Kindle Sold Out Again

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Permalink Reply by Michael Hickins on December 3, 2008 at 10:03am

Horray for Kindle--but what happens when consumers get disgusted by the high prices publishers charge for new (non-public-domain) eBooks? A recent novel by David Mitchell costs around $11 in paperback, compared to $9 in eBook form. Music publishers, not the most consumer-friendly bunch, give much steeper discounts for MP3s compared to CD prices. Why shouldn't book publishers do the same, given that their costs are much lower?

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Permalink Reply by Mac Slocum on December 3, 2008 at 10:23am

@Michael -- The pricing issue is emerging as a big sore spot in the ebook universe (we touched on this a bit earlier this year, but interest seems to be ramping up). To me, this is an "expectation" issue. Digital content -- and related pricing -- carries a much different expectation than print/physical products. On a superficial level, this difference is already being acknowledged by most parties involved in the publishing process, but it has yet to become part of the economics. I have no doubt it will eventually, but the transition could be messy.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Hickins on December 3, 2008 at 5:19pm

Interesting string. HomersWisdom seems right on target--the other comments come at it from the perspective of the publisher, which is the wrong way to do it, yet so much in keeping with the publishing tradition of navel-gazing.
And while Andrew Wylie and his ilk argue on behalf of established, best-selling authors, all those writers who used to be on what was once called the mid-list and are now on the outs might have an entirely different take on things.
Imagine an environment where publishers could publish more books at lower risk and give unknown writers a chance to develop a readership. Again, I think the analogy to the music business bears exploring.

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