Re: RWA's latest

Joseph:

 From what I can tell, based on mostly observation and talking to people 
who buy eBooks and regular books, they expect a discount on eBooks, but 
not a ridiculous price-slash.  There are some types of eBooks where some 
readers would happily pay MORE for the eBook than a traditional paper 
book.  Color artwork can be cost prohibitive in paper format (especially 
POD), but the eBook doesn't have the same limitation.  If the B/W 
version retailed $35 for hardback (assuming POD), it is not outside the 
realm of marketing theory to charge $40 to $45 for a COLOR eBook.  Its 
primary advantage is that the reader could print only the pages they 
actually wanted, at virtually any size (assuming PDF in this case.)  
This also permits the publisher to forgo the color printed version of 
the work.  Of course, the  electronic version must be in very high 
resolution, or the additional cost could not be justified.  This, of 
course, will increase the file size dramatically, but would be worth it 
to some people just for this option.

There are many expenses associated with even eBooks.  Marketing, ISBNs, 
press releases (somebody has to do them, and a lot of authors suck at 
doing their own), and a host of other costs.  The material costs may be 
lower, but for novels, the difference between pbooks and eBooks is 
almost negligible, as you can't get an ISBN with only an eBook version 
through Lulu.  (I don't know about the other POD makers - yet.)  At this 
point, like it or no, pbooks still sell better.

As the publishing industries work their way through this new and 
improved growing pain called eBooks, I expect the costs of both 
e-readers and eBooks to drop in price.  Although I'd love to have one of 
the full-size e-readers presently available, their costs are a bit out 
of my price range.  I can't justify spending more for an eBook reader 
than I did for my business computer.  (I bought it used, but even so -- 
I can do a lot more with it than just read books.)

Slightly off-topic:  Have any of the mainstream publishers seriously 
considered the library angle?  I mean, selling electronic versions to 
libraries, and permitting the patrons to read those books online, at the 
library, whatever?  If not, they need to go back to marketing school, as 
they're missing a huge trend in library down-sizing that the eBook 
industry could easily fill.

Danny Stone
Publisher/Producer
Wallstone Entertainment
>
> Danny,
>
> This is where the differences in the new model start to show. If you 
> are paying 80% to the author it seems perfectly reasonable to charge 
> for things like edits. The Tsaba House/RWA dispute relates to pbooks, 
> and so the model is somewhat different, but it is also an area that 
> has developed over some centuries.
>
> One argument that has gone on on this list echoes in this thread. The 
> price of an ebook inevitably has to reflect some of the traditional 
> costs of publishing, as well as considering rewarding the author for 
> their efforts.
>
> How this will eventually settle is going to take a while longer to 
> find out. Increasingly it seems to me that ebook prices are going to 
> be mostly between 60 and 80% of the pbook price [softback rather than 
> hardback] as a reflection of the similar pattern of publishing, 
> despite the facts of different technology and marketing detail.
>
> Joseph Harris
>


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