Slog
News & ArtsFriday, April 3, 2009
Books Ten Bucks or Nothing
Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 2:30 PM
Andrew Savikas reports on a growing boycott of any Amazon Kindle book that costs more than $9.99.
Their rationale makes sense:
Now, Amazon has many books over the $9.99 price it promised for new releases when Kindle was first launched. That price was a major selling point to convince buyers that the large investment in a Kindle would pay off over time. The price also acknowledged the obvious: a Kindle edition is less valuable than a hardcover; although you cannot pass along your Kindle edition to friends, you are at least paying a significant amount less than the hardcover price. Unfortunately, short-sighted publishers feel they are losing dollars instead of realizing that a $9.99 Kindle sale doesn’t usurp a hardcover sale. It is a brand new entity. A plus. Pure gravy.
Unlike most brick and mortar boycotts, the 9 99 boycott is actually being promoted by the business they're boycotting. They're tagging every Kindle book on Amazon that costs over $9.99 with a 9 99 boycott tag. This boycott completely makes sense to me. Ten bucks for a non-physical book seems fair.
(Angry Mob Playset from Archie McPhee. It costs over $9.99, but it's totally worth it.)
1
It's a losing battle. When cable tv debuted, wasn't it touted as being "commercial-free" since you were paying for the service? Yeah, that worked out well. Even the premium channels have commercials. Even goddamned movie theaters have commercials, and movie tickets aren't exactly cheap.
I'm guessing ALL kindle books will cost over 10 bucks before too long.
I'm guessing ALL kindle books will cost over 10 bucks before too long.
3
@1 That's why I dropped my cable. I got sick of paying big buck just to watch commercials. If I want to watch commercials, I can get them for free. And why should a Kindle cost more than $50? It probably costs $5 to make one.
4
I'm not seeing the connection between commercials and price there.
I've noticed there seem to be more over-ten books on the Sony reader -- lots of 11.99 and so on for hotter titles, even ones that are only 9.99 on Kindle. Presumably books that are 9.99 will sell better than ones that are 11.99. Whether that's enough to change behavior or not remains to be seen.
What's new about e-books is you can change price on the fly, whereas printed books have the price printed right on them -- practically the only consumer good for which that's true.
Remember too that the price of something doesn't have anything to do with how much it costs to produce it, other than setting a floor beneath which you can't realistically go for long. If publishers can maximize their profits at 9.99, or 11.99, or 99.99, they will do exactly that. And I'm sure every publisher has a good idea exactly how many fewer copies each dollar will bring.
I've noticed there seem to be more over-ten books on the Sony reader -- lots of 11.99 and so on for hotter titles, even ones that are only 9.99 on Kindle. Presumably books that are 9.99 will sell better than ones that are 11.99. Whether that's enough to change behavior or not remains to be seen.
What's new about e-books is you can change price on the fly, whereas printed books have the price printed right on them -- practically the only consumer good for which that's true.
Remember too that the price of something doesn't have anything to do with how much it costs to produce it, other than setting a floor beneath which you can't realistically go for long. If publishers can maximize their profits at 9.99, or 11.99, or 99.99, they will do exactly that. And I'm sure every publisher has a good idea exactly how many fewer copies each dollar will bring.
6
Also, how is a Kindle sale not usurping a hardcover sale? No one's going to buy both. Some people might buy e-books that they wouldn't have bought at all otherwise, but I'm guessing most purchases are instead of a paper one.
The savings is in (a) no cost to print or ship, and (b) reduced (or at any rate alternate) utility (can't share with friends, etc.). Both should drive the cost down over time.
The savings is in (a) no cost to print or ship, and (b) reduced (or at any rate alternate) utility (can't share with friends, etc.). Both should drive the cost down over time.
7
@3:
If producers of any product used your logic, soda would only cost about $0.25 a can, and popcorn at the movie theatre would only cost about $0.75 a bag.
And @5, when was the last time you actually paid the imprint price on a hardcover book? It seems like Barnes & Noble & Borders sort of pride themselves on the fact that you won't pay full-retail on anything in their stores, at least that has always been my experience.
Speaking only for myself, Fnarf, there are certain books that I would definitely purchase in H/C, even if I'd already read it in an e-book format, in much the same way I still buy CD's of certain bands, even if I've already downloaded an MP3 version of the same album. For me it comes down to wanting to add that singular physical object to the collection of other similar objects I already own.
That being said, $9.99 for what is essentially a glorified word-processor document seems rather steep; when I used to purchase e-books for my old Zire, I don't think I ever paid more than about $4.99 even for newly-published works. It just smacks of desperate publishers attempting to squeeze as much margin out of what is essentially an extremely low-cost delivery system for as long as they can until consumers start refusing the price point and they're forced to lower it in order to stimulate sales.
If producers of any product used your logic, soda would only cost about $0.25 a can, and popcorn at the movie theatre would only cost about $0.75 a bag.
And @5, when was the last time you actually paid the imprint price on a hardcover book? It seems like Barnes & Noble & Borders sort of pride themselves on the fact that you won't pay full-retail on anything in their stores, at least that has always been my experience.
Speaking only for myself, Fnarf, there are certain books that I would definitely purchase in H/C, even if I'd already read it in an e-book format, in much the same way I still buy CD's of certain bands, even if I've already downloaded an MP3 version of the same album. For me it comes down to wanting to add that singular physical object to the collection of other similar objects I already own.
That being said, $9.99 for what is essentially a glorified word-processor document seems rather steep; when I used to purchase e-books for my old Zire, I don't think I ever paid more than about $4.99 even for newly-published works. It just smacks of desperate publishers attempting to squeeze as much margin out of what is essentially an extremely low-cost delivery system for as long as they can until consumers start refusing the price point and they're forced to lower it in order to stimulate sales.
8
I always pay full cover price for new hardcovers in brick'n'mortar stores, because I'm always buying the weird shit in the history section that never gets discounted. I don't really mind, though.
10
@4,
Yeah, after I posted it and re-read it, I was thinking I sort of went off the curb a bit there. My point is that early low prices and promos and bargains don't last long in the face of rising demand.
Yeah, after I posted it and re-read it, I was thinking I sort of went off the curb a bit there. My point is that early low prices and promos and bargains don't last long in the face of rising demand.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
Hating People Doesn't Make Them Thinner by Jen Graves
-
Los Angeles Gay Bar Bans Bachelorette Parties Until Marriage Equality Is Attained by David Schmader
-
Fill in the Blank by Grant Brissey
-
This Reminds Me of the Great Calculator Scare of the Late '70s/Early '80s by David Schmader
-
Idiot Tries to Defend Bigoted Anti-Gay-Marriage Preacher on Anderson Cooper by Paul Constant
-
SL Letter of the Day: Putting It In by Dan Savage
-
Six Moms with Too Much Time on Their Hands and a Shitty Website Decide to Fight Gay Superheroes by Paul Constant
-
Why Mayor McGinn's Wife Canceled Her Family's Seattle Times Subscription by Eli Sanders
-
What the Hell Is Wrong With Seattle's Pride Parade? by Dominic Holden
-
Meet the UW "Swagga Suit" by David Schmader
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (10) RSS