Tag Archives: market

Articles I Like: Consumers vs. Publishers

PolyWogg.ca
April 24 2012

Jeremy Greenfield had an interesting post on Digital Book World about e-book pricing — but focused on the costs. The article tries to basically explain both why consumers think costs (and the price) should be a lot less, and publishers saying, “No, wait, costs are not that far off”.

Here are some excerpts from Greenfield’s post:

Publishers are making a killing on e-books because they cost nothing to produce, distribute and sell and are almost 100% pure profit. At least, that’s what many consumers think.

…

While consumers understand the basic costs involved in the bricks-and-mortar retail world, they don’t understand the costs involved in selling something that is, well, much, much smaller than a bread box.

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“We still pay for the author advance, the editing, the copy-editing, the proofreading, the cover and interior design, the illustrations, the sales kit, the marketing efforts, the publicity, and the staff that needs to coordinate all of the details that make books possible,” said Bob Miller in February 2009 on the HarperStudio blog (which has been defunct since April 2010 when the publishing start-up folded) when he was president and publisher of that company; he is now president and publisher of Workman Publishing.

… Read the rest

Articles I Like: E-book lawsuit in Canada

PolyWogg.ca
April 24 2012

Marsha Lederman had an interesting article in the Globe and Mail on April 18th trying to put a Canadian spin on the charges in the U.S. of collusion and price-fixing by the Big Six publishers (Harper Collins, MacMillan, Penguin, Random House, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster) with Apple. Just to be clear, there are TWO lawsuits in the U.S. — a class-action civil suit launched by “consumers” against this group for trying to raise ebook prices above Amazon’s preferred ceiling of $9.99 (targeting all six plus Apple) and a completely separate Department of Justice civil suit that targets everyone in that list except Random House. I’m not including separate state plans in that list.

Here’s an excerpt from Lederman:

A proposed class-action lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court by the Vancouver firm Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman alleges that Apple Inc. and a number of publishers engaged in a “conspiracy” to lessen competition and “fix, maintain, increase or control the prices of e-books.” It is the most recent of at least five such suits filed recently in courts in Ontario, Quebec and B.C.

It also alleges that the defendants or their representatives communicated secretly, in person and by phone, to discuss and fix e-book prices, in the lead-up to the introduction of Apple’s iPad, which can function as an eReader, in April of 2010.In

… Read the rest

Articles I Like: The 99 cent price point for ebooks

PolyWogg.ca
January 24 2012

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg has an interesting article in today’s WSJ that deals with ebook pricing models, and the 99-cent “impulse” price point (E-Book Prices Get Slashed — note link may expire). An excerpt from his post appears below:

The book world is discovering the 99-cent special. Nearly two years after book publishers forced a sharp increase in the price of newly released e-books, a new low-price trend is emerging. A growing number of publishers are experimenting with 99-cent temporary prices on e-books, in hopes of persuading readers to sample a wider range of authors.

The latest example is George Pelecanos’s new crime novel “What It Was,” which goes on sale Monday. The digital edition costs 99 cents for the first month, and then $4.99 afterward. While Mr. Pelecanos is known for his work on HBO’s gritty Baltimore series “The Wire,” he has also authored 18 books. But he has never been a big seller.

I’ll eventually get around to posting my own take on e-book pricing from an “economics” perspective i.e. what is an “optimal” price if the economists were tackling the question, but I like the idea that the “big” names are suddenly realizing they’re getting their butts kicked by the mid-listers or the newbies.… Read the rest