E-Book Pricing Alerts

[JD]

For a while now the prices for e-books have fluctuated quite a bit , so I thought it might be nice to keep track of some of the price changes. The average regular price for most of the books is $9.99 - $6.99 so we'll be recording anything more or less than those. I'm using the prices on the Google Play Books store, but most of the prices usually seem to cross to the other e-book stores too.

TOS
The Starship Trap $5.99
The Weight of Worlds $3.99
New Earth #2: Belle Terre $5.99
Shadows on the Sun $2.99
Invasion #1: First Strike $5.99
Doctor's Orders $5.99
The Final Reflection $4.99
The Lost Years $2.99
Rihannsu: The Empty Chair $3.99
The Wounded Sky $4.54
New Earth #5: Thin Air $6.50
Unspoken Truth $4.99
Crisis on Centaurus $5.99
In The Name of Honor $5.99
The Three Minute Universe $5.99
A Flag Full of Stars $5.99
A Choice of Catastrophes $3.99
Rihannsu: Honor Blade $5.99
The Feaful Summons $5.99
Errand of Vengeance Book Two: Killing Blow $5.99
My Brother's Keeper Book One: Republic $6.50
My Brother's Keeper Book Two: Constitution $6.50
Mind Meld: $4.99
The Captain's Table Book One: War Dragons $6.50
The Starship Trap: $5.99
The Joy Machine $5.99

TNG
Rogue $5.99
Planet X $14.99
A Time To (#7) Kill $5.99
Reunion $14.99
365 $16.99 (regular price #29.95)
The Romulan Prize $5.99
Perchance to Dream $5.99
A TIme To (#5)Sow $5.99
The Best and The Brightest $5.99
Tooth and Claw $5.99
Intellivore $5.99
Double Helix Book Six $5.99
To Storm Heaven $5.99
The Death of Princes $5.99
Double Helix Book Four: Quarantine $5.99

DS9
The Left Hand of Destiny Book One $5.99
Gateways #4: Demons of Air and Darkness $5.99
Warpath $4.99
Warchild $5.99
Twist of Faith (Avatar Book One and Book Two, Abyss, Demons of Air and Darkness, Horn and Ivory) $4.99
The Seige $5.50
Objective: Bajor $5.99
DS9 YA series #10: Space Camp $4.99
Invasion #3: Time's Enemy $5.99
The Long Night $5.99
Vengeance $6.50
Proud Helios $5.99
The Heart of the Warrior $5.99
Station Rage $5.99
The Search novelization $5.50
Rebels #1: The Conquered $5.99
Warped $5.99

VOY
Distant Shores $4.99

VAN
Reap the Whirlwind $15.99

TTN
Fallen Gods $15.99

NF
#1-#4 omnibus $5.99
Book Five: Martyr $6.50
#7: The Quiet Place $5.00
Excalibur Book Two: Renaissance $5.99
Excalibur Book Three: Restoration $5.99
Blind Man's Bluff $3.99
Treason $3.99
SCE
Some Assembly Required omnibus $5.99
Have Tech, Will Travel omnibus $15.99
Aftermath omnibus $5.99

TLE
Well of Souls $5.99
MULTI
The Art of Star Trek $5.99
Badlands Book Two $5.99
Star Trek Cookbook $5.99
Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism $4.99
The Klingon Dictionary $5.99
Strange New Worlds 2016 $5.99

 

[Smitty]

This:
Reap the Whirlwind $15.99
Fallen Gods $15.99

Is shameful.....

 

[JD]

Yeah, those are crazy. I think some of those really expensive ones are because the prices are based off of the bigger POD versions.

 

[The Ghoul Next Door]

These seem to all be US specific.

shameful.....

Shameful, you say? Try these wonderful Canadian prices:

Death in Winter: $18.99
A Choice of Catastrophes: $18.99
Unspoken Truth: $19.99
Sword of Damocles: $19.99
Orion's Hounds: $19.99
A Singular Destiny: $19.99
Rough Beasts of Empire: $19.99
Mere Mortals: $19.99
Lost Souls: $29.99 (No, not a typo.)
Watching the Clock: $29.99

That's just a sampling. I could easily go on.

I had thought that one of the big benefits of eBooks would be that you never had to worry about something going out of print. Turns out the publishing companies just used the physical version going out of print as an excuse to gouge you for the digital version.

 

[Smitty]

Avro Arrow - Just wow! I feel for you, sorry that is happening. I have to think that such pricing hurts their sales and maybe they do not care. Taking advantage of readers such as this is one of the reasons unsavory things happen with DRM. Of course there are those who refuse to pay anything which is equally terrible.
My solution would be to buy used versions of the book which denies the publisher (and author unfortunately) of any revenue. This is exactly what I was doing for a period when Apple played their unlawful game which resulted in e-book prices here is the USA to jump higher even for much older titles. I love ebooks but not that much.

 

[JD]

These seem to all be US specific.



Shameful, you say? Try these wonderful Canadian prices:

Death in Winter: $18.99
A Choice of Catastrophes: $18.99
Unspoken Truth: $19.99
Sword of Damocles: $19.99
Orion's Hounds: $19.99
A Singular Destiny: $19.99
Rough Beasts of Empire: $19.99
Mere Mortals: $19.99
Lost Souls: $29.99 (No, not a typo.)
Watching the Clock: $29.99

That's just a sampling. I could easily go on.

I had thought that one of the big benefits of eBooks would be that you never had to worry about something going out of print. Turns out the publishing companies just used the physical version going out of print as an excuse to gouge you for the digital version.

What the shit, those are unbelievable. I can see the $8.99 or even $9.99 prices for older out of print books, I don't mind paying 2 or 3 dollars for the convenience of getting older out of print books as e-books, but $29.99 for a paperback is fucking ridiculous. I know you pay a little more in Canadian, but I'm pretty sure it's not that much more.

 

[DimesDan]

These seem to all be US specific.



Shameful, you say? Try these wonderful Canadian prices:

Death in Winter: $18.99
A Choice of Catastrophes: $18.99
Unspoken Truth: $19.99
Sword of Damocles: $19.99
Orion's Hounds: $19.99
A Singular Destiny: $19.99
Rough Beasts of Empire: $19.99
Mere Mortals: $19.99
Lost Souls: $29.99 (No, not a typo.)
Watching the Clock: $29.99

That's just a sampling. I could easily go on.

I had thought that one of the big benefits of eBooks would be that you never had to worry about something going out of print. Turns out the publishing companies just used the physical version going out of print as an excuse to gouge you for the digital version.

I've just checked Sword of Damocles and Watching the Clock on Amazon.co.uk (Ireland doesn't have it's own Amazon which is a bit of a pain) and the pricings are a lot more reasonable; £3.99 and £4.99 respectively.

 

[The Ghoul Next Door]

Thanks, Smitty and JD.

I know you pay a little more in Canadian, but I'm pretty sure it's not that much more.

You're correct. To put it in context, the current Canadian list price for a new-release MMPB is $10.99, and the new-release price for the corresponding eBook is $8.99.

To be fair, not every older Star Trek eBook is priced that high... but a lot of them are. But there are a fair number in the $7.99 - $9.99 range, too.

Some others of the more expensive ones I came across just now:

The Rings of Time: $21.99
Plagues of Night: $22.99
Indistinguishable from Magic: $29.99
Reap the Whirlwind: $29.99

Of the non-eBook exclusive Vanguard entries, only two appear to be lower than $18.99. (Both What Judgments Come and Storming Heaven are $8.99.)

 

[JoeP]

I have to believe that this is all an oversight. That whatever algorithm/formula/what-have-you that sets the ebook price in relation to the paperback price just wasn't updated when the print on demand option became available (assuming that's a newish offering). It would be extremely disappointing if Pocket is intentionally trying to sell them at these prices.

As I get older my eyes just aren't what they used to be and a couple of years back I got a Kindle for new Trek releases and to buy older ones as I re-read through the various series. Being able to adjust the font size has been a real plus. I'm nearly up to the point in the DS9 relaunch where these prices kick in (Worlds of DS9 #3), and I was also looking to re-read Vanguard and Titan which are nearly exclusively in these kinds of price ranges. It's just really disheartening.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I have to believe that this is all an oversight. That whatever algorithm/formula/what-have-you that sets the ebook price in relation to the paperback price just wasn't updated when the print on demand option became available (assuming that's a newish offering). It would be extremely disappointing if Pocket is intentionally trying to sell them at these prices.

If it's an oversight, it's one that S&S has done little, if anything, to rectify in the last five or six years.

 

[JoeP]

I hadn't realized it's been like this for that long.

 

[Riverside2233]

This:
Reap the Whirlwind $15.99
Fallen Gods $15.99

Is shameful.....

I'm reading the VAN series for the first time and I noticed that on Reap and could not believe it! I can maybe understand new releases but not books that have been out for years. I've been ordering used books if the ebook prices are too ridiculous.

 

[JWolf]

Is there anyone who can contact someone at S&S and let them know that some eBook prices are out of control?

 

[JD]

Do we know they aren't already aware of it, and just don't care?

 

[DimesDan]

Is there anyone who can contact someone at S&S and let them know that some eBook prices are out of control?

You could I guess.

 

[Cicero]

It looks like some prices have updated again.

$0.99
TOS
Shadows on the Sun

$1.99
New Frontier
Treason
Blind Man's Bluff

$2.99
From Sawdust to Stardust (DeForest Kelley Biography)

TOS
Mind Meld
Rihannsu: The Empty Chair
Unspoken Truth
A Choice of Catastrophes
The Weight of Worlds

DS9
Twist of Faith (Omnibus)
Warpath

VOY
Distant Shores

Myriad Universes
Infinity's Prism

 

[Thrawn]

Well, if anyone has been waiting to buy the first few DS9 Relaunch novels, Twist of Faith for $2.99 is crazy awesome.

 

[JD]

Just out of curiosity I checked the prices for the individual books (not including Horn and Ivory) and the two Avatars are $8.99 each, and Demons of Air and Darkness is $5.99. So Twist of Faith is almost literally 1/10th the price of the individual books.

 

[TheAlmanac]

Unlike some other past price promotions, these are available on the American Kobo site but not the Canadian one. :/

 

[historypeats]

A couple extra bits:
* The Lost Years - $2.99
* The More Things Change - $0.99
* Unspoken Truth, A Choice of Catastrophes, and Infinity's Prism have each been reduced further to $1.99
* The SCE collection Aftermath goes for $2.99
* The Wounded Sky is selling for an oddly-specific $3.54