Comments on: Demand Pricing for Ebooks

By: Creating experiences out of content | Digital Business

Creating experiences out of content | Digital Business — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:11:36 +0000

[...] being generated in the publishing sector continues to build when it comes to the pricing of ebooks (Evan Schnittman’s post in July) and digital rights management (DRM) where the publishing sector is seeking to [...]

By: The Daily Square – Ako Edition | Booksquare

The Daily Square – Ako Edition | Booksquare — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:30:19 +0000

[...] Demand Pricing for EbooksEvan Schnittman makes an argument for demand pricing for ebooks — and smarter pricing strategies by publishers. [...]

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:29:15 +0000

The basic problem with your suggestion is that you assume manufacturing costs are the majority of the cost of creating a book. The "words" as you say, are generally the greatest expense - if you are talking about general trade books. So if the value of the "words" are needed to recoup the costs, then it stands to reason that all versions should be priced to extract the maximum return on investment. Furthermore, ebooks are sold on consignment, where as print titles are bought in advance in bulk. The cash that generates is by definition more valuable to a business than the trickle of income that ebooks bring in. See the first posting on this blog, Why Ebooks Must Fail to get an understanding of trade book economics.

By: Dave Creek

Dave Creek — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:10:08 +0000

Seems to me that since you’re not publishing a physical book, that e-books should be less than the hardcover or the paperback price, and even less than $10.00. If I’m paying, say, $8.00 for the paperback and receiving a physical object that had to be manufactured and shipped somewhere, why do I have to pay more for just the words?

The price for an e-book should be a dollar or two less than the (eventual) paperback, and the money should be split 50-50 between the publisher and the writer. Talking about the hardcover bringing in more money makes no sense if the expense of making the hardcover eats up much or most of that money.

Dave Creek

By: Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary » Blog Archive » Link Round Up Tuesday

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:57:41 +0000

[...] Schnittman of Oxford University Press disagrees with the delayed [...]

By: Cathy Macleod

Cathy Macleod — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:40:59 +0000

When I feel a hardback price is too high I wait a few months for the paperback edition, and I’m prepared to do the same for the ebook version. The market will eventually sort itself out. Meanwhile, interesting challengers on the pricing front are the Secondhand Booksellers. I was ready to pay $16 for an ebook novel, then bought it paperback instead at Abebooks for $1 plus $8 postage, condition as-new.

By: The Sourcebooks experiment with Bran Hambric: publishers in the early “establishment” stage of ebook adoption - The Shatzkin Files

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:57:25 +0000

[...] Evan Schnittman makes the point that holding back the ebook has consequences. It dilutes the impact of the publisher’s marketing efforts. It could encourage piracy. Evan’s solution is an introductory promotional price that is raised when initial demand has ebbed and he has a notion (which I don’t quite understand) of how publishers can get retailers to collaborate on that. I don’t think that’s the answer. First of all: it strikes me as backwards. The ebook price should be a dollar more than the print book for the 3 weeks or so before the print book comes out when an ebook could be available. Then it should be the same as the print book for the first couple of months so that it doesn’t disturb the bestseller list possibilities. Then it should drop sharply to reflect the lower cost (to publisher and retailer) of providing ebooks. [...]

By: Barnes & Noble eBook Store Great News For Consumers | Gravitational Pull

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:50:27 +0000

[...] questions in the comments of posts by publishing consultant Mike Shatzkin’s ruminations and Evan Schnittman, who works for Oxford University Press. I wonder what impact Barnes & Noble’s $9.99 [...]

By: Jussi K

Jussi K — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:20:01 +0000

This is a bit of a waste of time, isn’t it? Everyone with an eye to the future understands that all e-books will be pirated and distributed for zero dollars. Even if you set the price to 99 cents or whatever you are WISHING for.

Meanwhile, all the 5-to-10 dollar pricing strategies are just a marketing opportunity for the not-big and not-published writers and/or publishers to have their share of the limelight.

By: jc

jc — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:19:59 +0000

Great post. I’m curious though: If the book industry should be careful not to disenfranchise ebook readers by releasing titles in hardcover first, why doesn’t this apply to the movie industry where they release to theaters long before DVD/Netflix/iTunes? Or could you argue that we’re we getting to a point where that applies to them as well?

Much of the concern we’re seeing now surrounds consumer conditioning. If ebook buyers get used to purchasing books for $9.99, then that’s what they’ll expect forever more. If they become used to having the ebook available at the time of the hardcover, then they’ll expect that, too. In many ways, we’re already too late to do anything about ebook pricing or release schedule. Amazon made up our minds for us.