Pet peeve: the price of e-books

nocturnalintimacy · December 2013

I HATE when an ebook is the same price as a printed copy. What the hell, publisher? There's no overhead cost to you. You're not printing, storing or shipping these books. Why not pass along the savings?! Bastards.

That is all.

Young_Love · December 2013

Well, the cost of a book isn't just tied up in the physical copy. It's the cost of the author's time to write, the editors who worked on the book, the copy editor, marketing team, etc, all who need to get paid. It's not like an e-book is just FREE for the publisher.

ETA: This article does a good job of explaining ebook pricing.

nocturnalintimacy · December 2013

I realize there are costs associated with publishing a book (duh). I work in advertising, and our costs for doing web ads/electronic PDFs are a fraction of the cost associated whenever we have to print materials.

RiverPlate · December 2013

When we publish materials for clients, we have one price for the printed copies, one for providing CDs, and another for giving the client a print-ready file to use as they wish. Granted, these are mainly informational materials that are generated on a much smaller scale (think pamphlets and the occasional desk reference), but yeah, the pricing is different because the overhead involved is different.

Leeba25 · December 2013

Speaking of which, remember that class action lawsuit from a couple years ago? I think we're still waiting for the payout on that.

https://ebooksagsettlements.com/Home.aspx

taylormillgirl · December 2013

I noticed that the Nook version of Alienated is $16.99 while the hardcover is $13.79. That seemed totally backward to me, so I emailed my editor to ask if the pricing was a mistake. Haven't heard back yet. On Amazon, it seems fine ($9.99 for Kindle and $13.53 for hardcover.) My concern is that I'm not going to sell any books to Nook users at $17...especially considering I'm new on the YA scene and nobody's ever heard of me.

jackiback · December 2013

I agree. I know that there are a lot of costs that remain, but the fact that printing, binding, packing, shipping, stocking etc are subtracted should decrease the cost, I feel like. I think that $9-10 would be my max out on an ebook right now.

(That said, I am a cheapskate who hasn't jumped on the ereader train wholeheartedly yet because I always get my books at library sales

)

Young_Love · December 2013

Oh, I never pay for ebooks. LOL. I only buy them if they are on a daily deal or something...there's no way I'll pay more than $5 for something I don't actually own. But it's not like the publishers are over there pocketing all of this money because they aren't passing on their buckets of savings.

Skeezon · December 2013

Wow @taylormillgirl that pricing does sound mixed up. I don't spend more than $5 on ebooks either. Maybe because I'm cheap or maybe because I like more tangible things.

Speaking of tangible things, my crazy ass brought my ARC to B&N and put it on the shelf just to see it there. Then I tucked it back into my purse and got on with life. I'm special. I know.

taylormillgirl · December 2013

I'm not surprised to hear that most folks won't spend more than $5 on an ebook. My self-pubbed friends say that $4.99 is the magical threshold they won't cross for that very reason. With readers unwilling to pay much for an ebook and trade publishers unable to discount their stock that low, it's getting to the point that "indie" is the better option for many authors. They make a lot more money than I do.

@Skeezon, I totally understand! Did you take a picture?

Hoycie · December 2013

Skeezon said:

Wow @taylormillgirl that pricing does sound mixed up. I don't spend more than $5 on ebooks either. Maybe because I'm cheap or maybe because I like more tangible things. Speaking of tangible things, my crazy ass brought my ARC to B&N and put it on the shelf just to see it there. Then I tucked it back into my purse and got on with life. I'm special. I know.

You're lucky they didn't think you were shoplifting!

Skeezon · December 2013

@taylormillgirl I didn't take a picture. I totally should have!

@Hoycie Ha! I didn't even think of that.

Leeba25 · December 2013

I spend plenty on ebooks.

I wish I were in a place right now to be able to have a stocked library, but unfortunately space is pretty tight. (money is tight too, lol, but apparently not as much as space.)

My laziness and impatience wins every time, at the detriment of my wallet.

Leeba25 · December 2013

@skeezon - what did you write? Or do you mean an ARC from someone else?

Young_Love · December 2013

Leeba25 said:

@skeezon - what did you write? Or do you mean an ARC from someone else?

Here is her book, out (for hopefully an affordable price...LOL) in ebook 1/28

Leeba25 · December 2013

thank you!! Hello, hot book cover.

I'm definitely putting that on my TBR.

Skeezon · December 2013

@Young_Love thanks for that link. I'd say it's quite affordable at $3.99!

@Leeba25 Thanks!

Pet peeve: the price of e-books

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