The Value of a Book
There has been a flood of commentary in recent months over digital books. They spell the doom of traditional publishing. They have annoying drm making them far too difficult to share with others. They aren't available across multiple devices. They're too expensive. Plenty of knowledgeable folk have weighed in both pro and con on the advantages, disadvantages, and worth of digital books. Honestly, I have little to add to most of that. I'm by no means an expert on digital publishing. I see the pros and the cons. It's beyond my means to afford so I haven't been tempted to delve into digital reading. I will say however, the public's (reader's) complaints about the relative worth of a digital book has me perplexed and a bit annoyed.
I've constantly heard the proclamation that because ebooks don't have the same costs as a paper book, they should not be priced the same. Somehow, folks are missing the fact that printing costs are actually a pretty small part of the equation. It doesn't equate to much of a discount. Besides, folks are getting the big convenience factor of storage and immediacy for their books. In my mind these more than offset one another. Beyond this is public perception. Folks expect like objects available through the internet to be cheaper than the real thing. This is/has/will be the biggest issue to overcome in my mind for publishing. As an author, this is a no-brainer for me. The story maintains its value regardless of format. I'd challenge anyone to logically explain that a book's content is inherently less valuable in the digital format. This brings me to my point of this post. The value of the story.
Regardless of the story's cover, be it paper or plastic, it is the same. Author's make what living they do off the sale of this content. Readers can decry the pricing all they want, but in the end, if they say digital content should be less money, they are in turn claiming the author doesn't deserve as much compensation for their work. Publishing works on close margins. They don't make a lot of money per book, and authors get a set percentage of the sale. Sell it for less and the author gets less. Do readers really want to say that authors deserve less than they already get? Again, public perception plays into this. Far too many in the public sphere believe selling a book equates to great money. Authors know of course that only the few achieve any genuine success with publication. Publishers need to work to change public perception. The story is valuable regardless of the format. Period.
I've constantly heard the proclamation that because ebooks don't have the same costs as a paper book, they should not be priced the same. Somehow, folks are missing the fact that printing costs are actually a pretty small part of the equation. It doesn't equate to much of a discount. Besides, folks are getting the big convenience factor of storage and immediacy for their books. In my mind these more than offset one another. Beyond this is public perception. Folks expect like objects available through the internet to be cheaper than the real thing. This is/has/will be the biggest issue to overcome in my mind for publishing. As an author, this is a no-brainer for me. The story maintains its value regardless of format. I'd challenge anyone to logically explain that a book's content is inherently less valuable in the digital format. This brings me to my point of this post. The value of the story.
Regardless of the story's cover, be it paper or plastic, it is the same. Author's make what living they do off the sale of this content. Readers can decry the pricing all they want, but in the end, if they say digital content should be less money, they are in turn claiming the author doesn't deserve as much compensation for their work. Publishing works on close margins. They don't make a lot of money per book, and authors get a set percentage of the sale. Sell it for less and the author gets less. Do readers really want to say that authors deserve less than they already get? Again, public perception plays into this. Far too many in the public sphere believe selling a book equates to great money. Authors know of course that only the few achieve any genuine success with publication. Publishers need to work to change public perception. The story is valuable regardless of the format. Period.