Timewaster's Guide Archive

Departments => Books => Topic started by: guessingo on October 06, 2010, 07:47:01 PM

Title: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
Post by: guessingo on October 06, 2010, 07:47:01 PM
I thought this was interesting. I don't have an ereader. Not sure if anyone else will find it interesting, but I figured I would post it just in case.

If the demand for ebooks increases, it does make economic sense to charge more for them than hardcover books.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/business/media/05follett.html?src=me&ref=business

Title: Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
Post by: Eerongal on October 06, 2010, 08:05:54 PM
If the demand for ebooks increases, it does make economic sense to charge more for them than hardcover books.

I'm gonna say no. Though charging customers a price they are willing to pay makes economical sense, jacking up prices because of higher "demand" doesn't make much since with ebooks, since you're cutting out the "supply" equation of supply and demand.

i dont use ebooks either, i prefer to have an actual book, but there's no possible way i would pay more for a digital copy instead of a physical copy.

im not against the idea of ebooks, but they should reflect what they are. Digital data. Which is easier and more convenient to supply and deliver than any physical product.
Title: Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
Post by: ryos on October 08, 2010, 04:17:26 AM
Amazon appears to be doing something unsustainable with hardcover prices. It looks an awful lot like they're subsidizing hardcover book sales with the rest of their departments in a play for a monopoly on the book market.
Title: Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on October 08, 2010, 06:53:08 AM
Yeah, in both these cases it's not so much that the ebook is more expensive than the hardcover, it's that Amazon has priced the hardcover at cheaper than the ebook. Both ebooks are expensive, but the hardcover retail price on these books is not cheap. At that discount on the hardcover, Amazon isn't making much money.

I think it's interesting that they say the Follett book is so expensive because it's 1008 pages...the exact length of Way of Kings. ;) (But $8 more expensive.)

Also, the Follett book, even at that price, is STILL #11 on the Kindle store. This tells the publishers the price is A-OK.
Title: Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
Post by: guessingo on October 08, 2010, 02:01:24 PM
does amazon buy books from publishers at a standard $14/book price or does the wholesale price vary from book to book? So publishers can sell bestsellers to amazon for more than other books?

Follett has been a best seller for 25 years. The Pillars of the Earth is 20+ years old and it went back on the New York Times bestseller list when TV series came out, so either his publisher has alot of leverage on pricing or Amazon is using that to charge more money.

I think this is pretty interesting.

Title: Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
Post by: daranthered on October 18, 2010, 10:36:16 PM
"The skirmish over prices is possible because of deals that publishers negotiated with Amazon this year that allowed the publishers to set their own prices on e-books, while Amazon continues to choose the discount from the list price on hardcovers."
-NY Times article

The publishers had been threatening legal action because Kindle downloads were a flat 9.99.

I wonder if Amazon price pointed the hardbacks at just below the Kindle price to prove a point.
 
Title: Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
Post by: guessingo on January 04, 2011, 04:44:15 PM
Follett has been a top bestseller author for over 20 years. So there is more price flexibility in his books. I think the Pillars of the Earth came out in the 1980s and it has been back on the bestseller lists again 20 years later. That doesn't happen too often. I know Pillars was a TV mini-series and I think a few of his books have been made into movies. So he is pretty well known.

It also helps that Pillars was an Oprah book club member... If Way of Kings makes it to Oprah's book club Brandon can charge the same thing for his books.

BTW, Pillars is a great book. I think it is my favorite book. It is hard to tell. It is a  historical fiction book that fantasy readers would like.
Title: Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
Post by: hubay on February 24, 2011, 06:11:27 PM
(bumps back over spam)