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Perceived Value and E-books
I had a great conversation the other night with my sister about e-books and pricing and the agency model mess and why e-books cost more at some online stores than at others. Given how much time I spend thinking about these things, it's nice to lay out the "here's what I think is happening in the industry" to someone who I go to for advice in her area of expertise. The most interesting part of the conversation, to me, was that we kept coming back to perceived value. Back when we first started getting e-books, I wouldn't buy an e-book if it was the same price as a mass market. To me, the physical copy had a higher perceived value, despite the fact that we don't really have the shelf space for all the books we already own. (The answer is not to buy or build more bookshelves; our house isn't that big!) Finally, Three-stripe pointed this out to me: why did I value the paper version more? A lot of times I prefer reading on my device now -- it's lightweight, it's easy to hold and "turn pages" on, and I can read it on the treadmill or elliptical or exercise bike at the Y if I turn up the print size. My perceived value shifted. After all, I know that the cost of producing print mass markets is so low that bookstores strip them and throw them away instead of returning them to publishers if they don't sell. As a bookseller, I actually got introduced to some pretty good authors through the strip box (and subsequently bought their books).
That breaks down for me in the e-book release that's simultaneous to the hardcover release. Those e-books are priced higher -- and as soon as the mass market comes out, the identical product will drop in price to match the mass market. Thus, the extra price for the e-book comes from impatience: I am paying to read it now. Sometimes, the value of having the content immediately does work for me; at other times, well, I can wait the year to own it and can check out the hardcover from the library.
Her limits were different from mine: the e-book must be cheaper, because this reflects the cost in production. I made the mass market case to her and she largely agreed, but still felt that if the "extra" profit from the e-books was just going to the publishing machine, she didn't support that breakdown. I said I'd heard of scenarios where e-book royalties for authors were at a higher percentage, but I've not seen that put forward in awhile, so I can't back it up.
I'm very curious about readers' perceived values -- and authors' perceived values. Paolo Coehlo's recent support of Pirate Bay and his drop of all his e-books to $.99 shows another interesting perspective on the matter. I suspect that, when I eventually get around to e-publishing novel three of the Redemption Trilogy, I may do a similar price drop of the backlist, not because I don't value my work or think it's worth the current $4.99 rate, but because I'd rather have people reading it than not -- and the work was all put in long enough ago that any additional pay I receive is dessert rather than dinner. But I may feel differently about the perceived value once I've put the additional effort into seeing Regaining Home finished!
As a reader, what is your perceived value of books? How do you make or limit your own purchases? My inquiring mind wants to know!
That breaks down for me in the e-book release that's simultaneous to the hardcover release. Those e-books are priced higher -- and as soon as the mass market comes out, the identical product will drop in price to match the mass market. Thus, the extra price for the e-book comes from impatience: I am paying to read it now. Sometimes, the value of having the content immediately does work for me; at other times, well, I can wait the year to own it and can check out the hardcover from the library.
Her limits were different from mine: the e-book must be cheaper, because this reflects the cost in production. I made the mass market case to her and she largely agreed, but still felt that if the "extra" profit from the e-books was just going to the publishing machine, she didn't support that breakdown. I said I'd heard of scenarios where e-book royalties for authors were at a higher percentage, but I've not seen that put forward in awhile, so I can't back it up.
I'm very curious about readers' perceived values -- and authors' perceived values. Paolo Coehlo's recent support of Pirate Bay and his drop of all his e-books to $.99 shows another interesting perspective on the matter. I suspect that, when I eventually get around to e-publishing novel three of the Redemption Trilogy, I may do a similar price drop of the backlist, not because I don't value my work or think it's worth the current $4.99 rate, but because I'd rather have people reading it than not -- and the work was all put in long enough ago that any additional pay I receive is dessert rather than dinner. But I may feel differently about the perceived value once I've put the additional effort into seeing Regaining Home finished!
As a reader, what is your perceived value of books? How do you make or limit your own purchases? My inquiring mind wants to know!
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supply and demand
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A DRM free book is worth slightly less than a paperback to me - say a dollar less (because paperbacks are more durable, period, and I can lend them and pass them on.).
Producing and selling a good ebook is not a zero-cost undertaking, so I'm ok with them being the price of an MMPB - and if they are published at the same time of the hardback, I'm ok with them temporarily being more expensive.
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It's not a fail-safe metric, of course, and it can't be the only metric. Reviews and forum buzz will count for a lot. But with the sheer number of new titles appearing on the market, readers will be desperate for some sort of hint that a title has been competently written and adequately edited. Price will have a role in that--at least until everybody gets the message and most new titles are $5. Then we'll have to look for other hints.
Crazy business, this.