Comments on: Hardbacks vs. eBooks, why you buy, do you buy

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:45:51 +0000

Kass, I don’t think the $9 prices are going to put a pinch on publishers. I just don’t see how that can be true, unless you mean from lost sales in hardbacks. I wouldn’t let that stop you from buying ebooks.
Jacqueline, I hate the no lending thing too. I think some publishers…Carina maybe? is trying to work something out with that. There is also the issue of reselling ebooks. I personally have no problem with used bookstores, but when you start reselling ebooks which you can sell a thousand copies of and never wear out…well then I see a problem for authors.
Also, I was at the bookstore yesterday and noticed a big trend (in fantasy) to trade sized paperbacks–the ones that cost $12 to $15. I like the bigger size, but I would have preferred the option of buying mass market. It just wasn’t available for a lot of books though. I was surprised…
Which made me think of something else. With ebooks you can set your print size so the premium of getting a trade size with bigger print just won’t hold.
I also saw something today that predicted in five years 20% of book sales will be electronic. It will be interesting to see if that happens.

By: Jacqueline L.

Jacqueline L. — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:28:55 +0000

I rarely ever buy hardcovers at regular price. Most of the HCs I own are from the remainder table. I find them too expensive and though I like the look and quality of HCs, I much prefer the size and weight of mass market paperbacks. If a book comes out in HC, I tend to either hit up the library or wait till the MMPB release.

Releasing a cheaper ebook version at the same time as the HC seems like self-sabotage. I’m also with you on ebook prices. I think ebooks should be no more than 6$(CND) as the average mass market paperback book is about 10$ or 11$. Like you said, if I have to fork over so much for an ereader, I don’t want to have to pay just as much for an ebook as a regular book version. And you can’t even lend an ebook to a friend.(I’m not a huge fan of ebooks. )

By: Kass

Kass — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:19:33 +0000

I buy hard covers occasionally, and will pay full price if I have to, but many of my fav authors don’t release in hard cover anyway… That said, I have some negative feelings about e-books. At first, I was excited about the new platform, but then I started hearing about how the $9 prices were going to put such a pinch on publishers that they wouldn’t be able to bring in new authors as much. That got me thinking about how much I value the work that goes into writing a book, and that low ball prices are not indicative of how much I value the product I’m getting. SO, I have decided not to purchase e-books until they can be more appropriately priced (paperback price, or a dollar or two less). The lack of convenience is awful, but its my way of showing how much I value the work and to support up and coming authors.

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:52:01 +0000

On expense of creating an ebook there are a couple of ways to look at that. One is that at this point in time with major publishers the cost of editing, much of the formatting, etc. is already covered in the paper format part…so looking at just incremental expenses of taking that and converting to electronic. That expense can not be a tremendous amount (also not figuring in the cut the retailers want).
However, as electronic versions grow in popularity and print books decline those expenses will still have to be covered. So, I think it is smart, necessary even, for publishers to price as if those expenses have to be covered by the ebook sale alone.
That all said I do really worry about books being priced too highly and losing readers because of it. I’m afraid the pricing strategy for ebooks is starting in the wrong place…with the publisher instead of the reader. Meaning publishers are looking at it from the point of view of where they are now rather than looking at what they would have built if nothing existed before.
Kaye, I quit thinking of authors as epub and print a long time ago. It took me a minute to figure out what you were talking about. :) Since all NY books are now epubbed, it’s more a small press vs. big press distinction, or maybe straight to e vs. print…kind of like straight to mass market vs. hardcover. I hadn’t checked to see how the smaller presses are pricing their ebooks. Many of them offer shorter books too, don’t they? That to me should be a consideration for pricing too. Category is cheaper than single title, etc.
Lori

By: Kaye Manro

Kaye Manro — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:39:01 +0000

Hi Lori!

Interesting discussion and topic. I love hardback books, but they are too expensive, esp. in this economy. Standard sized paperbacks are more reasonable to purchase, not those oversized jobs. And ebooks? I think it’s a matter of what you want. There is so much available at many epubs now it’s hard to choose. Some of the authors are good writers; some not so much but its true, epubs are getting picky about the authors they choose which is better. The downside is that some ebooks cost as much or more than buying a paperback. Ebooks are easy and convenient however.

(I’m an ebook author who aspires to publish with the bigger print houses.)

By: Kristian Edosomwan

Kristian Edosomwan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:17:04 +0000

I think ebooks should never go above ten dollars. It’s ridiculous. To my knowledge (I may be wrong and I’ll be happy if anyone disproves me) it costs the publishers less than nothing to send a copy of a word document or pdf for reading. I only buy paperback unless the hardback versions are seriously discounted (my personal rule is to never pay more than $10 USD for books unless they are more than one book in one or rare). I realize that hardback books can last for a lifetime so its somewhat reasonable to charge more fore them (I personally get the hardback from the library and buy paperbacks). However, the ridiculous price of some ebooks, considering that you only have so much space to save them in and various incidents could make someone loose them forever, annoys me. I only buy ebooks that are six or less dollars, and the only time I was tempted to pay more for a collection the ridiculous %2 off sale turned me off. I agree with whoever said above that they should release ebooks after paperbacks for cheaper prices. Now I’ve realized what I was doing was illegal and wrong, but there was a time when I downloaded ebooks off of sharing websites for free. Since then I’ve completely deleted them and bought the paperback books of the ones I like (it introduced me to some authors I would never have known otherwise), but my experience basically shows an important point. The high price of ebooks make them prime targets for online pirating. If ebooks were around the price of paperbacks, I would definitely be more likely to buy them. Currently, I wait until the paperbacks come back and miss the days of ignorant bliss when I got free ebooks without qualms, although I do read the free ebooks offered directly from the publishers, like in Baen Free Library.
And after this extremely long rant I have to make another point. Why buy and ebook (except for the convenience of getting new books immediately and the ebook readers, which still doesn’t seem worth the extra money to me, a student still dependent on parents for necessities) when you can buy books online for discounts and no taxes from websites like DeepDiscount, Amazon, and so many other online booksellers?

By: Colleen

Colleen — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:51:18 +0000

I buy hardcovers only when I can get a great discount… I budget myself each month and am very specific on what I use the money on… I would love to get any and all books that I could but, money is key… As for e-books, I have built up a nice big file of them, but I still prefer to have an actual book in hand… nothing beats curling up with a great read!

By: Samantha Hunter

Samantha Hunter — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:58:42 +0000

Lori, on average, the Kindle books are all discounted, so they are cheaper than print books (my Blaze are cheaper at Kindle for instance, than ebook or print are at eHarl, etc). Also, I don’t have to pay shipping or tax (other places have free shipping if you spend $25, but I don’t always spend $25 at a shot).

All in all, this has led me to buy probably twice as many books as I usually do, and all new. I don’t buy used books (nothing wrong with them, but I prefer to support authors by buying new, even if at a discount price).

Sam

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:14:47 +0000

I think another thing people don’t consider is that the big publishers don’t have a lot to gain by things going electronic. Yes, their profit margin can be higher, but in an electronic world competition is a lot more viable.
Which isn’t to say I think that was a motivator in this scenario…just always good to keep in mind that others may not be looking at any given situation in the same way you are.

By: Wildwitch

Wildwitch — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:53:46 +0000

Okay…

I work in a bookstore and I can tell you what the consumer says. ENOUGH! Consumers are frustrated and walking away from Hardcovers. They are starting to notice now that a book doesn’t go from Hardcover to Mass Market paperback anymore….Oh no….they are going to Trade size! What does this mean?

Canadian Dollars:

Hardcover: $32.99
Trade: $19.99 (8 to 12 months later)
Mass Market: $9.99 (6 months after trade)

Now let’s think about this…if you collect old and new authors like I do…and you average 40 books a month (purchased)…what kind do you think I buy?

I refuse to pay $33 for a book. I support authors the best I can and I know for a fact they have no say in how their books are published. But the big publishers must notice they are losing money & customers. Used book stores are thriving! Libraries are busier than ever. (If they can get the book as soon as they are released…which they can’t)

Bottom line…customers see the price…put it down and leave our store. I’m a customer and I agree. I won’t even pay for a trade size. I will wait 2 years if necessary for the mass market…if I haven’t lost interest in the series.

As for ebooks…well not only would that put me out of a job…that would make my library look pretty ugly! I have bought a few ebooks. Mainly because the authors I met online or in real life can’t get into print so I buy their ebooks to support the author.

I think ebooks should cost at least a couple of dollars less than a paper book because the cost involved is a lot less. But I think the publisher should take the hit on the price drop…NOT the author!

If it comes out in hardcover…wait 6 months to put it on ebook at a fair price. I would never pay $17.00 for an ebook or a hardcover. I wait for bargain books. I get top sellers for $9.99 in hardcover a year later! Just watch the bargains.

Off my soapbox…