Ebook pricing AGAIN, pardon me while I barf
Scalzi weighs in with another discussion of the ongoing Hachette/Amazon situation.
This is the comment I posted over there:
I am a book production manager. This is my career of TWENTY YEARS (almost exactly--I started in the first week of August, 1994). I have worked on everything from mass market paperbacks to fancy coffee table books. There's very, very little I don't know about what it costs to print, bind, and ship a book. (My knowledge gap: kids' picture books.)
When it comes to novels, the average mass market paperback costs between $1-$2 to print and ship. Trade ppk between $3-$4. The average hardcover, $4-$5.
(If you're printing POD, it will be higher. Publishers save by printing in bulk on offset presses.)
So if you want the publisher to give all that savings back to the reader (instead of, say, the writers), the best savings you should be demanding is that the ebook price be $2 less than the mass-market list price, or $4 less than the trade list price, or $5 less than the hardcover list price.
Go do some comparisons of list price (not discounted bookseller price) for print vs e- editions. See how close these numbers come. I think you will find many, many cases where the publishers are discounting the ebook editions more than this, particularly on hardcovers.
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(slight topic change)
Now, you may personally feel that an ebook isn't worth the price because you can't lend it, etc etc. The simple answer to that is: Don't buy it. I decline to purchase all sorts of things because I think they don't deliver enough value for my needs. Or I purchase an alternative (store brand over-the-counter ibuprofen instead of Motrin brand, for example).
Remarkably, publishers still supply that value-added thing called a "print book." If you would prefer to have a book you can lend to friends or resell or use to balance a wobbly chair, you can buy a print edition.
Oh, what's that you say? You like the convenience of having multiple books in a dimensionless space in your pocket or backpack?
Hello, you have just discovered the value add of an ebook. You give up tradeability and resell for portability. Surely that's worth something to you?
(end comment)
For more of my posts on this same damn topic, click the "this wacky industry" tag below.
This is the comment I posted over there:
I am a book production manager. This is my career of TWENTY YEARS (almost exactly--I started in the first week of August, 1994). I have worked on everything from mass market paperbacks to fancy coffee table books. There's very, very little I don't know about what it costs to print, bind, and ship a book. (My knowledge gap: kids' picture books.)
When it comes to novels, the average mass market paperback costs between $1-$2 to print and ship. Trade ppk between $3-$4. The average hardcover, $4-$5.
(If you're printing POD, it will be higher. Publishers save by printing in bulk on offset presses.)
So if you want the publisher to give all that savings back to the reader (instead of, say, the writers), the best savings you should be demanding is that the ebook price be $2 less than the mass-market list price, or $4 less than the trade list price, or $5 less than the hardcover list price.
Go do some comparisons of list price (not discounted bookseller price) for print vs e- editions. See how close these numbers come. I think you will find many, many cases where the publishers are discounting the ebook editions more than this, particularly on hardcovers.
-----------
(slight topic change)
Now, you may personally feel that an ebook isn't worth the price because you can't lend it, etc etc. The simple answer to that is: Don't buy it. I decline to purchase all sorts of things because I think they don't deliver enough value for my needs. Or I purchase an alternative (store brand over-the-counter ibuprofen instead of Motrin brand, for example).
Remarkably, publishers still supply that value-added thing called a "print book." If you would prefer to have a book you can lend to friends or resell or use to balance a wobbly chair, you can buy a print edition.
Oh, what's that you say? You like the convenience of having multiple books in a dimensionless space in your pocket or backpack?
Hello, you have just discovered the value add of an ebook. You give up tradeability and resell for portability. Surely that's worth something to you?
(end comment)
For more of my posts on this same damn topic, click the "this wacky industry" tag below.