eBook prices getting stupid
- Thread starter JWolf
- Start date
We are talking about an agency publisher here. Should and will may be too entirely different things to S&S. The problem is that the pBooks S&S deem worthy of print-on-demand get a stupid price. So somebody decides, let's apply the print-on-demand price to the eBooks as well. Time for another round of layoffs at the pricing department.
Personally, I won't pay such prices. I'm not giving S&S a thumbs up on those prices. I'd rather find it on the net then pay.
For books originally released in the early 80s for a cover price of $2-4, I don't think it's unfair to charge the "current" price for a mass-market book, even if it's twice or more the original price, for an ebook release.
But I certainly agree that it's absolutely ridiculous if it's twice (or even more than once) the cost of a new release.
Plus, if I remember correctly, A Fury Scorned was released as an ebook over 10 years ago (according to Amazon the ebook was released on September 22, 2000). I stand by what I said back in the fall about understanding how Simon & Schuster could be charging the equal amount for the book in its digital form as in its printed form when it's a new book. But I find it hard to believe that the digital version (which Amazon says has a list price of $18.99, but it's Kindle price is $11.76, and apparently you Save $7.23 (38%), with the trade paperback reprint currently being listed for the same, but reduced to $14.81) which is a 13-year-old file, could be upped by possible $10 dollars, no matter how Simon & Schuster crunches the numbers. $5 maybe, but $10 quite frankly seems ridiculous.
I've been giving some serious thought to purchasing an E-Reader Device of late.
Since Trek Lit continues to be a big part of my regular book purchases, I've debated switching over to E-books only once I do.
This pricing model/trend is making me rethink where I was heading.
I still think $8 bucks a pop is high, but I enjoy the quality stories and like adding to my collection of Trek Books.
Not sure I could justify the costs of getting an E-Reader and then paying 10-18 bucks for each book...
E-Books should be making it easier to purchase older and out of print titles, not more frustrating.
Since Trek Lit continues to be a big part of my regular book purchases, I've debated switching over to E-books only once I do.
This pricing model/trend is making me rethink where I was heading.
I still think $8 bucks a pop is high, but I enjoy the quality stories and like adding to my collection of Trek Books.
Not sure I could justify the costs of getting an E-Reader and then paying 10-18 bucks for each book...
E-Books should be making it easier to purchase older and out of print titles, not more frustrating.
Is it to late to go back?
Wouldn't make a difference, I think. The retailers still have to base their prices on what the publisher demands if they want to make a profit, as the publisher gets 70% of the digital listing price no matter what, as I've learned recently. And S&S seems to think it's a good idea to base the prices on over-priced TPB reprints.
My comment was more of a sarcastic little snipe at somepeople here who always made it look as if we would get eBooks almost for free once the evil agency pricing is gone.
Ebook prices really ARE stupid. Especially since you don't even get a book, you just get a license to read it. Which is why, even though I have an e-reader, I still buy the Trek books on paper and read them that way. (I only buy DRM-Free ebooks) Sure, I could crack the DRM but that is illegal in my country and I shouldn't have to do illegal things to buy a book.
If people start downloading these books for free, the publisher has no one to blame but their own greedy selves. More than $20 for an ebook that's been out for over a decade? Screw that. I won't pay. There is no justification in the world for those kinds of prices.
And more than 20 for Reap the Whirlwind? Are you kidding me? If I didn't already have it, I sure wouldn't have bought it.
And more than 20 for Reap the Whirlwind? Are you kidding me? If I didn't already have it, I sure wouldn't have bought it.
All of the new releases are the same price as the paperbacks, so as long as you stay away from the old books you won't be paying any more.
EDIT: I was just looking at Trek e-books, and they actually have the first two Cold Equations books for only $5.99 and the third for $7.59. It seems weird to me that they would be marking the newest books down like that, while they mark the older books way up. I would think it would be the other way around.
Don't worry Defcon, unlike your avatar I do understand sarcasm. I should have had this guy at the end of my comment
If S&S does not do something about the prices, it's going to effect the entire Star Trek line as people are going to stop reading when they come up to the eBooks that are prices out of the realm of reality.
Vanguard is being priced out of reality. So when they find out that some of the stories do use elements of Vagnuard which they have not read in full or at all due to unrealistic pricing, they won't read the 24th century Trek eBooks.
I feel the Entire Trek line is in trouble with some eBook prices so far out of the realm of reality.
Vanguard is being priced out of reality. So when they find out that some of the stories do use elements of Vagnuard which they have not read in full or at all due to unrealistic pricing, they won't read the 24th century Trek eBooks.
I feel the Entire Trek line is in trouble with some eBook prices so far out of the realm of reality.
I don't think a few e books with out-of-whack pricing is going to threaten the line. People will simply hunt down the books used if they feel the e book is too expensive.
Or, more realistically, they'll do a quick google search and download it for free, while probably saying something like "fuck you, S&S!" The publisher setting stupid prices like that is hurting themselves, and the authors.
You know, I just thought that I'd check Kobo (used to be owned by Canadian bookstore chain Chapters-Indigo, and is now on its own)---and Kobo currently has A Fury Scorned for just $7.99!
And I did a comparison on Chapters.ca (the online division of Chapters-Indigo that still lists books on Kobo, since Kobo is still their official ebook partner) and chapters.ca is showing that for the TP here in Canada it is currently $21.99 (SRP)/$16.71 current sale price, while the ebook version is $7.99 and the current Mass Market list price (even though the book is no longer available in MMP form) is $7.99. Check it out http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/home/search/?keywords=A%20Fury%20Scorned&pageSize=12
Another book I checked (just off the top of my head) is Voyager Spirit Walk book 2, and the Mass Market price is currently at $10.99, while the Kobo e-book edition is $9.99.
TNG #29 Sins of Commission by Susan Wright currently has the TP at $21.99 (with a reorder next to it), the MMP is at $6.99 and the ebook is at $9.99.
It seems like for those of us here in Canada with Kobo are getting the better deal.
And I did a comparison on Chapters.ca (the online division of Chapters-Indigo that still lists books on Kobo, since Kobo is still their official ebook partner) and chapters.ca is showing that for the TP here in Canada it is currently $21.99 (SRP)/$16.71 current sale price, while the ebook version is $7.99 and the current Mass Market list price (even though the book is no longer available in MMP form) is $7.99. Check it out http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/home/search/?keywords=A%20Fury%20Scorned&pageSize=12
Another book I checked (just off the top of my head) is Voyager Spirit Walk book 2, and the Mass Market price is currently at $10.99, while the Kobo e-book edition is $9.99.
TNG #29 Sins of Commission by Susan Wright currently has the TP at $21.99 (with a reorder next to it), the MMP is at $6.99 and the ebook is at $9.99.
It seems like for those of us here in Canada with Kobo are getting the better deal.