# Is it me ... or did the price of e-books increase ALLOT



## Bob327 (Nov 17, 2011)

Finished reading a book last night...

I  then went to see what I want to purchase to read next...

So far so good... BUT 

What surprised me is that I see most of them now listed at  $14.99 ..

I honestly was expecting to see most of them listed for $9.99 

did the prices jump up that much... ?? 

Bob G


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

The price of e-books has always been hotly contested. Indy authors publish their books at much lower prices, so I buy a lot of indy books. However, traditional publishers want to slow the rise of e-books, so they insist on selling e-books at the same price as physical books. 

As a reader, I think that's absolutely ridiculous. I resent paying the same price for an e-book file that I do for a physical book. So, when that happens, I've been buying the paperback. 

But I love having the ability to increase font size on my Kindle, so I may eventually need to give in and pay full-price for the e-book. Even if it bugs me.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

The prices jumped a couple of years ago when Apple got into the game and made a deal with publishers to use the "agency model" where the publishers set the price. Finally now, the DOJ is going to sue them for unfair practices. See this article:
http://signalnews.com/doj-sue-apple-big-5-publishers-for-ebook-price-fixing-900
The article has a link to a detailed timeline of events that is very interesting, too.


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## Aris Whittier (Sep 21, 2010)

I got my Fire for Christmas and I was buying books like crazy. They were all reasonably priced.  Now that I’ve read them all, I headed to Amazon and started looking around for my next purchase and I felt the prices had gone up too. Perhaps it is because there were a lot of sales because of the holiday. Not sure…


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## n4uau (Nov 26, 2011)

And the new Hiaasen book is more expensive as ebook than printed book. Boycott that Sick Puppy!


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## Bob327 (Nov 17, 2011)

Thanks everyone I do not have time this morning to read the link above about the lawsuit ..BUT I will when I get home this afternoon..

10 bucks is fine but 15 just seems way too high...

Bob G


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## William G. Jones (Sep 6, 2011)

I agree, the prices are somewhat strange. The publisher of one of my favorite authors has his trade paperbacks priced at $5-$7 new on Amazon and his Kindle books are $10-$12. Seriously, I'd think it should be the other way around.


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## William G. Jones (Sep 6, 2011)

Funny... _this_ just popped up in my Twitter feed: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/03/why-some-e-books-cost-more-than.html


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## J.I.Greco (Apr 10, 2011)

William G. Jones said:


> Funny... _this_ just popped up in my Twitter feed: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/03/why-some-e-books-cost-more-than.html


I was going to just say the reason was greed, but the Bransford article says that all and more -- thanks for linking to it.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Sophrosyne said:


> The price of e-books has always been hotly contested. Indy authors publish their books at much lower prices, so I buy a lot of indy books. However, traditional publishers want to slow the rise of e-books, so they insist on selling e-books at the same price as physical books.
> 
> As a reader, I think that's absolutely ridiculous. I resent paying the same price for an e-book file that I do for a physical book. So, when that happens, I've been buying the paperback.
> 
> But I love having the ability to increase font size on my Kindle, so I may eventually need to give in and pay full-price for the e-book. Even if it bugs me.


+1 and ditto on all of your points.

My wife and I are definitely reaching a tipping point where we're both disgusted paying over $9.99 for an ebook (and even that is too high IMHO). I foresee a future in which we're (my household) very selective about those price points.

As for the 3rd, good thing I have an eye exam scheduled for Sat.


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## Darlene Jones (Nov 1, 2011)

I don't think ebooks should be priced as high as print books, but I don't think they should be too cheap either. We pay a lot for a movie or a specialty coffee and a good book lasts a  lot longer than either of those.


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## sarahsbloke (Sep 24, 2011)

If you are a bad person, you could just steal them all.
Do greedy publishers overcharging justify that sort of behaviour?
I don't know, only you can decide.


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## Meb Bryant (Jun 27, 2011)

In 2011, I purchased twice the amount of books than any other year...at a quarter of the price for print books by pushing a button sitting in my den wearing pajamas. Thank you ebook revolution.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Bob327 said:


> Finished reading a book last night...
> 
> I then went to see what I want to purchase to read next...
> 
> ...


From the big publishers, yes.

Thankfully, they are currently being sued for it (someone else already provided a link for this info). Hopefully, once that gets resolved, prices will go down again.


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## IowaGuy (Jan 31, 2012)

Yeah I noticed that yesterday...wanted to pick up a simple book from one of my series yesterday and the stupid thing was 8.00$ but the trade copy NEW was $6.00.  Out of principle I won't do it.  I will go to the book store and buy the stupid thing in hard copy and save $2.00.  I don't work two jobs so that I can pay extra for an electronic copy of the books I want to read.  I'd rather save the two dollars and walk to the book store.  It is insane and hopefuly this lawsuit irons it out.  I am NOT paying $15.00 for an ebook....isn't going to happen.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

IowaGuy said:


> Yeah I noticed that yesterday...wanted to pick up a simple book from one of my series yesterday and the stupid thing was 8.00$ but the trade copy NEW was $6.00. Out of principle I won't do it. I will go to the book store and buy the stupid thing in hard copy and save $2.00.


An observation. . .which may or may not really apply. . .simply an observation.

Depending on where you live, you could easily spend that $2 in driving to and from the book store.  So that's just something that one might want to consider when working out what one is willing to pay for a given book. 

I'm lucky, there's a B&N within walking distance -- not to mention the Target which has a good selection of new-in-paperback titles. But I know there are folks here who live in much more rural areas and don't have that luxury.

I will add, that this is where Amazon Prime is really nice! For $79 a year, you get two day shipping on a lot of things -- most especially paper books -- so you can save the $2, save shipping, and also get it in a timely fashion. But, again, if you don't buy that much from Amazon, the $79/year might not be a good deal for you.


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

Now if I were a paper format publisher I would be doing an all out campaign in my stores pushing the ebook format by keeping prices at around the 9.99 levels as a kind of sale "carrot" to encourage reading

People have moved to ebooks because they were cheaper than the ever rising prices of hardcovers ( up to 35 bucks in some cases!) and yes, Amazon set that standard because they wanted to get millions of people to buy and use Kindles

Okay- so people people BOUGHT the kindle and they are here and they want to read

Why jack the prices up for the summer when you could use the high gas prices as a way to provide reading  alternatives for entertainment?

We already lost Borders

Paper and bytes CAN co-exist. Why can't the powers that be figure a way to make it happen?


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## Coral Moore (Nov 29, 2009)

Unless you just have to read it _right now_ generally the prices lower when the paperbacks come out--usually 4 to 6 months later. I use http://www.ereaderiq.com/pricewatch/ to track price drops on new books that I want to read but are too expensive on release. (They also have a page just for free reads that I can lose hours browsing through.  ) Everyone has their own price point and what's nice about price trackers like that one is that you can set the threshold to whatever you want.


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## Poovey (Aug 25, 2011)

I'll usually wait to see if an ebook price drops, temporarily or not. That's because, while I'm okay with paying $9.99 for a handful of most-wanted titles, I don't want to pay that every time I want another book to read. 

Then again, I take full advantage of Overdrive library lending and Prime borrowing. They're great ways to borrow ebooks I really want to read and give authors/titles a chance that I wouldn't at $9.99 or more.

Oh, sure, I don't get to keep a library ebook, but that's okay. When I want to re-read, I'll probably buy the title--just like I did with printed, library books before the Kindle.


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## CoffeeCat (Sep 13, 2010)

It is frustrating to think back on the days before "agency pricing" when most books were $9.99 or less. I do still end up spending less money on ebooks then I used to on print because I read enough indie stuff to avoid the high prices for the most part, and as Ann said, the money saved in driving makes a big difference too.

http://www.ereaderiq.com/pricewatch/ sounds really interesting. I'm usually too impulsive to wait to read something if I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm definatly going to check this out.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

William G. Jones said:


> Funny... _this_ just popped up in my Twitter feed: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/03/why-some-e-books-cost-more-than.html


That's an interesting post. Very informative. I think the thing is, when you buy a paper product, you usually have to pay shipping, which can make the decision to buy an ebook easier.


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## Coral Moore (Nov 29, 2009)

CoffeeCat said:


> I'm usually too impulsive to wait to read something if I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm definatly going to check this out.


I'm pretty impulsive too, but it makes me angry when the eBook is priced the same as the hardcover. With very rare exceptions, I just won't pay that much for an eBook. Usually I find another shiny, cheaper book to distract me from the pricey one.


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## Mel Odious (Feb 29, 2012)

The price of publishing house books has gone up sharply over the past few years without regard to price cutting on the indie end of the market.  Like it or not, the free/cheap books flooding the market from indie folk live in their own pool of low expectations.  

Hard to tell how long this kind of price standoff can last.  I don't like paying a paper price for the ebook version of anything, but I will (and have) if it's a great book. Getting it with one click, not having to find shelf space for it, and not having to endure the "Do you have your BookBarn Rewards Card" each time I check out pretty much gets me over No-Pulp-in-my-Hands-itis.


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## jnau (May 4, 2011)

I have to agree-when I first heard digital books were going to be for purchase on Amazon I figured they would be much cheaper without the costs of publishing. The only time I will pay those high prices is if it is an author I really love or I just really want to read something NOW. I live a good hour from a real book store, so sometimes it's probably cheaper by the time I fill the old gas hog up and make a whole day of shopping out of it...


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Coral Moore said:


> Unless you just have to read it _right now_ generally the prices lower when the paperbacks come out--usually 4 to 6 months later. I use http://www.ereaderiq.com/pricewatch/ to track price drops on new books that I want to read but are too expensive on release. (They also have a page just for free reads that I can lose hours browsing through.  ) Everyone has their own price point and what's nice about price trackers like that one is that you can set the threshold to whatever you want.


That's true but a lot of the books I'm price watching aren't new releases and may never drop unless something happens with this law suite. I've been waiting for what seems like a year for the price of Time and Chance (Eleanor of Aquitaine) to come down because at the moment, it's higher than the paperback. It's not a new release. If the law suite doesn't work, I'm doubtful the price will ever come down.

I mentioned before in another topic that even just in the last few months, there's been less price drops. I haven't had one since before Christmas.

And with big name new releases, it can take longer than 6 months for the paperback to come out. The publishers will reap what they can from the hardcover for as long as they can if they know a lot of people are eager to read the latest release from a big name author. Take for example, A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Five. It was released July 2011 and here we are 8 months later and they haven't even announced a release date for the paperback from what I can tell. Who knows how much longer I'll wait for the Kindle price to come down? I've been debating just buying it because it's not that I won't pay $15 for an ebook, it's just that I know when the price comes down I'll be annoyed for not waiting.


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## IowaGuy (Jan 31, 2012)

Both of my jobs are smack dab right next to book stores.  One is next to a local book store and the other is right next to B&N so don't spend any gas driving .


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

Of course publishers are protecting their print business!

After all, when it comes to a business strategy, you'd want to protect the old model that's shrinking every year, that has you printing, warehousing, shipping, shipping back, and shredding half of your product, and which is sold in overhead-heavy brick and mortar stores.

You certainly wouldn't want to develop a business model that eliminates overages and shipping and warehousing and that enables people to buy instantly at home.

Any *fool *can see that.


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

For a bargain I'd keep watching the Top 100. With Amazon price matching Google, some really good deals are popping up. You can't beat .25 cents for books like Moneyball.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

Like many of the posters here - I have been buying E-books since Kindle first came out - when Amazon guaranteed $9.99 or less.  It has been hard to swallow - but I find myself getting more accustomed to the higher prices on NEW releases.  For the most part - I am finding authors I've never read before and buying their older books - which are still reasonably priced.  But I do fork out a lot if its something I MUST read now - like the latest Vince Flynn.  What's a girl supposed to do??


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

bordercollielady said:


> But I do fork out a lot if its something I MUST read now - like the latest Vince Flynn. What's a girl supposed to do??


In my case, check out the hardcover from the library!


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

Dragle said:


> In my case, check out the hardcover from the library!


Yes - I hate to admit this.. but I haven't been to my library since getting the Kindle. Working fulltime - Its just so convenient to download.


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## montereywriter (Mar 17, 2012)

I don't think there's anything to be embarrassed about or regret. The book industry is going through changes, just like every industry ever conceived. Remember: Change is good. Stagnation is dangerous. If you're not on the cutting edge, you die out. We (myself included) have a nostalgic connection to brick and mortar stores and libraries, but the reality is that they need to adapt or die, too. It's just the way it has to be...


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## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

I won't pay more than $10 for an ebook. I read a lot of indie stuff now and usually only buy the trad published stuff when it's deeply discounted.


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## emilyward (Mar 5, 2011)

Thanks for that link, Coral! I think $10+ is too much for an ebook, especially one that probably has DRM and will be a hassle to read on other devices. I'll be watching this lawsuit over agency pricing because it's really interesting to me. I get most of my traditional books from the library...and I get to sample them on my Kindle first lol


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## Colin Taber (Apr 4, 2011)

Pricing shenanigans.  

It'd be great if publishers (in a perfect world) would just focus on bringing out good books and discovering fresh talent.

Yeah, okay, it's a business.


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## StephenEngland (Nov 2, 2011)

Colin Taber said:


> Pricing shenanigans.
> 
> It'd be great if publishers (in a perfect world) would just focus on bringing out good books and discovering fresh talent.
> 
> Yeah, okay, it's a business.


And fortunate for us that it is, because otherwise there'd be no motivation.


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## Coral Moore (Nov 29, 2009)

history_lover said:


> And with big name new releases, it can take longer than 6 months for the paperback to come out. The publishers will reap what they can from the hardcover for as long as they can if they know a lot of people are eager to read the latest release from a big name author. Take for example, A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Five. It was released July 2011 and here we are 8 months later and they haven't even announced a release date for the paperback from what I can tell. Who knows how much longer I'll wait for the Kindle price to come down? I've been debating just buying it because it's not that I won't pay $15 for an ebook, it's just that I know when the price comes down I'll be annoyed for not waiting.


Well, of course companies are trying to grab every bit of money while they can, that's what they are all about. Fans of GRRM and Jordan will pay that big price to get the latest installment, and the publishers knows that. The longer they delay the paperback and can keep the eBook price high, the better for them. That extra money is all gravy from their point of view. I'm sure they've done model after model predicting how long they can push the paperback off before they start to lose money.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Coral Moore said:


> Well, of course companies are trying to grab every bit of money while they can, that's what they are all about. Fans of GRRM and Jordan will pay that big price to get the latest installment, and the publishers knows that. The longer they delay the paperback and can keep the eBook price high, the better for them. That extra money is all gravy from their point of view. I'm sure they've done model after model predicting how long they can push the paperback off before they start to lose money.


Then why did you say the paperback is "usually released 4 to 6 months later" if you're aware that often, it's much longer?


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## kdrollinger (Oct 17, 2011)

There seems to be a few different arguments going on here.
A) people who dont want to pay over 10 bucks for a book they can download
B) people who think the ebook should be cheaper than the paper/hard back

In the case of "A" I can sort of understand not wanting to pay that much. True, they dont have to spend nearly as much on gas, transport, holding, printing, paper, etc etc. However, those companies ARE spending a LOT of money on advertisements. So I can see where they would need to price their books higher than say self pubbed. Is there greed involved? Of course! Its called supply and demand. Yes, with ebooks there is a virtual infinite supply, but if the demand is high they are still going to be motivated to jack up their prices. Since we are living in capitol based societies can we really complain about that?

As for "B" I really dont understand why the ebooks would ever be priced higher than their physical counterparts.


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## Cher Carson (Mar 27, 2012)

I noticed the same thing when I wanted to stock up recently. I don't mind paying a bit more for an author whose books I enjoy, but I'm a bit more reluctant to take the risk of a higher priced book based on a good blurb alone.


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## ChrisWard (Mar 10, 2012)

Regardless of the price, there's no way in the world an ebook should be cheaper than a paperback.  Regarding prices, I think five dollars is fair.  I'm suspicious of cheaply priced ebooks (except for short stories).  In my experience most of them turn out to be worth the price, as in not very good.

Chris Ward


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## deckard (Jan 13, 2011)

headofwords said:


> Regardless of the price, there's no way in the world an ebook should be cheaper than a paperback.


Good morning Chris,

I had to read this a couple of times. If you were to say an ebook should not be more expensive than a paperback, I would agree. But I am not sure I agree with your statement that an ebook should be more expensive than a paperback.

Could you explain why you think this?

Thanks

Deckard


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## Jedidiah (Mar 7, 2012)

I think this depends on the book/author. 
I agree that if a book is 15.00 as a paper back, we shouldn’t have to spend that same price for an ebook, simply because no trees are being raped to make it. I do however, think that 10.00 is reasonable for a good ebook from an established author. I know everyone wants to get something for nothing but it takes a HUGE amount of work to write a book and when someone puts that much effort into something I think it should be worth a decent price. 

As an Indie author myself I have no qualms about making little to no money on my first book. No authors make much money on their first book. Same with music artists and any other similar profession. That’s just the way it works. But if what they are putting out is good then why wouldn’t you want to pay 10.00 for it? Would you like to work for free? 

It seems to me that there is a war going on between the greedy and the cheap…surely there is a balance to be found.


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## SSantore (Jun 28, 2011)

I think 9.00 for an e-book is ridiculous.  Why should an e-book cost as much or more than a paperback?  I won't pay over 5.00 for an e-book when most paperbacks cost 7-8 dollars.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

SSantore said:


> I think 9.00 for an e-book is ridiculous. Why should an e-book cost as much or more than a paperback? I won't pay over 5.00 for an e-book when most paperbacks cost 7-8 dollars.


Most mass market paperbacks might be $7-8 but many books are not available as MMP.


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## Steve Cerutti (Mar 27, 2012)

Jedidiah said:


> I do however, think that 10.00 is reasonable for a good ebook from an established author. I know everyone wants to get something for nothing but it takes a HUGE amount of work to write a book and when someone puts that much effort into something I think it should be worth a decent price.
> ...
> But if what they are putting out is good then why wouldn't you want to pay 10.00 for it? Would you like to work for free?


I think those are points a lot of people overlook. When you buy a book, you aren't buying it for the raw materials, you're buying it for the content, writing quality, entertainment value, hours of enjoyment, etc. That is still there whether in hardback or electronic form. In that sense the value to the reader is the same, so why should the price be different?* The publishers are just trying to figure out how we readers value these things, and the indy authors are making that more difficult.

*I think you could even argue that, for some, the value of an ebook is higher, for instance if you like having it in your portable library, prefer the e-reading experience, or like having it delivered almost instantly.

Anyway, just my $.02.

Steve


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## Guest (Mar 28, 2012)

I haven't noticed a spike in the prices.


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## MMancey (Sep 8, 2011)

Huh! I don't get pricing an ebook higher than $7.00 -$8.00, even after cover art and editors etc are covered. Mine is still under $2.00 and I'm not complaining too much.


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## JMiddleton (Mar 29, 2012)

I've noticed that as well. A book I was highly recommended by a friend ended up being $14.99 for the ebook version, same as the print cost. I didn't bother, to me it's outrageous. I'll pay up to $7.99 at most for an ebook but that would be from a cherished favourite author, the average I imagine for my ebook purchases is $3.99.

Recently I also came across rave reviews that enticed me to purchase another book, and the ebook price was listed as $24.99! Goodness me. No way.


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## jbcohen (Jul 29, 2011)

I think mainly book publishers will charge what ever the market will bare if they can get $15 to $20 for a ebook they will do so. If they can charge you more for an ebook then they do then the printed one then they will do so.  It also pays to notice that electronic books represent a threat to their overall business. Here is a technological marvel that allows an author to sell his/her books to the reading public without needing a publisher.  In a sense the publishers are no longer needed with the new ebooks so its no wonder that they are adopting pricing strategies to maintain their existing business model as long as possible. Eventually what will happen is their hands will be forced the rise in ebook sales will get to the point where no one wants printed books any longer and instead they will be forced to sell their product in electronic form or perish. Also the pricing schemes  will continue into the future because readers are willing to pay those sky high prices. Personally I am not willing to pay those prices, I have a hard limit in what I will pay for any book, printed or electronic does not matter. My limit is currently is $0 but will return to the $6 limit as soon as I get done with the ring of fire series. Why should I be willing to pay for a book that I can currently get for $0. If its free I won't pay a penny for it.

I recommend that forum members vote with their feet simply do business with publishers that have accommodating stances toward electronic books.


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## Coral Moore (Nov 29, 2009)

history_lover said:


> Then why did you say the paperback is "usually released 4 to 6 months later" if you're aware that often, it's much longer?


Usually is not always. Very popular authors have always had longer delays going from hardcover to paperback and you should expect nothing less now. However, for every other author--the 99% as it were--the book is going to come down around the 6 month time frame. There's only one author on my list of ten or so 'always buys' that I have to wait longer than that for the price to drop, so I standby what I said. Your millage may, of course, vary.


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