# $ 14.99? Is there a ceiling on e-book prices? Have we peaked already?



## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

I was surfing around looking to for some new books for my kindle later this year and saw that (as an example) James Patterson has another Alex Cross due out in November called KILL ALEX CROSS. Now, it's available as an e-book and a hardcover

Hardcovers being as they are- what with a full color cover and the cost of paper etc- you can get a copy off the shelf for $ 30.99.

There are of course a few places where you can find it discounted. But then I caught the price of the e-book version: $ 14.99 !!

I thought the average price for e-books was around $ 9.99 ?
That was the big selling point of them that you could get it digitally and read it cheaper since there was no actual paper involved. Now it looks as if the publishers are creeping the prices up to the levels of where all the paper products sit. (such as the average trade paperback ( a bit larger in size than the popular mass market paperback)

As this was the drawing point OF e-readers and since, from what I am aware of, this was one of the big reasons people were dropping books from their entertainment habits- the high cost of a singular book that is basically read once-- we seem to be heading BACK to the pre-Kindle days of a dying market where people were just waiting for the paperback version (and yet even THOSE are pushing the envelope on price as many of them hover around the 10.99 mark these days)

Of course, to be fair- Patterson DOES have a huge fan base and no doubt as this IS cheaper than the hardcover a large portion of his die-hard audience will get the latest entry of Alex Cross on day one of sales. Patteron IS still a huge name in the market and I do agree he deserves to get a somewhat higher price for his work.

Still.... there is the fringe market out there that will balk at the  $ 14.99 price when they have been used to the 'norm' of $ 9.99

And you can't blame them to a degree as on the surface... there really isn't much overhead involved- it's just digitally transferred bytes of info to your e-reader and until now, $ 9.99 was a pretty good alternative to the traditional hardcover. This was a good thing for our industry because it meant there were hoards of new readers buying books simply because they were much cheaper than hardcovers)

And yet... prices go up every year.
If this continues, I fear that the literacy numbers will drop back to PRE-Kindle days and the industry will once again be wringing it's hands trying to keep the bottom line from turning red.

What do all of you think of this trend?
CAN there be an argument given (on the surface- for the average reader) toward the seemingly minimal cost of a book AS an e-reading product VS the traditional hardcover

Because if Patterson's number hold up(and they will since he remains a hot author out there), many other writer's who are not AS popular as Patterson will STILL jump on the bandwagon and charge higher rates for their own e-books. "Well, if Patterson can sell books at 14.99, than I'm going to try it too!"

And yet, we, as an industry, will see a peak at reader interest in this new pricing format and things will fall apart again.

Do you think we have hit the peak yet?

If not now- when?

Is there anything we can do to prevent the coming slide in readership ( IE: sales?)

I mean, it seems sad to me that at the time when we, as an industry, have gotten readership numbers back UP- we, as an industry are slapping the prices higher than we should instead of nursing the whole thing along to keep hold of the all the new readers we've gained. In many cases- many of these readers we gained are the very readers we LOST several years back when hardcovers began edging past the 23 dollar mark (give or take a few dollars)


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Nearly 4 years ago when Kindle was first released, part of Amazon's marketing was that NYT best sellers would be priced at $9.99.

That changed subsequently when publishers forced a renegotiation of their distribution deal, essentially giving publishers the right to set the price and taking away Amazon's right to discount them, even at their own loss.  So prices have been creeping up since then.  You'll find new releases at everything from $9.99 to $14.99 -- whatever the publisher thinks they can get.  Hardbound first editions may be priced around $30, but those usually can be discounted by resellers to around $15 or $16.

Whether people are willing to pay almost as much for an ebook is debatable. . . . some see it as an inherently lower value product:  You only get a 'license' not the real thing, can't loan it but once (if that), and can't give it away to a friend when you're done with it.  Others see the ebook's convenience -- instant delivery, adjustable font size, and no heavy book to hold -- as making them at least equivalent in value.  Each reader has to decide for themselves whether they're willing to spend the money.  Some are, some aren't.


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## indiebookslist (Aug 5, 2011)

That extra 5 bucks is the added cost of legacy publishing infrastructure. On our end, we are seeing mid-list authors leave the big publishers in droves. This week was when it hit critical mass. 

As really good mid-list authors start to hit the Amazon best-sellers list...at prices of $9.99 and below, you will begin to see the bigger names capitulate. There are only two reasons I would pay $14.99 for an ebook:

1.) Graphic novel (and I mean, like those really thick compilation ones, that are almost coffee table books.)
2.) It needs to be a collection: Hocking "Trylle" trilogy comes to mind. I did buy a traditionally pubbed trilogy last summer @ $14.99 .

$15 is about the peak. That goes out the window if we start seeing inflation. I think $9.99 is still the psychological barrier, with $0.99-2.99 being the sweet spot for volume sales.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

In my experience, most novels are not as high as $14.99 but you will find some. I certainly wouldn't say it's the average price - if you consider all the bargain indie ebooks available out there, the average is probably lower than $9.99. Just strictly looking at major publishers, I'd say the average would land somewhere between $10-12. Just an estimate based on all the browsing I do for my blog.

Non-Fiction is more likely to be priced around $12.99 - $14.99 but that's expected since even with DTBs, non-fiction is usually more expensive.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Yeah, that's old news with prices being higher than $9.99 on many books.

Personally, I have no problem with it as long as the e-book is still cheaper than the cheapest print version on Amazon.

If the hardback is all that's out and it's say $18.99 on Amazon, I see nothing wrong with the e-book being $14.99.  I may not buy it, and rather wait for a price drop when the paperback comes out.  And I'm fine with that as that's what I almost always did in the past as I rarely bought hardcovers and usually waited for the cheap paperback to be out.

Now if the paperback comes out and is $10 or whatever, and the e-book stays at $14.99, then I have major issues with that.


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## KathyGleason (May 5, 2011)

I can't see spending 14.99 for an e-book. 9.99 is the most I'll spend, and even that seems a bit much to me when there is no paper, ink or glossy cover involved. I did recently pay 20.00 for the new hardcover by Janet Evanovich, and that pained me a little, but I have several friends that also like her work and usually one of us buys it and then we take turns passing it around to read.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

$14.99 is the most I've spent--and that was recently for A Dance with Dragons.  I was dying to read it, and it was still cheaper than the hardcover on Amazon.

But otherwise, I've never paid more than $9.99 as there are very few books I want to read enough to pay more than that.  So I'll wait for price drops or get them from the library just like I did with print books by almost never buying hardbacks.


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## Angerona Love (Aug 5, 2011)

$14.99 seems a bit much for an ebook unless there is something of real potential value to change one's life. I can see certain How-To's and some types of nonfiction hitting this price mark; however, I don't know that I would spend that much for fiction.

At the same time, I feel my insides tensing up as I write that. I don't want to devalue anyone's work either. I think the sweet spot is still significantly less than this and do not feel many writers could achieve volume sales at this price mark. Given meager royalties, I'll take my 70% of $2.99 any day!


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## scottnicholson (Jan 31, 2010)

I don't mean it to be flip, but it's basically worth whatever you are willing to pay for it. If everyone decides Patterson is not worth $14.99, that WILL drop...and fast.

We are dealing with a virtual product with very little intrinsic value. You can't eat it, put it in the bank to gain dividends, or heat your house in the winter with it. It's a shared fantasy between reader and writer/producer, and the value is mutually agreed upon. There's simply no absolute value that can be applied--some are happy to give their books away and others have lots of corporate overhead involved. But it's just a stack of electrons.

Right now we are all sort of agreeing that ebooks are worth between 99 cents and $14.99, for the most part. A wide gap, but we'll see what 2012 brings. And how long it takes Patterson to go indie.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

scottnicholson said:


> I don't mean it to be flip, but it's basically worth whatever you are willing to pay for it.


And that's why I happily put down $14.99 for Jim Butcher's GHOST STORY.

I also put down $18.99 for HERESY even though the paperback was cheaper...but I was travelling and did not want to carry a brick around with me. I paid for the convenience of not arriving with a sore back.


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## Tara Maya (Nov 4, 2010)

There is clearly not a "ceiling" since I have seen ebooks for sale at $140 and more. Usually nonfiction, and I have to ask, who on earth would buy that? But someone charges it.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Angerona Love said:


> $14.99 seems a bit much for an ebook unless there is something of real potential value to change one's life. I can see certain How-To's and some types of nonfiction hitting this price mark; however, I don't know that I would spend that much for fiction.


But isn't the same true of print books? And print books have generally been more than $14.99 when they first come out and are only in hardcover for a long time.

So it's always been a matter of waiting for a cheaper paperback (or used books) if you don't feel books are worth that kind of money. Now it's a matter of waiting for the e-book to drop in price when the paperback comes out--which has usually happened for titles I've been interested in and balked at the initial price always. Though their are exceptions where it stays up and ends up costing more than the paperback which is absurd.


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## Tara Maya (Nov 4, 2010)

mooshie78 said:


> But isn't the same true of print books?


Well, in the case of the crazy-expensive ebooks I mentioned, I presume they are priced that high because the hard cover of the book is $150, so some dumb-head somewhere thinks $130 for the ebook should be a steal. The difference is that the the $150 hardcover is a first-edition out-of-print collectable, that you can resell, whereas the ebook is just an ebook. I have paid more than $200 for a book before. But it went up in value after that, it didn't become unsellable.


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## Guest (Aug 5, 2011)

I have paid as high as $12.99 because I simply could NOT wait... which is precisely why they put that price tag on it.

It bugs me... since there is absolutely no difference between the ebook I buy at that price tag when the hard-cover is released and the one that will sell for $7.99.

I think I am really rare in being suckered, and hope it eventually wears NY down... honestly, the pricing seems like sour grapes to me.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Tara Maya said:


> Well, in the case of the crazy-expensive ebooks I mentioned, I presume they are priced that high because the hard cover of the book is $150, so some dumb-head somewhere thinks $130 for the ebook should be a steal. The difference is that the the $150 hardcover is a first-edition out-of-print collectable, that you can resell, whereas the ebook is just an ebook. I have paid more than $200 for a book before. But it went up in value after that, it didn't become unsellable.


True. But in those cases both prices are absurd. 

What are the books your talking about? Most of the things I've seen over $100 (in print or e-book form) are things like textbooks, technical manuals etc. which have always been overpriced.

I do get the resell point though--especially for things like textbooks. Yet another reason I'm not convinced e-text books will take off any time soon. Publishers won't price them cheap enough to make them more affordable than buying the print textbook and selling at the end of the semester.

My point was more limited to fiction books (and fiction priced non-fiction books, biographies etc.). There's not much of a resell market for fiction books anyway. Most people who don't want a fiction book anymore just give it to someone they know or donate it anyway. So I'm fine with e-books in those cases costing up to the same as the print version as I'm mostly just reading it once and never touching it again. Things like textbooks are different as ability to resell is a big factor.


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## GerrieFerrisFinger (Jun 1, 2011)

oliewankanobe said:


> I have paid as high as $12.99 because I simply could NOT wait... which is precisely why they put that price tag on it.
> 
> It bugs me... since there is absolutely no difference between the ebook I buy at that price tag when the hard-cover is released and the one that will sell for $7.99.
> 
> I think I am really rare in being suckered, and hope it eventually wears NY down... honestly, the pricing seems like sour grapes to me.


You've said it, you could not wait... Should a James Patterson not sell at 9.99 or whatever, the price would drop until people started paying. That's what the correct price point is.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

I'm voting with my credit card. I am not buying fiction for $9.99. If a book is already out as a mainstream paperback, I'm not payimg MORE than that price.

I have been intrigued by descriptions of many authors here on the forums...but like Iain Banks...I'm not paying $9.99 for the early (90s) Kindle versions of his books. Oh well. Maybe I'll find a special somewhere someday. Or used in a real bookstore.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

scottnicholson said:


> I don't mean it to be flip, but it's basically worth whatever you are willing to pay for it. If everyone decides Patterson is not worth $14.99, that WILL drop...and fast.


Exactly. I am more than willing to pay $14.99 for a novel that I REALLY want to read, from an author I love. But I probably won't put out that much for an author I'm not familiar with or something I'm on the fence about. Publishers are aware of this and so you'll probably only see them pricing novels this high on popular authors or series.

I also forgot to point out though that a lot of Kindle books will be priced higher while only the hardcover is out and once the paperback is released, they drop to reflect the paperback. So if $14.99 is too high for you, wait and see if it drops when the paperback is released.

What bothers me far more is when the Kindle book is priced HIGHER than the lowest priced (new) DTB on Amazon. As long as the Kindle book is less than the paperback/hardcover, I'm usually okay spending whatever the price is.



Tara Maya said:


> There is clearly not a "ceiling" since I have seen ebooks for sale at $140 and more. Usually nonfiction, and I have to ask, who on earth would buy that?


Someone who needs the information in that book and can't find it elsewhere for less.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The "crazy-expensive" books are generally non-fiction, often highly technical, usually with a lot of specialized formatting -- tables, charts, equations, graphs, drawings, etc.  And sometimes are on topics so specialized that they don't really expect to sell many, either in paper or "e".  They price them higher accordingly.  They're not the sort of books they expect random browsers to just pick up for a light read.   AND, until Amazon, they weren't even readily available -- if you wanted such titles you had to contact specialized book distributors, probably through some professional organization.  Not the sort of thing you'd see on the shelves of your local book shop.


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## Ann Chambers (Apr 24, 2011)

The old Amazon $9.99 price for NY e-books was one (of many) reasons I originally bought a kindle. When the prices jumped to $12.99 - $14.99 - I quit buying those. There is just too much great stuff out there for sooo much less. I have been reading a select number of "freebies" and tons of 99 cent to $4.99 fiction. There's just no real reason to pay so much for an e-book. (There are some great writers hanging out here on KB, I am finding.)

E-books do have less value - I can't hand one off to a friend who might like it (I know, you can "lend" them, but I don't). I can't resell it at the used bookstore for credit or sell it in a garage sale etc.

I really hope that NY publishers are forced to drop prices back down by decreased sales. But even if they do, I don't know that I will go back to paying $10 for e-books. I enjoy looking for new/different authors with great stories at lower prices. Fits my wallet better, that's for sure. IMO, the big publishers got greedy and I hope it benefits the indies. The only big name authors I've picked up in the past year or so were at the used bookstore, and that was because I had store credit to use. I'd rather read on my Kindle.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann Chambers said:


> E-books do have less value - I can't hand one off to a friend who might like it (I know, you can "lend" them, but I don't). I can't resell it at the used bookstore for credit or sell it in a garage sale etc.


That's certainly a valid position.

But others have an equally valid position that ebooks have as much value (maybe more) than paper books because you can get them so quickly and without added costs: no paying to ship them or using your car to go buy them. Plus, you can literally have it NOW, if you're like Veruca Salt. 

Also, for folks who have trouble with holding heavy things, a kindle book is better because the device is not as heavy as many hardback books. Or maybe you're just a voracious reader who, when you travel, have to take a second or larger suitcase to carry all the books you know you'll read. With Kindle, you can have hundreds of books with you and no additional weight (or baggage cost) 

Finally, for folks who have trouble with the font size in a print book -- that difficulty is resolved with a Kindle book since you can set the font to whatever size works best for you. My aunt was 90 and hadn't been able to read in years because of macular degeneration. But she could with Kindle!

So, I'd say, depending on what is most important to "you", a Kindle book may, in fact, be worth more than a paper book. And it's o.k. if the person next to you feels differently -- he/she has different things that are important to him/her.


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

All valid points and thanks to all who took time to say something (though I welcome continued debate here)  

It still irks me slightly

I mean- as I said- the Alex Cross series is a solid reading experience but it's gotten so I don't get them every time a new one comes out. How many times can Cross face "the deadliest threat yet in his career!" ?
LOL

I love the character and will pick one up on ocassion but not for 14.99   I don't HAVE TO read a Patterson book THAT bad   LOL

Now I have been a long time Clive Cussler fan too but the character Dirk Pitt has become a little stagnant for me but I just checked his backlog and the most recent ones are 14.99.... go back a few years and the price drops to 12.99 and then the older stuff is 9.99 which I find reasonable.

Now Stephen King is another solid buy and yet his newest in November "11/22/63" is currently going for 16.99  !!  But I'll get that one because I GOTTA have every new King novel.

I'm just saying that it seems the publishers aren't exactly creeping the prices along for the juggernaut writer's as slowly as I feel they should- especially at a time when we desperately need to hang on to any new readers that we, as an industry, need .

Maybe a buck a year would be okay but to just leap up to 14.99  a few years after the 'norm' was 9.99 seems a bit greedy

As Joe Konrath has pointed out here many times (as well as PROVEN his point in sales) you CAN make more money with a proven selling product by selling it for less than you normally would sell it. Sure, it's WORTH more-- but through volume sales you probably pick up more potential long term fans at 9.99 than you would at 14.99

But also- I do accept this point- it depends on your genre as well as your writing skills/word of mouth etc etc etc
There are certain variables that should be included.

But 14.99 still seems a bit steep (to me) considering the current, fragile situation the industry is going through. Let's remember- despite it not being headline news everyday....BORDERS (as well as it's 9,000 employees) will not be around during the Holidays


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

FrankZubek said:


> Maybe a buck a year would be okay but to just leap up to 14.99 a few years after the 'norm' was 9.99 seems a bit greedy


Well, but "a buck a year" is pretty much what's happened: 

2007 -- $9.99
2008 -- $10.99
2009 -- $11.99
2010 -- $12.99
2011 -- $13.99

One could argue the $14.99 price has just come a little early.

I will say, though, that I hope it doesn't go any higher. I still think that $14.99 is the high end of new release prices, though and is, again, what the publishers thing readers will pay. And, you know what? Some do! But as with any consumer product, YOU get to decide if a given thing is worth the price asked and buy it or not based on what you decide.


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

Yes, Ann (I say sheepishly)  I had thought of that after typing it and rethinking

Perhaps they could have at least lowered or held their "hot" items this year as they KNOW the industry is in transition. And yet, I CAN see things from their POV because each hot selling author CAN be counted on to bring in desperately needed cash  with each new book that comes out- by pushing hardcover as well as e-book versions (especially at 14.99) it certainly helps the bottom line

But then again- perhaps the price could drop a bit in a year on the e-reading version when the paperback version of the hardcover is due out

And yet it's tough for me lately to track all that info and I have no idea if that price scale/timeline is already in place or not


sigh
It's tough sometimes to care so much for something and to see certain areas just not doing what you personally think should be done for the overall good


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

I think $14.99 is the high average and it's the ceiling for me. I will be buying _1Q84_ by Haruki Murakami at that price but I will not be buying _Reamde_ by Neal Steaphenson at $16.99. The extra $2.00 will not make a fug of a difference to my budget, but the price hike sticks to my craw enough to say No Thank You.

I do think $9.99 is unreasonably low for many new books with $12.99 being, more less, an acceptable compromise. Big books like _1Q84_ and some non-fiction can go for the ceiling.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> The "crazy-expensive" books are generally non-fiction, often highly technical, usually with a lot of specialized formatting -- tables, charts, equations, graphs, drawings, etc. And sometimes are on topics so specialized that they don't really expect to sell many, either in paper or "e". They price them higher accordingly.


Yep, those are the books that are more than the $100-200 textbook prices. And it's kind of moot for e-books anyway IMO as anything with specialized formatting and lots of tables, equations etc. just generally isn't very suited for converting to an e-book as they need to preserve the formatting. You can't reflow tables, figures, equations etc. to work on various different screen sizes like you can a novel of nothing but text.

So the only way really to make those into e-books is to PDFs them preserving the format, and just put them out for devices that have screens big enough to display the pages. And that rules out the Kindle in many cases--though the DX would probably be fine for many of them as long as the pages are 9.7" or smaller. A tablet is better in general for that kind of stuff IMO since it's faster to zoom in and out etc. But at the end of the day for any technical books like that, or textbooks with lots of figures and tables etc., I don't see myself ever switching from paper books. They're just easier to deal with for those kind of books than e-books--other than having to lug them around of course!


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## indiebookslist (Aug 5, 2011)

I flirted with the idea of purchasing an e-textbook last year. The problem is the DRM. They won't let you keep the book any more than 6 months. So you are essentially renting the textbook, for the same price as the physical book. Plus, you can't resell.


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

I just spent $15 on The Game of Thrones trilogy.  I think that is the most I have spent to date.  

As long as the books keep selling, the publishers will keep charging.  Their business model is set and will not easily be changed.


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2011)

That's cheap for a trilogy, though.  I LOVE bundles.  Love.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

KindleChickie said:


> I just spent $15 on The Game of Thrones trilogy. I think that is the most I have spent to date.


On Kindle? All I see is the first 4 books bundled for $29.99.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

oliewankanobe said:


> That's cheap for a trilogy, though. I LOVE bundles. Love.


I think she means she's spent $15 on the latest book in the series (A Dance with Dragons) which is $14.99. There's only one Kindle bundle of the first 4 books (it's not a trilogy) which is $29.99.

The other books in the series are $8.99 to match the Mass Market Paperback price - most likely when A Dance with Dragons is put out in paperback, the Kindle price will reduce to match.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Frank, I think you're missing an important thing: it is the PUBLISHERS who are forcing the higher prices on Kindle Books. I expect Amazon would discount them if they could. And you'll see that books published by houses that are not part of the 'agency pricing' scheme do sometimes have their books discounted by Amazon.

Why did the publishers do that? They thought the discount price Amazon was putting on NYT listed books was 'devaluing' their product. And they were afraid they'd not sell as many paper books. Why did Amazon go along with it? Well, if they hadn't, they wouldn't have been allowed to sell books from those publishers in e-form at ALL. And it was some of the biggest publishers involved so it wasn't serving _their_ customers to refuse to sign the contract. In fact there was a short period where the titles from one publisher weren't available as Amazon briefly played hardball.

My opinion is that the publishers who have embraced the ebook are ultimately going to do better than those who still think paper is the best way for everyone to buy books. One hopes that, as the ebook is apparently here to stay, more publishers will realize that and will offer their titles at better prices. But, still, they're going to price 'em at what they think they can get.

Bottom line: each of us gets to decide if a book we want is worth paying what they're asking. If so, buy it. If not, don't.

Also, there is a feedback form on the book page at Amazon -- all the way at the bottom. If you choose NOT to buy because of the price, it's perfectly appropriate to submit that feedback which does get to the publishers.


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

mooshie78 said:


> On Kindle? All I see is the first 4 books bundled for $29.99.


Yeah, on Kindle. It must have gone up since I purchased.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Bottom line: each of us gets to decide if a book we want is worth paying what they're asking. If so, buy it. If not, don't.


This should be on a tshirt.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

For the most part - I have just stopped buying most high priced e-books..  but if I  REALLY want to read one - I will pay the extra $$  (like for McCullough's John Adams).  I'm just a lot more picky and authors like Patterson (who has gone downhill a lot - in my mind) - is not on my wantlist..


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## arshield (Nov 17, 2008)

Just glanced at my ereaderiq price watch list to check.  I read a ton of non-fiction.  Often relatively specialized theology.  I still rarely spend more than $10.  I am currently tracking the price of 138 books.  25 are under $9.  17 are over $14.99 (up to $60)  

I didn't count but roughly half of the remaining are between $9-9.99 and half between $10 and 14.99.

Yes, some of the prices are a bit high.  But the real issue for me is that when it goes above $10, I start looking for paper or used alternatives.  The publishers make nothing on used, and when the paper and kindle are the same, they are making less on the paper.  I always give away my paper books.  Often as a give away on my blog.  But I like having kindle to read again later.  

I am still convinced that there will be a big shake out soon.  I have more and more author friends going to independent status.  That is great when they are just trying to be an author.  But academics (which a lot of my author friends are on academic career tracks) still have a BIG stigma attached to independent publishing.  No academic is making money on publishing.  So I do not really know the answer for them. 

(A friend of mine is a ancient hebrew professor.  He works in fairly technical areas of grammar.  There is almost no one that really can read his stuff and understand it.  So he is never going to make a lot from sales.  And because he is working with a non-western alphabet, he has to spend a fair amount of time on getting the fonts to work right.  I really feel for the authors that work in these small fields.  But then that is not what most people are complaining about either.)


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## Adam Pepper (May 28, 2011)

Everyone has to draw their own line in the sand.  Mine is $9.99.  And I do find, psychologically, the lower the price, the more likely I am to buy.  Even a buck or two difference does effect my decisions if I'm on the fence.


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## B Regan Asher (Jun 14, 2011)

An E-book should always be significantly less expensive than the equivalent paperback.  Hardcover and paperback books have big costs associated with them for printing and distribution and publishers admit being poor at picking winners so a few big hits have to pay for a lot of sunk costs.  It also appears that some publishers are deliberately pricing an e-book above it's paperback version to protect bricks and mortar distribution.

Because e-books represent an extremely efficient form of distribution and the democratization of the industry, they should therefore be relatively inexpensive.  With so many choices out there at very reasonable prices, it's hard to see the value in an e-novel at $14.99.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

High priced fiction ebooks are usually from the big publishers who forced Amz to go with the Agency Pricing Model.  I won't pay 14.99 or 12.99 for a novel ebook.  But if I really want to read the title, I'll either get it from the library or buy it on Ebay or Amz.  In the later two cases I'll sell it on Ebay or donate it to the library when I've finished reading, since I am cutting back on my paper book collection which takes up too much space.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

B Regan Asher said:


> An E-book should always be significantly less expensive than the equivalent paperback. Hardcover and paperback books have big costs associated with them for printing and distribution and publishers admit being poor at picking winners so a few big hits have to pay for a lot of suck costs.


Estimates I've seen people post before come in around $1 per copy for printing/shipping costs for a major book (one that sells). But you're right that those estimates probably don't factor in the money they lose on books that don't sell.

In any case, I've never wasted time worrying about that kind of stuff. When I'm thinking of buying something the only thing I care about is how much I'm willing to pay for that product, not the profit margins of the company making it etc. So for a book or e-book, the only thing I think about is how much I'm willing to pay to read that book.

Somewhat off topic....I really wish Amazon or someone would start an e-book rental system where you paid a monthly fee to check e-books out one at a time. I seldom re-read so I don't really care about owning e-books. So I'd love that kind of system. The local library e-book system is too much hassle to use more than occasionally with the limited selection and long wait times.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

mooshie78 said:


> Somewhat off topic....I really wish Amazon or someone would start an e-book rental system where you paid a monthly fee to check e-books out one at a time.


Oh, yeah. I think that it is only a matter of time before Amazon or someone offers a subscription-based ereader service. $20 a month and all you can read, one book at a time. That would be great by me, as long as they had the books I wanted to read.

Mike


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

jmiked said:


> Oh, yeah. I think that it is only a matter of time before Amazon or someone offers a subscription-based ereader service. $20 a month and all you can read, one book at a time. That would be great by me, as long as they had the books I wanted to read.


Hopefully it would be cheaper than that. Netflix is $7.99 for 1 dvd ($9.99 with blu ray ) for 1 disc at a time and no streaming now. And Blockbuster's mail service is $9.99 for 1 dvd/blu-ray at at time now as well. Given movies cost the same or more as books in most cases, I'd want similar pricing for a 1-ebook at a time rental program.


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## B Regan Asher (Jun 14, 2011)

Absolutely right.  Renting e-books is the way to go.  Now that you mention it, I wonder why it doesn't exist yet?


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## journeymama (May 30, 2011)

I read a lot of mainstream fiction by well known authors, and I DO pay $12.99. Unfortunately, my budget is so low that I have a rule about one book per month. For the rest, I'm experimenting, reading classics, and finding cheaper stuff.

It IS high. It just is. I wouldn't mind so much if I knew the author got more of it, but we're paying for building costs and secretaries.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

At least 2 decades ago I made the decision to not buy fiction in hardcover...for one thing, I didnt have the space. So it took alot of discipline, all these yrs, to wait for the mainstream paperback version (luckily, I often had a backlog of the _last _ paperback that was released for at least some authors.)

Anyway, it's just about more discipline...there are almost no fiction writers that I'm willing to pay more than mainstream paperback price for, based on principle. I will find alternatives (indies, small pubs) or just wait. And if it's not a true favorite author, I'm not enabling them by buying the paperback either. I'll wait or go without.

I'm loving the new world of bargains, indies, and small pubs that Kindle has opened up for me.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

B Regan Asher said:


> An E-book should always be significantly less expensive than the equivalent paperback.


This is your opinion, based on production costs. It's a valid position.

But there are many who find the convenience of KindleBooks make them _more_ valuable than paperbooks and so they're willing to pay more. Maybe they can't handle paper books because of issues with their hands. Maybe they need a bigger font than is available on most ordinary paperbacks -- and books with 'large print' are generally much more expensive. Maybe they don't have room for any more paper books in their existing living space. Or maybe they just really value the instant access.

Ebooks are pretty new, comparatively: 5 to 15 years old depending on when you count them as really 'starting' vs. 500+ years for paper books. I expect it'll all shake out eventually and I, frankly, don't worry about it too much.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

Renting books would probably work out well for many people, but not for me. I have a big backlog of things to read in several non-fiction areas, like epidemiology, and for fiction authors/genres I really enjoy. (Some of which I already own, some I don't). But for these things, I want to _own _ the books, they need to become mine for present and future enjoyment and reference.

I used to live at the library as a kid&#8230;but I don't read that much random stuff now and if I do, I still don't make that decision casually. I don't read something unless I think I'll really like it. And if I really like, I'll want to own it.

Not to mention that I'm not reading on anyone else's timetable  I usually have 2 or 3 books going at once and I finish them when I finish them. And then I_ KEEP _ them! _Muuuaaahaaaahaaa!_

But that's just me.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Renting doesn't mean you can't also buy e-books though.

I mean I watch a ton of movies and TV shows from Netflix, but I still own around 300 titles on DVD and Bluray.

If I could rent e-books I'd still buy favorites (either in e-book or paper book) to keep for good. 

And if it works like netflix, then you don't have to read on anyone else's time table as there would be no due dates.  You'd keep the book until you finished and be able to get a new one when you returned that one.


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## scottnicholson (Jan 31, 2010)

Kindle lending is coming to libraries. That could change the game a lot.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

scottnicholson said:


> Kindle lending is coming to libraries. That could change the game a lot.


I've been using library e-books on my iPad some in the meantime.

It's a decent feature, but the main problem is the wait lists and lack of control. Most everything is on a wait list several days deep, and when things you put a hold on come available you only have 4 days to claim it before it goes to the next person in the virtual line.

So it's a bit frustrating as I'm pretty much always in the middle of something else when something comes off hold and I either have to put it aside or rush to finish it and then finish the library e-book before it's 14-day lending period is up.

And that's another annoyance for me, I can't use it for longer books as I only read 30-60 minutes a day and thus will struggle to finish a long book in 14 days. I think some libraries have longer lending periods though.


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## Guest (Aug 12, 2011)

Border Collie Lady, you are a dead ringer for Allison Janney.

I love her.


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