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Amazon Reluctantly Agrees to Higher eBook Pricing

Rocketman said:
I sell books and I am not selling pulp or bits. I am selling content. Some content is commodity and is low priced and some content is value-added and high priced. I reserve the right to charge pricing according to what the market will bear, based on the value added by the title.

A copy of the Tuesday L.A. Times is about $0.50. A copy "The Handbook of Chemistry and Physics" is about $150. The second one is a far better deal.

Rocketman
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Come on now, Rocketman.

You're arguing with logic. You don't expect the majority of the people here to understand your point. Do you?
 
It's variable pricing

"plan is to price the digital edition of most adult trade books in a price range from $14.99 to $5.99."

From other reading today: eBooks $14.99 when the hardcover is released, less when the paperback is released and for older books.

The publishers want even more variability in their prices. Say $14.99 for eBooks when the hardcover is released and $9.99 when the paperback is released. If the $14.99 eBook doesn't sell well, it may see a number of price reductions before the paperback-released eBook rate of $9.99 goes into effect. Down to $5.99 for old/out of print books.
 
Publishers are scared of losing their margins, which are apparently already small (except on textbooks). I've also read that there is also a fear within the industry that books will simply become another throwaway commodity, like what has happened to the music and movie industries. Although, if you lower the price, and get more readers, and it costs you basically nothing to produce digitally, you may end up making more money, so it could be a wash.
 
appleguy123 said:
I am saying thaT THERE ARE VIRTUALLY NO COSTS IN MAKING AN EBOOK (sorry for caps and backspace key on iphone not working) and they should be cheaper.
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Ok. I understand. So..What does it cost to make a book ?
How many trees?
How much machinery ?

And lastly do you know what is in the eBooks Apple will be selling?
How they are formatted?
 
Mr. Gates said:
Always Shoot Up, never down

The problem is that the iPad is inferior to the Kindle in direct sunlight

So in my opinion, ...the iPad price SHOULD be lower......Lower quality and all
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Why are you trying to be so absurd? You're focusing on one part of one device, then completely ignoring every single benefit of the competitor? Kindle can't even do color. iPad is a lot more versatile than Kindle, and reading a paper book in direct sunlight is just asking the sun to burn your eyes given the reflectivity of paper, you do it in the shade. Kindle does one thing better than iPad, but iPad does several things better than the Kindle, being a more rounded multifunctional device. Kindle doesn't play video, doesn't have color, doesn't scroll well, has the page flip blinking, and as such its controlability for music is shaky at best.

kernkraft said:
30%?! Paper books have similar, if in some cases not much smaller margin. For that, a small bookstore has to have employees, they have to keep them on their shelves and so on.
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From what I've seen, the distribution markup is 10%, and the retailer mark-up is 40%, and Apple is combining that and taking 30% of the purchase.

Spanky Deluxe said:
I don't ever plan on paying for an eBook. I'd rather build my own book scanner and scan in paperbacks.
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Far easier said than done, I expect those are empty words.

DCJ001 said:
You're right!

The ebooks should cost more due to their versatile and permanent format.

The ebooks are a real bargain if they cost the same as books on paper.
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ebooks more permanent? We don't know that yet. How many digital files created in the 80's do you still have and can still use? I have plenty of paper media that's even older that is still plenty easy to use, no concern about abandoned file formats or super density electronic media fading. Some bindings wear out, but I can still use the information, with bit rot, the recoverability is questionable.

It also requires a $300 to $500 reader, probably a somewhat fragile and easy to steal one at that, to get any benefit at all from eBooks. Paper books didn't require any special electronic or electrical device to read.
 
actually i read several things on this today from authors and its not that bad....yes new books will be 14.99 but it also include variable pricing which means some books might be 4.99. then as a book gets long in the tooth the price will drop much like they do now.

one author said it best with something like, you spend the same on a dvd that gives you a few hrs of enjoyment, but dont think you should spend the same on something that gives you a few days or longer..

as long as they allow some books to be cheaper i'm all for it....thats the nice thing if its something i really really want to read because i love the author i'll pay for the right to get it asap....if not then i can wait till the price drops..
 
appleguy123 said:
I am saying thaT THERE ARE VIRTUALLY NO COSTS IN MAKING AN EBOOK (sorry for caps and backspace key on iphone not working) and they should be cheaper.
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So according to you, with eBooks you no longer need the following:

- An Editor
- Layout/Design specialist
- Artwork
- Final proof reader
- etc

Are you really going to state that the primary cost in a book's price is the paper and the printing? Go read up on the publishing industry if you think that's the case. Now, your statement isn't far off once the book is ready to print, but there are costs to get the book to that point that must accounted for in addition to some profit. To say that eBooks cost nothing to make and should be cheaper as a result is laughable at best.
 
Kelemor said:
one author said it best with something like, you spend the same on a dvd that gives you a few hrs of enjoyment, but dont think you should spend the same on something that gives you a few days or longer..
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Not really, frankly. The DVD of a movie may taken hundreds of people months and have cost many millions to make.
 
jll62 said:
So according to you, with eBooks you no longer need the following:

- An Editor
- Layout/Design specialist
- Artwork
- Final proof reader
- etc

Are you really going to state that the primary cost in a book's price is the paper and the printing? Go read up on the publishing industry if you think that's the case. Now, your statement isn't far off once the book is ready to print, but there are costs to get the book to that point that must accounted for in addition to some profit. To say that eBooks cost nothing to make and should be cheaper as a result is laughable at best.
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I meant after the book has been formatted and edited. And the costs are more of a one time fee than a per unit cost as with real books.
 
Amazon just agreed, along with Apple, to a 70/30 split. With Macmillan pushing the issue (and, yes, other publishers will follow), that means the publisher will now take about $10.49 for each purchase, which is even larger than the old maximum price. Authors tend to get 10% of each purchase, so they are only making a tad over a buck for each book sold. I really could care less about the publishers, but authors certainly deserve their share.
 
Amazon knows the best price, not Apple

Amazon has over ten years of purchase data. They know the trends, they know what price will yield the most purchases. Jeff Bezos isn't stupid. I can only assume that Amazon priced bestsellers at $9.99 because they knew that would maximize sales.

And then along comes Steve, who admittedly does NO market research, and increases the price by 50%! Do the publishers pay the extra 50%? Do the authors, or the wholesalers? Nope...WE PAY, and we get to pay by Steve Jobs' decree that we should.

I know, I know, it's a sliding scale. Not all books will start at $14.99, and no books will finish at $14.99, because their prices will be reduced over time as demand wanes.

It's worth noting that none of the Amazon books on the New York Times bestseller list sell for $14.99 in hardcover. They sell for between $10 and $13+. Why should we pay more for eBooks than for hardcover. Does that make any sense?

I'm voting with my wallet. No iPad, no iBooks until prices come back down to $9.99.
 
Rettun1 said:
Piracy of eBooks?

Christ i never thought i'd see the day when people are ACTUALLY STEALING books...
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I would like to see age stats on who pirates app store apps. I think most of ebook readers are the older generations of man and woman. I doubt they jail break and i doubt they will pirate books. im also pretty sure they wont mind 14.99. the only people talking about pirating books is the internet folks, the younger generations, forum users. outside the internet the less tech savvy people will love the ipad. just my thoughts.
 
Originally, Amazon’s policy was to keep 70% of sale price, which meant that an ebook selling for $9.99 would earn Amazon $6.993. In anticipation of the iPad, Amazon introduced a new (conditional) model, where the content producers get 70% and Amazon only gets 30%, so earning Amazon $2.997.

Now that is going to make one big dent in Amazon’s gross & nett profits on the sale of ebooks. Agreeing to the price increases, Amazon can now earn between $3.897 (ebook at $12.99) and $4.497 (ebook at $14.99).

I may be wrong, but withdrawing Macmillan's books and then crying about having to accept the new pricing structure is simply politics.
 
I dont own a eBook reader yet, but I like the idea, because I hate holding the small paper-back books, they always want to fold themselves shut on you.
 
I dont own a eBook reader yet, but I like the idea, because I hate holding the small paper-back books, they always want to fold themselves shut on you.
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I enjoyed the small paperback when I was younger & didn't have to wear glasses to see clearly. Now as a glass wearing adult, I'm like you. I welcome the iPad. Reading ebooks on my iPhone does suck but that is the only alternative I currently have since I'm unwilling to shell out $250-500 for an ebook reader only gadget.

I laughed when I read the title. Amazon had a monopoly & was milking it until the iPad was announced. Competition is good for us, the consumer & hopefully the author.

If the author ends up being able to make more money due to the price change then I'm all for it. They are the ones that deserve most of the $ from a book/ebook sale. Whether this is true or not I have no idea.
 
Well they said Apple was going to change the print industry.

I think this is the tip of the iceberg.
 
kernkraft said:
30%?! Paper books have similar, if in some cases not much smaller margin. For that, a small bookstore has to have employees, they have to keep them on their shelves and so on.

With digital versions, the overheads are much lower. These greedy corporations (not necessarily Amazon) just don't get it that people do not buy as much content, because it is expensive. Personally, I would rather have a paperback and sell it or take it to a charity shop than pay more for a digital copy. The same applies to CDs.

Bloody greedy pieces of ARRRGH! 😡
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Until now, Amazon has been keeping 70% off the sale of each ebook, the publishing houses were only getting 30% -- the greedy one here was Amazon. Now, Apple is offering the publishers 70%.

If you were a publishing house, would you seriously stick with Amazon or jump ship and bite-off Apple's hand?
 
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