No wait, hear me out…
Largely out of jealousy that my wife’s been getting more parcels in the post than me recently, I decided to go and buy yet more CDs from Amazon, and it reminded me that I’ve got one opinion on books pricing and an entirely other one on music, but looking at Amazon right now I’m wondering if it’s actually just that I’m behind the times.
While I certainly don’t complain if people buy my books on Amazon because I use the company too and sometimes (sic) a small independent bookshop isn’t convenient for folk, I’m certainly not keen on their (and the consumer public in general’s) opinions on how much books should cost. I see that CDs don’t seem to have discounts listed any more so I’m wondering if they’re now being sold on the agency model because Apple have forced that through everywhere – selling gets 30%, producer sets the price – or whether there’s something else at work. Fundamentally though, I don’t think I’m being a dick buying from them, even if the money they’re getting is reduced. I’ve long held the opinion that £15 was far too much to set as an RRP for CDs, but I am happy to pay nine or ten quid for one – a bit more than i prefer to spend on books because I reuse them more. So the discounting on Amazon for a long time worked for me, but I don’t know enough about the model they’re using to know if I’m actually hurting the artist. I never download illegally and rarely even rip music from friends so i suspect I’m an ideal customer, but you never know I guess.
Checking my books, the trade edition price I know is high because we’re expecting 50% discounts and have to build that into the model, but fundamentally, the paperbacks are being sold for £6.40, £5.25 and £5.11 – so a book’s going for what? 30/40% less than a CD? And the units shifted won’t be as high if I was an equivalent mid-list musician.
Why is this? Are we hurting ourselves by selling in a larger format at all that is of an equivalent price, but won’t shift the same number of copies? WOuld we be better served by doing a HB collectors edition then straight into mass market for £9 with no discount? Would prefer it as a reader since I’m not a fan of a) waiting 12 months for the smaller edition, and b) reading a larger edition, but I wonder how the economics would work out. It’s a big risk for any publisher to take, but I’m mainly curious as to why in this country we’ve different opinions on what these two different products are worth? There might well be a good reason like reuse, but for me they have the same inherent value. Am I alone in this?
It’s a tricky area, certainly. I suspect that we haven’t found the best price-point for books just yet and that even if we do, it will keep shifting in the current “rise-of-the-ebook” climate.
Yeah, and I can’t see e-books helping matters. Consumers aren’t interested in the fact there’s VAT added to the and putting 20% on the price, they only see the lack of unit cost and expect them to be even cheaper. Unless we do set the prices, average ebooks price will be likely a bit under £3, as Amazon want it to be.
e-books
Personally I don’t care for e=books. Not that I’m technically challenged…I just don’t like the format. When you open a book there are more than just words on a screen. You get that “New Car” smell, you get the texture of the pages, and, a little excitement at the page turn. Besides, e’books will lead to the birth of AI. Now, when the Terminator comes-a-huntin….we can only hope he goes for all the kindle bearers….
As far as the whole pricing goes, I would like to think the author has at least some input into what his time is worth. I guess you can compare the current pricing guidelines to the health insurance tactics here in the U.S. The doctor over-bills, knowing the insurance will under-pay. A big game to meet in the middle. Geez…..
Re: e-books
yeah, it’d be nice to think we had some input, and it may happen increasingly if publishers get to centrally set the price of each book, but at the end of the day they’re the ones publishing and have the most money on the line, so the author can’t tell them their job too much!
Re: e-books
Maybe you should start an Author’s Union. Then you can threaten a literary strike…Oh boy…think of the possibilities…..NOBODY gets to read. They’ll all be stuck with their old Playboy magazines, sitting in the corner without the ability to broaden their horizons……Hmmmm…Or, they can just pay you what you deserve. Hey. Are you rich yet??? LOL
Re: e-books
;0) Yeah, authors union would be somewhat like cats in a sack methinks. And the current UK author’s association is too busy trying to get headlines by making stupid demands so no help there…
It’s a tricky area, certainly. I suspect that we haven’t found the best price-point for books just yet and that even if we do, it will keep shifting in the current “rise-of-the-ebook” climate.
Yeah, and I can’t see e-books helping matters. Consumers aren’t interested in the fact there’s VAT added to the and putting 20% on the price, they only see the lack of unit cost and expect them to be even cheaper. Unless we do set the prices, average ebooks price will be likely a bit under £3, as Amazon want it to be.
e-books
Personally I don’t care for e=books. Not that I’m technically challenged…I just don’t like the format. When you open a book there are more than just words on a screen. You get that “New Car” smell, you get the texture of the pages, and, a little excitement at the page turn. Besides, e’books will lead to the birth of AI. Now, when the Terminator comes-a-huntin….we can only hope he goes for all the kindle bearers….
As far as the whole pricing goes, I would like to think the author has at least some input into what his time is worth. I guess you can compare the current pricing guidelines to the health insurance tactics here in the U.S. The doctor over-bills, knowing the insurance will under-pay. A big game to meet in the middle. Geez…..
Re: e-books
yeah, it’d be nice to think we had some input, and it may happen increasingly if publishers get to centrally set the price of each book, but at the end of the day they’re the ones publishing and have the most money on the line, so the author can’t tell them their job too much!
Re: e-books
Maybe you should start an Author’s Union. Then you can threaten a literary strike…Oh boy…think of the possibilities…..NOBODY gets to read. They’ll all be stuck with their old Playboy magazines, sitting in the corner without the ability to broaden their horizons……Hmmmm…Or, they can just pay you what you deserve. Hey. Are you rich yet??? LOL
Re: e-books
;0) Yeah, authors union would be somewhat like cats in a sack methinks. And the current UK author’s association is too busy trying to get headlines by making stupid demands so no help there…
The HB collectors edition followed by a mass market one wouldn’t be a bad idea, maybe, though I freely admit I have no idea how it would look from the (very important) side of making money off the books.
But I prefer paperbacks. I don’t have to flip my shit if I mess a paperback up (by, say, spilling a drink on it); I will usually gladly buy a second copy. A hardback edition would be far worse to destroy.
And for that matter, imagine if you spilled a drink on a $139.99 (or 149.00 pound, thank you internet) Kindle. It’d be followed by the lawsuits for destroying virgin minds with profanity, I bet.
A fine point. Will discuss the higher price paperback only with my editor sometime, she’ll give me a good idea of the economics, but I suspect it’ll be cash return that motivates.
I have no kindle for partly that reason, I drop my book a LOT!
The HB collectors edition followed by a mass market one wouldn’t be a bad idea, maybe, though I freely admit I have no idea how it would look from the (very important) side of making money off the books.
But I prefer paperbacks. I don’t have to flip my shit if I mess a paperback up (by, say, spilling a drink on it); I will usually gladly buy a second copy. A hardback edition would be far worse to destroy.
And for that matter, imagine if you spilled a drink on a $139.99 (or 149.00 pound, thank you internet) Kindle. It’d be followed by the lawsuits for destroying virgin minds with profanity, I bet.
A fine point. Will discuss the higher price paperback only with my editor sometime, she’ll give me a good idea of the economics, but I suspect it’ll be cash return that motivates.
I have no kindle for partly that reason, I drop my book a LOT!