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Mar. 21st, 2009 12:33 pmMaybe someone on my flist can explain to me - why are ebooks so expensive?
I'm not talking about the ebooks in small publisher places, like my own, where they run about $5. (I actually consider that a little high, even, but then, they are small places where they have little stock with which to make their profits, no best sellers, and few really decent writers in the first place.) No, I'm talking about the bigger places, where they run the same prices as hardcover books. WTF? How do they figure that? The overhead is lower - they have no costs for paper or binding, shipping, remainders, brick and mortar stores, and sellers. They only have the price of the royalties plus a website and commercial software. And let me tell you, the royalties ain't that much. I wasn't surprised by the high cost of audiobooks, as you have to pay someone to read it, and have sound booths and editors to pay as well. But converting text to ebooks is, like, nothing. I do it myself with my own books on my poor old PC. So I think there is gouging going on here.
With good ereaders on the market now, I was hoping for a nice upsurge in ebooks, but with the costs so prohibitive, that's not to be. I'm a fairly average "heavy reader", I think, and I gobble up books in any format - not just ebooks, but audiobooks and traditional books as well. I love the feel of a book in my hands, but I really only want to read it. And my ereader travels with me easily, wherever I go, lighter, thinner, and only slightly larger than the average paperback, carrying dozens of my books on it. I love it. I want to buy books for it. But if I'm going to pay $15-$25 for a book, I can't afford them.
OK, bitching over.
I'm not talking about the ebooks in small publisher places, like my own, where they run about $5. (I actually consider that a little high, even, but then, they are small places where they have little stock with which to make their profits, no best sellers, and few really decent writers in the first place.) No, I'm talking about the bigger places, where they run the same prices as hardcover books. WTF? How do they figure that? The overhead is lower - they have no costs for paper or binding, shipping, remainders, brick and mortar stores, and sellers. They only have the price of the royalties plus a website and commercial software. And let me tell you, the royalties ain't that much. I wasn't surprised by the high cost of audiobooks, as you have to pay someone to read it, and have sound booths and editors to pay as well. But converting text to ebooks is, like, nothing. I do it myself with my own books on my poor old PC. So I think there is gouging going on here.
With good ereaders on the market now, I was hoping for a nice upsurge in ebooks, but with the costs so prohibitive, that's not to be. I'm a fairly average "heavy reader", I think, and I gobble up books in any format - not just ebooks, but audiobooks and traditional books as well. I love the feel of a book in my hands, but I really only want to read it. And my ereader travels with me easily, wherever I go, lighter, thinner, and only slightly larger than the average paperback, carrying dozens of my books on it. I love it. I want to buy books for it. But if I'm going to pay $15-$25 for a book, I can't afford them.
OK, bitching over.