Author Topic: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon  (Read 2337 times)

guessingo

  • Level 11
  • *
  • Posts: 440
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
« 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


Eerongal

  • Level 23
  • *
  • Posts: 1199
  • Fell Points: 0
  • That jaunty jackanapes with moxie and pizzazz
    • View Profile
    • Rockin' with the Erock
Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
« Reply #1 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.
[shameless plug]
My site
[/shameless plug]

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-R. Howard

Pie is clearly the most trustworthy. Pie for president. - Me.

ryos

  • Level 17
  • *
  • Posts: 824
  • Fell Points: 0
  • The Decemberween Thnikkaman
    • View Profile
Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
« Reply #2 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.
Eerongal made off with my Fluffy Puff confections.

Peter Ahlstrom

  • Administrator
  • Level 59
  • *****
  • Posts: 4902
  • Fell Points: 2
  • Assistant to Mr. Sanderson
    • View Profile
Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
« Reply #3 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.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2010, 06:55:53 AM by Peter Ahlstrom »
All Saiyuki fans should check out Dazzle! Emotionally wrenching action-adventure and quirky humor! (At least read chapter 6 and tell me if you're not hooked.) Volume 10 out now!

guessingo

  • Level 11
  • *
  • Posts: 440
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
« Reply #4 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.


daranthered

  • Level 2
  • **
  • Posts: 20
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
« Reply #5 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.
 
dulce et decorum est

guessingo

  • Level 11
  • *
  • Posts: 440
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
« Reply #6 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.

hubay

  • Level 7
  • ****
  • Posts: 203
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: 2 ebooks cost more than hardcover books on amazon
« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2011, 06:11:27 PM »
(bumps back over spam)