99p ebooks – proof publishers are wrong on prices

There are still a few traditionalists out there who, like me, enjoy holding a b o o k and turning the p a g e s. I can’t imagine a library full of Kindles either. While doing research I have five or more books open at the same time to check references and select quotations. A visit to a real bookshop is a treat, but, of course, physically producing a book costs more than duplicating a million or so E. copies. There has been price fixing in the past but, like CDs, the relative price of a good read is a lot less than it was. What else can you get for the price of a paper back? Those who invest in an electronic reader, should expect economy of scale to be passed on, provided the person who wrote the book is as well compensated for his work as if he were traditionally published. For a few years yet, there will be two sets or purchasers: page turners and screen flippers. The former will probably not be jealous of the latter if their content is cheaper so long as the author isn’t squeezed in the middle.

There are many independent and respected bodies out there who consider the books that are published, and review them. Cult (Potter) status apart, first class writing will shine through because people want to read it. Look at the bins full of cheap DVD’s and CD’s in Supermarkets that probably end up in the skip even when offered at £1 a go. Bad books won’t survive either what ever the price.

I agree – I’m a b o o k lover.- I can drop them – sit on them – and read them. My other problem is I like to re-read them after a few years. Unless e-books can be stored outside of the reader – I would be a reluctant e-book reader though I do have a few free classics that I can read on a computer that I downloaded. But nothing beats an interesting book at bed-time.and I can fall asleep reading it without any problems of battery life and fragility of an ebook reader or small screen. Ebay and Amazon do sell very cheap s/h real books at around £1.- rather than the £6 to £10 in a high street book shop.

I have around 3000 real books – all that I enjoyed reading the first time – so I always have a book to re-read

This isn’t an article about whether you prefer books or e-books, it’s about e-book pricing.

In my view cheap e-books are a good idea, or at least appropriately priced ones. Even if the price were set around £2 or £3 for some titles it would still be tempting, but once you start asking for more than the price of the hardcopy it’s just ridiculous. As can be seen from the above, an author can still make a good profit from a low-priced e-book, and consumers aren’t silly enough to throw money at publishers for nothing. If publishers actually want to sell their books in e-book format, they need to catch up and start pricing them appropriately.

Good point Simon. This conversation is about ebook pricing.

At present, most people are more concerned about the pros and cons of ebooks compared with paper versions. The price of ebooks will have an effect on the future availability of printed books, so it is very important.

Wow. Who would have thought books priced at up to $3 US would make an author more $ than a beautifully put together paperback? Yet, readers seem to be happy and more and more writers are in a place to get their work into the hands of readers looking to read. Isn’t THAT why most of us who write started doing so in the first place?

Joanna Aislinn

[Message from Mods: Hello Joanna, we’ve just removed the URLs as it didn’t add to your comment. Thanks.]

Well – we think “artificially high” prices isn’t necessarily a true reflection. In many cases the 99p ebooks are self published so a significant slice goes to the author (as it should). Publishers do provide other services and so have other overheads to cover so a higher price can be justified as that revenue needs to be split. 99p may perhaps under value the effort that goes into a book – but if authors wish to pitch at 99p it’s a free world.

One thing about the internet is its democratising power and it has allowed otherwise unpublished authors to by pass the traditional gatekeepers – this is good. Ebooks also spread or defray some of the risks in traditional publishing – investing in large print runs of un proven authors is a risk and so some of the royalty models reflect this.

We believe that the advent of ebooks will challenge the model of publishing and will change some of the traditional revenue sharing models. We will try to be in the vanguard of that.