Amazon's $9.99 eBook Price Model is No More

[JMcEntegart]

Two more major publishers have dropped Amazon's suggested $9.99 ebook price, opting instead to price titles at up to $14.99.

Amazon's $9.99 eBook Price Model is No More : Read more

 

[stevesauce]

I am appalled. And I thought the RIAA were the only greedy ones. Thanks for setting up the ebook playing field for the iTampon.

 

[kyeana]

There are many advantages to the agency model, for our authors, retailers, consumers, and publishers. It allows Hachette to make pricing decisions that are rational and reflect the value of our authors' works. In the long run this will enable Hachette to continue to invest in and nurture authors' careers

riiight...it has nothing at all to do with the fact that you just want more money.

 

[sliem]

Customer pays $15 for a book.
Publisher gets $13. Amazon gets $1. Writer/author gets $1.

Fair.

Welcome to the world.

 

[igot1forya]

I think it's absolutely ridiculous the price of some of these books these days. I've read more pages standing in the isle of a book store then I have at my home simply for the fact that the material in question was not worth the cost to bring it home.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Ya know, public libraries are are a vaiable alternative.

 

[Guest]

I think most people are missing a key part of this article. Amazon has been buying the books and selling them at a loss. They've been doing this to prop up the Kindle as a successful product. You can't find sales for Amazon's ebook division broken down by Kindle sales and seperate ebook sales. Ever wonder why? A hardcover book wholesale when new is usually around $20.00. Retail is generally much higher. 15.99 for an ebook released for purchase the same day against a $30.00 hardcover doesn't seem that bad. Hell a new paperback costs around $10.00USD. Macmillan has stated that the price of the ebook would be dynamic over time to match the sales when a book goes paperback. Right now the ebooks don't change price as a book moves to obscurity. I know,I know publisher's are evil, Amazon is just a victim here. Wait here's a thought, if the Kindle was 'the' kick ass killer app for books maybe Amazon would have some leverage, but apparently the marketshare isn't big enough for these publishers to worry about missing out on what they must deem too small to matter.

 

[mikewong]

$14.99... And how much the author gets?

 

[jaybus]

public libraries are are a vaiable alternative

How so? Public libraries won't start lending e-books anytime soon. Could you imagine the uproar the publishers would make over that? If you mean they have paper books, then that's like saying scrubbing your closes with with sand and water beside a creek is a viable alternative to a washing machine.

 

[shanky887614]

well the author could quite easily skip out publisher now adays and do it directly with amazon?

epecially well know authors

 

[greenbuck]

I think Amazon should have some kind of electronics book store similar to Apple store where authors can publish their own books. Amazon gets a commision. This way middle-men are cut off, making books cheaper.

 

[azcoyote]

Wow. eBook readers finally start to take a hold and book publishers go 100% moronic. Expect this to hurt the overall sales of eReaders. The $9.99 price point was one of my reasons to justify a reader. Cost Recuperation on the reader itself. Well guess what? If it cost me the same as a virtual book as a hard back, I lose out! Real books can be taking to the used bookshop for credit. Virtual books at the same price? Wasted.

 

[Bert R]

Hey! A publishing house charges consumers more money for a lest costly and somewhat watered-down version of a product! It's almost like deja vu! Now where have I heard this recently?

 

[Guest]

Publishers are deathly afraid of piracy, so they jack up their prices to encourage piracy. Who is running these companies??

 

[rwpritchett]

Rupert Murdoch is that same j@ck@$$ that is pushing for consumers to pay to read online newspapers.

It looks like the publishers are trying to maintain a stranglehold on an outdated way of doing business. I believe that if they push it too far the authors will wise-up and sell directly to consumers.

$9.99 to $14.99... 50% markup! He calls that allowing for "slightly higher prices"???

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

$9.99 was already too high for an e-book, especially one laden with DRM which means you don't actually own it. Publishers clearly don't want e-books to succeed just yet.

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]JohnnyLucky[/nom]Ya know, public libraries are are a vaiable alternative.[/citation]
Agreed, however there are some good books that are just worth it to have a hard copy of for personal use for example, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed or 1984 or The Art of War(A REALLY old and good book imo,it can be applied to virtually everything if you can understand what Sun Tzu is telling).

 

[icepick314]

welcome to the world of music, ebooks...

see if you'll make more money or not when you piss off potential customers by raising price when readers only get computer file instead of a product...

I would pirate the hell out of those books and read classic free domain books instead if I had an ereader myself....

 

[ethaniel]

The answer is simple: Boycott. 15 bucks for a digital book is Robbery with a capital R (not "theft", saying "we're charging 15 bucks no matter what you think or want" is plain intimidation). Return to small bookshops, look for used editions. Old-fashion way. They think they own the ebook world but they're soooo wrong about that. Stop buying and let them bleed and beg.

 

[slapdashzero]

It's abundently clear that most companies simply DO NOT understand the digital distribution method. Somehow they feel that the product is the product is the product, regardless of packaging, logistical distribution costs (or lack thereof, in this case), physical medium, etc. Seeing as selling an ebook is a nigh completely automated process; requiring negligible HDD space, negligible bandwidth, and almost no human interaction (labor) after it is uploaded, each book sold is nearly 100% profit... yet they still want to charge the same price as a shipped, tagged, stocked, retail hardcopy... and expect everyone to be OK with that. Astounding.