NY Times article explaining economics of ebook pricing
Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book
By MOTOKO RICH
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/business/media/01ebooks.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
It's pretty interesting until the spin doctors start talking. I'm boggled by this bit of fairy tale followed closely by a flight of pure fantasy:
block quote start
if the e-books are priced much lower than the print editions, no one but the aficionados and collectors will want to buy paper books.
“If you want bookstores to stay alive, then you want to slow down this movement to e-books,” said Mike Shatzkin, chief executive of the Idea Logical Company,
a consultant to publishers. “The simplest way to slow down e-books is not to make them too cheap.”
block quote end
I don't know who these experts talk to in order to come tot he conclusion that everyone is going to switch to ebooks, it's just a matter of perfecting the tech, because in speaking with real live readers, I have never been given this impression. There will always be paper and ink readers because that is the format that works best for sme people, and many people prefer the aesthetic and matgeriality of the book, they love having bookshelves, of creating collections.
But that bit about pricing ebooks higher in order to save bookstores? I had never realized before that the pricing of ebooks reflected such a noble purpose, a crusade, even, one might suggest. I can see why logic is in that man's business title. Now perhaps he can explain why the hardcover price of Connie Willis's new book _Blackout_ is listed as $26 but the ebook is priced on Fictionwise as $32? And no one is mentioining that this is only part one of a two-part set, so most readers are going to end up paying that same price a second time? Could it be that many publishers have no real idea of a plan, no clue what readers want, and no idea where ebooks are going? I don't normally think of myself as the sort of person who can't look away from the scene of an accident, but int hsi case, I kind of have an inkling of the horrified fascination a person might experience.
By MOTOKO RICH
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/business/media/01ebooks.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
It's pretty interesting until the spin doctors start talking. I'm boggled by this bit of fairy tale followed closely by a flight of pure fantasy:
block quote start
if the e-books are priced much lower than the print editions, no one but the aficionados and collectors will want to buy paper books.
“If you want bookstores to stay alive, then you want to slow down this movement to e-books,” said Mike Shatzkin, chief executive of the Idea Logical Company,
a consultant to publishers. “The simplest way to slow down e-books is not to make them too cheap.”
block quote end
I don't know who these experts talk to in order to come tot he conclusion that everyone is going to switch to ebooks, it's just a matter of perfecting the tech, because in speaking with real live readers, I have never been given this impression. There will always be paper and ink readers because that is the format that works best for sme people, and many people prefer the aesthetic and matgeriality of the book, they love having bookshelves, of creating collections.
But that bit about pricing ebooks higher in order to save bookstores? I had never realized before that the pricing of ebooks reflected such a noble purpose, a crusade, even, one might suggest. I can see why logic is in that man's business title. Now perhaps he can explain why the hardcover price of Connie Willis's new book _Blackout_ is listed as $26 but the ebook is priced on Fictionwise as $32? And no one is mentioining that this is only part one of a two-part set, so most readers are going to end up paying that same price a second time? Could it be that many publishers have no real idea of a plan, no clue what readers want, and no idea where ebooks are going? I don't normally think of myself as the sort of person who can't look away from the scene of an accident, but int hsi case, I kind of have an inkling of the horrified fascination a person might experience.