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Ebook link roundup: pricing commentary
While I don't think we'll be seeing lower prices in the mainstream ebook market soon (because publishing is an industry that moves with the speed of snails on valium), we are seeing more talk about how the pricing is ... odd. Including, in some cases, from publishers.
Simon & Schuster reports increased profits thanks to digital sales: Simon & Schuster’s operating income before debt and amortisation (OIBDA) more than doubled to $7m. The publisher said it was driven by lower shipping, production and returns costs because of the increase in digital sales. So they've admitted that ebooks cost less to produce! Wow! And it's only taken them, oh, eight years or so to realize this fact, which the ebook-buying public figured out in approximately 2002.
Frasier Speirs has some lovely things to say On Ebook Pricing. He points out how he expects the pricing to break down:
He continues: So what happens if I feel I'm being ripped off for the ebook? Do I buy the paper version? No. I just move to the next item in my list of "books that sounded interesting". Maybe I'll come back to yours but that list contains, at current rates of consumption, about two years worth of reading. It'll be a while until I get back to you.
His post is related to Nik Fletcher's In Which I Make No Apologies for Calling Bullshit on Ridiculous eBook Pricing: I’m all for artists, movie producers, publishers, writers and other content creators being paid for their expertise. ... However, when you’re no longer smashing together some (entirely physical) pulp, pressing ink onto it, and shipping it some place, the idea that a premium should apply simply fails logic. The idea of paying substantially more for a digital copy of the exact same text can only be one set up by a publishing house who’ll next year announce stagnant eBook sales - most likely as a result of people looking to buy digital texts thinking “Screw this, I’ll buy the paperback cheap” or resorts to nefarious means.
Shatzkin points out that The subscription model for ebooks hasn’t emerged yet, but it will: The proposition to the consumer will be that for a price (let’s say: $50 a month), they can read all they want from the content pool. In turn, the retailer divides 70% of that money (or 75% or 80%) among the publishers in proportion to how many “pages” (a somewhat arbitrary but internally consistent measure) of their material have been read.
Which I think that yes, there is demand for, and as soon as someone works out the royalties logistics, it'll explode onto a dozen sites--but $50/month is way too much, unless you can *promise* me 24/7 reading material by authors I like. For $50/month, I can buy my own ebooks thankyouverymuch. But I'd be willing to pay $10/month for access to new-to-me & interesting books, even with the awareness that I won't care for most of them.
And one more, from the Copyfight blog, about the LimeWire P2P lawsuit which doesn't directly relate to ebooks (authors & publishers don't have an equivalent of the RIAA to go after filesharing sites), but contains a few quotes that are soon going to be just as relevant to ebooks as they are to music:
EbookAnoid has a couple of articles about The real value of an ebook, Part 1 and Part 2: ...value is set by scarcity and production costs with a margin for profit. But ebooks have no scarcity value, unless we consider each author to be so unique that no other author can be substituted. ... first edition, first printing, in fine condition of a print copy of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls is worth significantly more today than when it was first published ... Yet that same book, in ebook form, will never increase in value because there is nothing unique or scarce about the bytes that comprise the book.
This means the formulas publishers use to decide on book values are deeply flawed for ebooks (which those of us *paying* for ebooks had noticed, quite a while ago), and that as the tech gets simpler & more available, publishers are increasingly trying to compete with free content. Fortunately, Cory Doctorow has some thoughts about how In the digital era free is easy, so how do you persuade people to pay? They include:
Buy this or you'll get in trouble
...because it's the right thing to do
...because you're supporting something worthwhile
...because paying money will deliver high quality
...because it is convenient
...because your devices won't play the unauthorised version
...and you'll get more features than you would with the unauthorised version.
Of course, the ones publishers like most--"or you'll get in trouble" and "your device won't play the unauthorized version"--aren't incentives to buy; they're just incentives not to pirate. Setting a price that overcomes the nuisance value of those is the next step toward making actual sales.
Simon & Schuster reports increased profits thanks to digital sales: Simon & Schuster’s operating income before debt and amortisation (OIBDA) more than doubled to $7m. The publisher said it was driven by lower shipping, production and returns costs because of the increase in digital sales. So they've admitted that ebooks cost less to produce! Wow! And it's only taken them, oh, eight years or so to realize this fact, which the ebook-buying public figured out in approximately 2002.
Frasier Speirs has some lovely things to say On Ebook Pricing. He points out how he expects the pricing to break down:
He continues: So what happens if I feel I'm being ripped off for the ebook? Do I buy the paper version? No. I just move to the next item in my list of "books that sounded interesting". Maybe I'll come back to yours but that list contains, at current rates of consumption, about two years worth of reading. It'll be a while until I get back to you.
His post is related to Nik Fletcher's In Which I Make No Apologies for Calling Bullshit on Ridiculous eBook Pricing: I’m all for artists, movie producers, publishers, writers and other content creators being paid for their expertise. ... However, when you’re no longer smashing together some (entirely physical) pulp, pressing ink onto it, and shipping it some place, the idea that a premium should apply simply fails logic. The idea of paying substantially more for a digital copy of the exact same text can only be one set up by a publishing house who’ll next year announce stagnant eBook sales - most likely as a result of people looking to buy digital texts thinking “Screw this, I’ll buy the paperback cheap” or resorts to nefarious means.
Shatzkin points out that The subscription model for ebooks hasn’t emerged yet, but it will: The proposition to the consumer will be that for a price (let’s say: $50 a month), they can read all they want from the content pool. In turn, the retailer divides 70% of that money (or 75% or 80%) among the publishers in proportion to how many “pages” (a somewhat arbitrary but internally consistent measure) of their material have been read.
Which I think that yes, there is demand for, and as soon as someone works out the royalties logistics, it'll explode onto a dozen sites--but $50/month is way too much, unless you can *promise* me 24/7 reading material by authors I like. For $50/month, I can buy my own ebooks thankyouverymuch. But I'd be willing to pay $10/month for access to new-to-me & interesting books, even with the awareness that I won't care for most of them.
And one more, from the Copyfight blog, about the LimeWire P2P lawsuit which doesn't directly relate to ebooks (authors & publishers don't have an equivalent of the RIAA to go after filesharing sites), but contains a few quotes that are soon going to be just as relevant to ebooks as they are to music:
- "[W]e inadvertently went to war with consumers ... [and] consumers won," - Warner Music head Edgar Bronfman, Jr.
- "We can [compete with free]. We have to. It's just that we have to be creative and add value." - Universal Music CEO Zach Horowitz
- "Burning and ripping are becoming a greater threat than P2P." - RIAA chairman Mitch Bainwol
EbookAnoid has a couple of articles about The real value of an ebook, Part 1 and Part 2: ...value is set by scarcity and production costs with a margin for profit. But ebooks have no scarcity value, unless we consider each author to be so unique that no other author can be substituted. ... first edition, first printing, in fine condition of a print copy of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls is worth significantly more today than when it was first published ... Yet that same book, in ebook form, will never increase in value because there is nothing unique or scarce about the bytes that comprise the book.
This means the formulas publishers use to decide on book values are deeply flawed for ebooks (which those of us *paying* for ebooks had noticed, quite a while ago), and that as the tech gets simpler & more available, publishers are increasingly trying to compete with free content. Fortunately, Cory Doctorow has some thoughts about how In the digital era free is easy, so how do you persuade people to pay? They include:
Buy this or you'll get in trouble
...because it's the right thing to do
...because you're supporting something worthwhile
...because paying money will deliver high quality
...because it is convenient
...because your devices won't play the unauthorised version
...and you'll get more features than you would with the unauthorised version.
Of course, the ones publishers like most--"or you'll get in trouble" and "your device won't play the unauthorized version"--aren't incentives to buy; they're just incentives not to pirate. Setting a price that overcomes the nuisance value of those is the next step toward making actual sales.
no subject
I was pleased to see that some of the smaller publishers are, such as Angry Robot. You can download any of their books for a reasonable price (about $7USD), and they have no DRM on it. I saw this in the FAQ's and it made me smile:
Yes, of course we are. We'd much rather people bought our books so we can continue to pay our authors, and continue to invest in new authors - we just believe that the best way to counter piracy is to offer our titles in the right format, at the right price, rather than impose restrictions.
I know some people think books should be even cheaper, but I like that I can get a book that cheap, and OWN it. I can transfer it to my Kindle without stripping off the DRM, and I can back it up on my computer or Dropbox without any issues. I also like the fact that these guys are willing to trust the consumer. Face it - people will always pirate, but if you make it easy for me to buy your books, I will, because I want the author to be able to write more books. :D
no subject
DRM is doomed, in the long run. In the short term, stripping DRM is very easy and I do it routinely for every ebook I buy.
no subject
And some are insisting the next big thing in DRM will be the cloud--everything only readable online through their software. Which, um, will last until someone figures out an automated way to screencap & OCR the pages, at the longest; if text is copy-pastable, or printable, that'll make it even faster.
DRM may have a future in some industries, where the DRM is managed by hardware dongles or proprietary devices. But books & music aren't going to work that way; there's way too much interest in portability.
no subject
Which I think that yes, there is demand for, and as soon as someone works out the royalties logistics, it'll explode onto a dozen sites--but $50/month is way too much, unless you can *promise* me 24/7 reading material by authors I like. For $50/month, I can buy my own ebooks thankyouverymuch. But I'd be willing to pay $10/month for access to new-to-me & interesting books, even with the awareness that I won't care for most of them.
Shatzkin in way behind the times. Baen Webscriptions has been offering a $15/month 5 - 7 SF book download subscription service for several years. It's DRM free, multiple formats, and ok to loan just not sell. You don't have to buy every month, either, just the ones you want. Plus they have the Baen Free Library and they offer free webscriptions for disabled readers who are often on fixed incomes and have accessibility issues.
They aren't going broke on ebook sales.
no subject
It came up at MR recently "howcome you people always mention Baen when the DRM debates come up? If it's working so well for them, wouldn't other publishers be doing it?" And we keep saying, they are--you've just never heard of those publishers, because ebook-only houses don't get mainstream attention. Feh.
Baen's said that their ebook sales are higher than all their non-US paper sales combined.
no subject
At my peak, I read about two books a day - that's about 60 per month, max. I paid about $0.50 - $1.00 per book, used. Call it $40/month, and I tended to re-read, and loan them out to roomies, so some books made the rounds.
Several years ago, I was on some publishing list, and mentioned Baen, and why DRM was ultimately a losing proposition. O'Reilly (tech publisher) at the time was doing only DRM and the monthly Safari subscription thing, and I believe I said it wouldn't work well. I got told I didn't know what I was talking about, and that Baen/SF&F was a niche market (like tech books weren't?) with cheaper costs and less author royalties, etc. IIRC, it was well before Jim Baen died, and I told the guy (a publisher) to talk to Jim Baen himself.
O'Reilly is still doing the subscription thing, along with multiple other publishers who aren't willing to give up their precious DRM, but not pushing it. But the O'Reilly sold outright (rather than rented) e-books are DRM free, and available in multiple formats. They seem to be doing well.
The "niche" markets will adapt first, IMO. They always have.
no subject
Romance is the niche that should be succeeding (and hey, lookit that... over 50 romance/erotica publishers selling DRM-free ebooks and supporting lots of authors...). Anything remotely connected to science fiction should face *extra* problems online. The general public doesn't know how to torrent, barely knows how to send email attachments, can't operate an FTP site, and is terrified of viruses. SF geeks can evade all of those problems (and they have, and there are huuuuuge torrents of SF books), and yet, Baen is still making money selling cheap, unsecure, easy-to-copy ebooks. With notes, even, that say "yes, PLEASE share with your friends."
I can't see the $50/month ebook subscription working unless it comes with a large set of bonus features. The Baen model is much better. I could see some support for "$25 for five books of your choice out of the pool of 100 every month--and after your first few, we try to tailor the pool to your interests."
But, sigh, that involves publishers acknowledging that $5 can be a reasonable ebook cost. They can't sell them that low--they'd go bankrupt, you know.
no subject
Teeheee...
They'll go bankrupt if they don't, IMO.
Yeah, some folks will always want dead trees - I grab my favorites in dead tree and ebook (Baen often makes it easy, by sticking CDs in their hardback books) - but casual reading will move to ebook.
Romance is a big one for that, most of those are only read once. Mysteries and serial action/adventure (Mack Bolan the Executioner? Matt Reynolds?) are also prime candidates for this. They are often written to a formula, and fairly short.
no subject
Ahahaha! Right. I'm pretty sure if Netflix were charging $50 a month, their subscriber base would be fairly low compared to the massive list it is now. And given how much it costs to produce TV episodes or movies compared to books, I find that pricing idea totally out of whack.
I do like the concept, and for heavy readers it would make sense, but I'd say the pricing would have to fall to around $20 for many readers to bite. It has to cost less than what most people would spend per month on reading, and I'm fairly sure most people are not spending $50 or more a month on books unless they're reading a new book every other day.
Totally agree with your last line, too. The $1 impulse buy would support a boatload of authors.