Why do e-books cost so much?

[Sakrysta]

Can someone explain it to me? Why does an electronic file cost the same as (or maybe $1 less than) the physically printed book? Once in a while I get curious and think maybe I'll go download a book for my phone to keep me occupied when I forget to bring one with me. But then I look up books I'm interested in, and they cost practically the same as they would from the bookstore. What gives?

 

[exodus]

Publishers and all of us that work for them still need to get paid.

 

[cultcross]

On Amazon UK e-books usually cost considerably less than the printed copies, but granted that is because Amazon themselves put discount on the RRP. The scale is also screwed up here because thanks to a quirk of law e-books are subject to VAT while print books are not.
But to answer your question, because the author, the publisher, the editors, the type setters, the advertisers, and everyone else involved in producing the book is still involved in producing an e-book. The only cost saved is the physical production of the book itself and the transport/storage of that physical object.

 

[Kirby]

E-books are great for very old books, which are typically free, or new releases where the e-book is $9.99 and the hardback is $20.00 or so. The problem is when books are a few years old and Amazon or whoever is trying to get rid of their physical copies so they deeply discount them, but the e-copy is still at the higher price. A while back I was going to download a book to my Kindle for $9.99 and noticed that they had a paperback for only $5.99 so I just ordered that.

I'd love to see a sliding scale of prices for e-books, but I doubt we'll ever see that. I'd also be curious to see if someone ever comes up with a way to 'rent' e-books for a $1 or so and then after a month they disappear from your device.

 

[Christopher]

But to answer your question, because the author, the publisher, the editors, the type setters, the advertisers, and everyone else involved in producing the book is still involved in producing an e-book. The only cost saved is the physical production of the book itself and the transport/storage of that physical object.

Exactly. You're not paying for "an electronic file." You're paying for the work of the people who invested their time and effort in the creation and distribution of the book. The file, like the paper book, is merely the delivery mechanism. Whether you get the book in paper or electronic form, the process of creating the book is the same up until the actual point of printing.

 

[J.T.B.]

Publishers and all of us that work for them still need to get paid.

Of course, but that does not address the question. Maintaining the same profit margin on an e-book should still result in a lower retail price. Should trade paperbacks have the same cover price as hardbound? Of course not. And so with the e-book. But at the present, many e-book consumers are locked into a limited number of formats and distribution channels and are not able to shop for competitive prices. I am hoping this will change soon.

--Justin

 

[cultcross]

Of course, but that does not address the question. Maintaining the same profit margin on an e-book should still result in a lower retail price.

Which it does, 95% of the time. Currently, 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', which I picked at random from Amaon's front page, is priced at £9.99 (hardback), £2.98 (paperback) and £2.68 (Kindle). So, the Kindle edition is 10% cheaper than the paperback. That is to say, almsot exactly the amount of a book sale that goes to physical production/distribution costs.

 

[Lindley]

I'd also be curious to see if someone ever comes up with a way to 'rent' e-books for a $1 or so and then after a month they disappear from your device.

Guess what I noticed on the iTunes Music Store the other day? Two buttons: $.99 Buy $.39 Rent

 

[exodus]

Publishers and all of us that work for them still need to get paid.

Of course, but that does not address the question. Maintaining the same profit margin on an e-book should still result in a lower retail price. Should trade paperbacks have the same cover price as hardbound? Of course not. And so with the e-book. But at the present, many e-book consumers are locked into a limited number of formats and distribution channels and are not able to shop for competitive prices. I am hoping this will change soon.

--Justin

Then what is your answer to the question?
I'm basing mine off of my understanding from being an accountant for the second largest publisher in the world. I'm sure once the data becomes easier to transfer into e-format, the prices will drop but that will also cause what I'm seeing now in the industry, which is massive lay offs.

 

[Professor Zoom]

I'd also be curious to see if someone ever comes up with a way to 'rent' e-books for a $1 or so and then after a month they disappear from your device.

Guess what I noticed on the iTunes Music Store the other day? Two buttons: $.99 Buy $.39 Rent

And I know I can "check out" e-books from the library as well.

I haven't yet bought an e-book. A TON of out of copyright and plenty in the library.

 

[cultcross]

My reader will be obsolete by the time I've got through even the public domain stuff I've already downloaded. I can't say the cost of e-books will be breaking the bank anytime soon

 

[Sakrysta]

I do understand that "the writers/editors/publishers/etc." need to get paid. I hope you guys know I'm not that ignorant. But once an e-book is produced, it's done, and I don't see why an e-book shouldn't be at least a couple dollars less than the printed book. I DO see that some new releases are cheaper in e-format, but I'm not interested in buying the $9.99 "discounted" version of a $24.99 book. Both are overpriced as far as I'm concerned.

I mean, seriously, I would love to jump on the e-reader bandwagon. I enjoy reading books on my phone. But I am not paying $7.99 for the e-version of Typhon Pact when I can go to the store and pay the same and actually have the physical book instead of just bits and bytes that may or may not be readable in ten years when the technology evolves.

 

[cultcross]

I'm not interested in buying the $9.99 "discounted" version of a $24.99 book. Both are overpriced as far as I'm concerned.

If you think ten dollars for a brand new book is 'overpriced', I think we've hit the crux of the problem. You are undervaluing books as commodities across the board, not just e-books. The realities of what goes in to creating a book, coupled with the right of those who wrote and published it to be paid for their efforts, mean that books are not and will never be just worth their weight in paper. If you can't make a living wage from writing or publishing, you're going to have a much narrower selection to choose from.

 

[exodus]

I'm not interested in buying the $9.99 "discounted" version of a $24.99 book. Both are overpriced as far as I'm concerned.

If you think ten dollars for a brand new book is 'overpriced', I think we've hit the crux of the problem. You are undervaluing books as commodities across the board, not just e-books. The realities of what goes in to creating a book, coupled with the right of those who wrote and published it to be paid for their efforts, mean that books are not and will never be just worth their weight in paper. If you can't make a living wage from writing or publishing, you're going to have a much narrower selection to choose from.

Exactly.

 

[cultcross]

And frankly, cheap-as-chips books hurt the entire literary industry, because it means that upstart authors who won't sell a billion copies to make the money back from the low prices don't have a chance. Their work is not only by someone unknown, but twice the price of Being Jordan.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Last time this came up I did some research and found out the physical costs of getting a book to a bookstore (printing, binding, packing, delivery, etc.) per-unit are really low--less than a dollar in some cases.

Everything else still needs to happen: author advances, royalties, editing, typesetting, marketing, etc. Whether or not a book is being distributed in a physical format is immaterial (heh) to those activities. So, prices for ebooks may be a little lower but don't expect steep (20%+) discounts on them as a matter of course.

 

[Kaziarl]

I think what Sakrysta is saying, if I am understanding correctly, is that she doesn't see why there isn't a larger difference.

As an amateur writer who hope to get published one day, I fully understand everyone wants to get paid. But with an E-Book, you don't actually have to print the book. And as far as I know (which I admit probably isn't very far at all) the actual printing of the book on paper is a large chunk of the cost that isn't there with an electronic copy.

EDIT: And I see others have already replied before me saying otherwise, so never mind

 

[Sakrysta]

Clearly, there's a market for books at those prices. I'm not a member of that market. I'm a member of the used bookstore / thrift store market, where they almost can't GIVE away hardbacks. Guess I'll just stick with that method for the most part. I almost never pay full price for a book anymore. Borders sends out coupons for 33-40% off one item, so if there's something new I REALLY want, I use one of those to get the price down to reasonable. If e-book prices were lower, I would buy them. Clearly I'm in the minority here on the board, but I expect there are a lot of average consumers out there who look at the expense of a 200- or 300-dollar e-reader that then requires $8 a pop for any new MMPBs, and more for hardbacks, who say forget it, I'll wait another decade for the tech to catch up to my budget.

 

[Holdfast]

The per-item profit margin may be higher on an e-book compared to a paper book, as printing costs are eliminated, but printing is not that expensive when done on a mass-market scale so the extra margin won't be so massive as to afford major discounting.

More importantly most buyers of e-books are likely to be keen readers and buyers of books generally, rather than newcomers to book-buying. In that case, you certainly wouldn't want to cannabalise your hardcopy sales in favour of e-sales unless the profit margin was actually a LOT higher.

I doubt that at this stage of the e-reader market, that many extra copies of books in total are sold due to electronic distribution; for every book that sells electronically, you probably lose around one hardcopy sale. Until e-sales ADD to overall sales in a major way, there's no sense in reducing the cost of e-books to massively undercut hardcopy sales. The elasticity curve is probably quite flat in terms of total turnover at the moment.

Once the e-distribution method becomes the norm, the economics will change in favour of undercutting hardcopy sales. This is actually very similar to the record industry's stance with digital music. Until the digital format became widespread through iPods and other portable digital players, there was no incentive for the record companies to work to create legitimate digital sales at a lower price than CDs were.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Clearly, there's a market for books at those prices. I'm not a member of that market. I'm a member of the used bookstore / thrift store market, where they almost can't GIVE away hardbacks. Guess I'll just stick with that method for the most part. I almost never pay full price for a book anymore. Borders sends out coupons for 33-40% off one item, so if there's something new I REALLY want, I use one of those to get the price down to reasonable. If e-book prices were lower, I would buy them. Clearly I'm in the minority here on the board, but I expect there are a lot of average consumers out there who look at the expense of a 200- or 300-dollar e-reader that then requires $8 a pop for any new MMPBs, and more for hardbacks, who say forget it, I'll wait another decade for the tech to catch up to my budget.

I think you may be waiting a really long time. One thing publishers do like about ebooks is that they can't be resold and there's no "used" market for them cannibalizing new sales. Prices will go down somewhat over time but for most books I expect the price will plateau and not go any lower, and it won't be anywhere near the going price for a used copy.