Sue Knott's Blog: Knott The Screaming Type - Posts Tagged "nook"
Ebook pricing and dinosaurs.
“What’s up with ebook pricing?” That’s a question I hear often from friends who simply cannot believe that the ebook version of a novel is MORE EXPENSIVE than the print version.
To the educated consumer this makes no sense at all. We know that paper and printing cost more than bits and bytes – not to mention the difference in delivery costs! But, major publishers can’t see that. Major publishers see all the time and energy they’ve put into editing the book. Major publishers have to put extra time into formatting an ebook. (Trust me, not all that much extra time.) Major publishers are dinosaurs that have ruled the earth for the past century and have no idea how to deal with the asteroid known as the Internet.
Anyone who has ever tried to get a book published knows what I’m talking about. Major publishers governed from their thrones, not even deigning to look at a manuscript if the margins were off by a hair. They alone decided what the world would read. If you ever went to a writers’ conference, you’d know the quality of the thousands of marvelous manuscripts that were denied publication each year. (To be fair, the cost of physically printing and marketing all those wonderful stories didn’t add up economically.)
Now, with the advent of Nooks, Kindles, ipads and more, the economic barrier to offering more books is gone. Small, indie publishers are proliferating. These small publishers are nimble. They don’t waste thousands of expensive employee hours on just deciding which books to publish. They can put out a quality ebook (or print-on-demand book) for a fraction of the cost of the huge, slow dinosaurs known as major publishers.
Indie publishers are delivering excellent ebooks for half the cost of the ebooks from major publishers. Major publishers could easily lower their ebook prices and still make a profit. But, they don’t want to. They don’t want you to buy ebooks instead of print books. If you did, they would lose their power. They have ruled this realm for so long, they still don’t feel obliged to be swayed by anything so puny as the marketplace.
I doubt the major publishers will be able to hold out for much longer. Already, indie ebooks regularly account for up to 20% of any given Top 100 Kindle Fiction List. How long before they lumber over to lower their prices is anyone’s guess. But, if they wait until the idies make up 50% of the market, they may just go the way of the dinosaur.
To the educated consumer this makes no sense at all. We know that paper and printing cost more than bits and bytes – not to mention the difference in delivery costs! But, major publishers can’t see that. Major publishers see all the time and energy they’ve put into editing the book. Major publishers have to put extra time into formatting an ebook. (Trust me, not all that much extra time.) Major publishers are dinosaurs that have ruled the earth for the past century and have no idea how to deal with the asteroid known as the Internet.
Anyone who has ever tried to get a book published knows what I’m talking about. Major publishers governed from their thrones, not even deigning to look at a manuscript if the margins were off by a hair. They alone decided what the world would read. If you ever went to a writers’ conference, you’d know the quality of the thousands of marvelous manuscripts that were denied publication each year. (To be fair, the cost of physically printing and marketing all those wonderful stories didn’t add up economically.)
Now, with the advent of Nooks, Kindles, ipads and more, the economic barrier to offering more books is gone. Small, indie publishers are proliferating. These small publishers are nimble. They don’t waste thousands of expensive employee hours on just deciding which books to publish. They can put out a quality ebook (or print-on-demand book) for a fraction of the cost of the huge, slow dinosaurs known as major publishers.
Indie publishers are delivering excellent ebooks for half the cost of the ebooks from major publishers. Major publishers could easily lower their ebook prices and still make a profit. But, they don’t want to. They don’t want you to buy ebooks instead of print books. If you did, they would lose their power. They have ruled this realm for so long, they still don’t feel obliged to be swayed by anything so puny as the marketplace.
I doubt the major publishers will be able to hold out for much longer. Already, indie ebooks regularly account for up to 20% of any given Top 100 Kindle Fiction List. How long before they lumber over to lower their prices is anyone’s guess. But, if they wait until the idies make up 50% of the market, they may just go the way of the dinosaur.
Knott The Screaming Type
I suppose this will be musings about writing, books and writing books...maybe even about booking writers. I suppose, since it is my blog, I'll also throw in whatever else I think you, dear reader, mig
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