eBook prices getting stupid

[JWolf]

Why is it some Star Trek eBook prices are getting stupid?

Reap the Whirlwind $15.29.
The Eugenics Wars, Vol. 1 $18.02
Rosetta $13.66
Missing in Action $12.54
Burning Dreams $12.56
Seeds of Rage $10.92
Demands of Honor $10.92
Dominion and Ferenginar $12.02
Unspoken truth $13.66
A Fury Scorned $10.37

These are prices from BooksOnBoard who has the lowest prices. You'll find all of these even higher at Amazon. Who (at S&S) actually thinks these prices are reasonable. And these are not all the stupid prices, just some.

 

[zarkon]

look forward to it getting even worse as the physical book market winds down.

 

[Relayer1]

And then they act surprised when people opt for bootleg copies...

 

[Defcon]

Good thing agency pricing is gone, eh?

 

[JoeZhang]

It is because those are rare editions - hard to duplicate the electrons.

 

[ATimson]

It looks to me like these are all titles whose mass-market edition is out-of-print, and S&S is tying the ebook price to their print-on-demand edition instead.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

Yet another reason why I almost always stick to public libraries these days...

 

[tomswift2002]

"A Fury Scorned" commanding more than $10? I'm pretty sure that I could find a copy at a used book store for $2-$5. (Not to mention that the book originally came out 17 years ago.)

 

[Skellington]

If I had to guess, I'd say that Trek books appeal to an increasingly select market and the sellers have to increase the price in order to make their money back, knowing that Trek fans will pay the extra, however reluctantly.

It is because those are rare editions - hard to duplicate the electrons.

+1. It's the overheads.

 

[JWolf]

If I had to guess, I'd say that Trek books appeal to an increasingly select market and the sellers have to increase the price in order to make their money back, knowing that Trek fans will pay the extra, however reluctantly.

It is because those are rare editions - hard to duplicate the electrons.

+1. It's the overheads.

It's nothing to do with overhead. It's what ATimson said.

It looks to me like these are all titles whose mass-market edition is out-of-print, and S&S is tying the ebook price to their print-on-demand edition instead.

The thing is, all this is going to do is drive away customers. People aren't going to pay that much for eBooks that old. And yes, they might turn to the dark side to find them. The people in charge at S&S who decided to tie the eBook prices t the print-on-demand prices should be fired. This is going to hurt the Trek line big time for people who are newish to Trek books. They'll see these stupid prices and not bother.

 

[zarkon]

If I had to guess, I'd say that Trek books appeal to an increasingly select market and the sellers have to increase the price in order to make their money back, knowing that Trek fans will pay the extra, however reluctantly.

It is because those are rare editions - hard to duplicate the electrons.

+1. It's the overheads.

He was being sarcastic

 

[Skellington]

^ Facetious - as was I.

 

[JWolf]

When a new Trek book is released, buy it then (be it eBook or pBook), don't wait because once it's out-of-print, the price is going to rise significantly now that S&S knows how to legally raise the price.

 

[zarkon]

^ Facetious - as was I.

oo er

 

[JD]

I don't mind paying a little more for e-books, but damn those are starting to push it even for me.

I was looking around at Trek e-books for the Nook, and there are other older books that are only $5.99US. Then some other older books are $8.99US. I haven't been able to figure out if there is a system to it, or it is completely random.

 

[BillJ]

When a new Trek book is released, buy it then (be it eBook or pBook), don't wait because once it's out-of-print, the price is going to rise significantly now that S&S knows how to legally raise the price.

Some people I imagine weren't fans when the books were originally released. All insane prices do is make people acquire the books by other means.

 

[MarciaCat]

I noticed those odd e-book prices cropping up the last couple weeks or so; makes me glad I still have all my old Trek paperbacks dating back to the early 1970's, I'd hate to have to pay those prices!

 

[ATimson]

"A Fury Scorned" commanding more than $10? I'm pretty sure that I could find a copy at a used book store for $2-$5. (Not to mention that the book originally came out 17 years ago.)

If used prices drove ebook sale prices, they'd all cost only a penny...

 

[TJ Sinclair]

"A Fury Scorned" commanding more than $10? I'm pretty sure that I could find a copy at a used book store for $2-$5. (Not to mention that the book originally came out 17 years ago.)

If used prices drove ebook sale prices, they'd all cost only a penny...

I don't think anybody's saying that, but paying twice the cost of the book when it was new -- or more in some cases -- for a digital copy is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Deano2099]

Some of those are plain stupid from even a greedy money-grubbing perspective too. Reap The Whirlwind and the Worlds of DS9 books are both middle books in a series. RtW is especially a problem as it's book three, and the entire Vanguard series makes little sense without it.

You limit the availability of them by charging silly prices and you risk putting people off the entire series. For the sake of getting twice the money for one book, you risk putting someone off buying the next five books in the series. So if the price puts (I think) one in six people off buying it, you've then wiped out any benefit from selling at a higher price.