I admit, I don't think about it in 'big picture' terms much.  If I see a book I want to read, I decide whether I want to read it enough to pay the price they're asking.  And purchase -- or not -- accordingly.

<musing>
It does seem that, with paper, we got used to certain prices:  paperbacks are in this range, hardbacks are in that range.  I expect we still unconsciously didn't buy them if they were more than that.  For instance, there's never a good reason to buy a hardback at the price on the cover -- they're always discounted!  The price ranges went up slowly over the years -- I remember when paperbacks were $4 to $6; now they're more like $8 to $10 -- but that was 'ordinary' inflation so we probably didn't think about it much if we even noticed it.  Ebooks provide more options which is making more people notice, I think.  Though I suspect there is still a large majority who just say, 'well, that's the price so that's what it costs' and not much care whether or not it's 'fair'. </musing>

[mooshie78]

I'll generally pay up to the price of the paperback on Amazon for the e-book.  I never bought hardcovers before as they are to pricey and I don't really collect books--most I'd buy and never read again and end up donating anyway, so it made more sense to wait for the cheaper paperback.

So now with e-books, they're often pretty pricey when just the hardcover is out so I tend to wait for the paperback to come out and the price on the e-book to drop to the same or less than the paperback price.

[Hoosiermama]

I have enjoyed the "In Death" series by JD Robb, and had the newest one (to be released in February) on order from Amazon.

Kindle Price: 16.04
Hardback Price: 17.34

I will be waiting until it comes down in price. Neither the author nor the publisher need my money that badly.

[RobertKindle]

I think most of what I want to purchase is less expensive than either paperback or hardback.  However I really don't like paperback books, especially mass market paperback. 

[GBear]

I haven't bought a book since September, when library lending came into effect. If I hadn't been disenchanted by the price increases, I don't know if I'd have converted so thoroughly into library use. I'm sure that at some point I'll exhaust the initial wave of library books that I'm really excited about reading, but for now I'm very happy to not give (much, nor any of my) money to the publishers.

[durphy]

If I want to read a book that's more than $9.99, I put it on my wish list and wait until the price drops. I buy way more books with Kindle than I ever bought before. Before I might have bought one or two books per month, but now it's more like five or six. I hope that eventually publishers will see the mistake they're making.

[DYB]

The rising prices are not surprising.  Look at the cost of compact discs before they died a painful death altogether.  They continued to go up in price, ending up in the $20 range before the digital revolution.  In fact, digital revolution was how the CD was killed.  But also look at digital music.  Apple began selling full albums for $9.99 (which was the average price of CDs when they first arrived) and individual songs for 99 cents.  That is no longer the case.  Individual songs have gone up to $1.29 and full albums up to $14.99.  It is a trend and it's widespread.

[mooshie78]

CD prices really only went up to that degree at the absurd mall stores like FYE etc.

Popular new releases were generally all was in the $10-13 at places like Best Buy and Target, with decent amounts of sales below $10.

And CDs haven't died by any means.  I still buy them even though I rip them to MP3s and mainly listen that way and I've never had an album I wanted and couldn't buy on CD.

[Kathy]

For me it buying the Kindle was not about getting books at a lower price. I did it mostly for convenience. I travel a lot and being able to carry multiple books without the excess weight was the selling point. I actually paid more for books from certain authors because I had to have the book as soon as it came out which was usually in hard back. I would buy it in the airport and spend way to much, so I'm OK with the prices. Paperback books new in most stores are about the same so I don't feel like I'm over paying.

[Ann in Arlington]

I will note that some of the advantages of ebooks -- adjustable font, lighter weight, convenience of purchase -- may make them of greater value to people than their paper equivalents.  Those people would quite possibly be willing to pay more for the ebook for those advantages.

[DYB]

CD prices really only went up to that degree at the absurd mall stores like FYE etc.

Popular new releases were generally all was in the $10-13 at places like Best Buy and Target, with decent amounts of sales below $10.

And CDs haven't died by any means.  I still buy them even though I rip them to MP3s and mainly listen that way and I've never had an album I wanted and couldn't buy on CD.

I worked at a record store and $10-13 is what they were discounted at.  Big artists were discounted much more often than lesser known acts and, for example, classical music.

[Kathy]

I will note that some of the advantages of ebooks -- adjustable font, lighter weight, convenience of purchase -- may make them of greater value to people than their paper equivalents.  Those people would quite possibly be willing to pay more for the ebook for those advantages.

Exactly. That is what sold me from the beginning. I have to admit being one of the earlier buyers cost was more of an issue. When you paid $350 or more for a Kindle finding bargain books for awhile was more important. Now the prices of the Kindle so low it isn't as important. With so many free books out there I have found new writers to enjoy. I also live in a 2 bedroom condo with my husband and he was thrilled that I wasn't bring anymore books into the house. I have a hard time parting with my books and was running out of places to put them.

[Betsy the Quilter]

My rule, since I bought my first Kindle in Oct 2008, has been not to pay more for an ebook than I would pay for a paperback, which was what I typically bought in paper.

Betsy

[mooshie78]

I worked at a record store and $10-13 is what they were discounted at.  Big artists were discounted much more often than lesser known acts and, for example, classical music.

That's what I was saying.  Popular music at big box stores has always been largely discounted, even moreso than at record shops.  If you were into lesser known stuff, classical music etc., then sure you'd pay more.  Niche market items always cost more as they sell in lesser volumes and thus have to charge more per unit.

[mom133d (aka Liz)]

The rising prices are not surprising.  Look at the cost of compact discs before they died a painful death altogether.  They continued to go up in price, ending up in the $20 range before the digital revolution.  In fact, digital revolution was how the CD was killed.  But also look at digital music.  Apple began selling full albums for $9.99 (which was the average price of CDs when they first arrived) and individual songs for 99 cents.  That is no longer the case.  Individual songs have gone up to $1.29 and full albums up to $14.99.  It is a trend and it's widespread.

True but the technology has changed and digital music sounds better than it did in the beginning. So, I am willing to pay that small increase. And it is small, I design the menus for a local restaurant and have seen the owner have to raise the prices on entrees by 20 cents.

[DYB]

That's what I was saying.  Popular music at big box stores has always been largely discounted, even moreso than at record shops.  If you were into lesser known stuff, classical music etc., then sure you'd pay more.  Niche market items always cost more as they sell in lesser volumes and thus have to charge more per unit.

Sort of.  Though Beethoven's symphonies are hardly niche.  The suggested retail prices on CDs was about $17.  Record stores frequently discounted, however, and in NYC non-new releases would go for about $15.  My point was that media doesn't get cheaper so the rising prices for e-books has precedent.

[mooshie78]

Sort of.  Though Beethoven's symphonies are hardly niche.  The suggested retail prices on CDs was about $17.  Record stores frequently discounted, however, and in NYC non-new releases would go for about $15.  My point was that media doesn't get cheaper so the rising prices for e-books has precedent.

All classical music is niche in terms of sales today.....and NYC is hardly a fair barometer for nationwide prices.  Non-new release CDs from popular acts where more around 12-13 when not on sale at big box stores and even some local music shops where I've lived over the years.  The only stuff that actually sold for $15+ up was the more niche stuff that didn't sell much volume.

And MP3 albums are a good bit cheaper than CDs, with most $10 or less and lots of sales on popular music for $5 an album or less in the Amazon mp3 store or iTunes.  So e-books are following a different trend than digital music.  Digital music has always been cheaper than physical music cds, and has gotten cheaper in recent years with lots more $3-5 deals for albums from major acts.  While a lot of e-books cost the same as the cheapest print version.