Topic Actions

Topic Search

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests

E-arcs, and publishing new books, how does it work?

Aliens? Invading aliens? What will Earth do? Well...we may have a few more resources than we first thought. Come join a friendly discussion about David Weber's newest Tor series - "Out of the Dark."
Re: E-arcs, and publishing new books, how does it work?
Post by Fireflair   » Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:33 am

Fireflair
Captain of the List

Posts: 588
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:23 pm

Silly preview function!

I understand that materials, printing and distribution are not Significant portions of the cost. But they are A portion. If Amazon is selling an e-book for more than the MMPB, as they seem to be doing in many cases, all I can infer from that as the consumer is that they're greedy.

Even if it costs 25 cents to print and distribute an individual book, I'd expect that the e-book would be at least 12 cents cheaper than the paperback. On a $7 book, if $0.25 was hardcopy costs, it is a negligible cost but still a discount I as the consumer would expect to see some portion there of.
Top
Re: E-arcs, and publishing new books, how does it work?
Post by dvdscar   » Tue Nov 19, 2019 5:11 pm

dvdscar
Lieutenant (Senior Grade)

Posts: 81
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:42 pm

Fireflair wrote:Silly preview function!

I understand that materials, printing and distribution are not Significant portions of the cost. But they are A portion. If Amazon is selling an e-book for more than the MMPB, as they seem to be doing in many cases, all I can infer from that as the consumer is that they're greedy.

Even if it costs 25 cents to print and distribute an individual book, I'd expect that the e-book would be at least 12 cents cheaper than the paperback. On a $7 book, if $0.25 was hardcopy costs, it is a negligible cost but still a discount I as the consumer would expect to see some portion there of.


As long as they're not charging more than their contracts with the publishers allow, they're within their rights. Why they would do that would be dependent on their marketing algorithms, I think. Remember, although they look like a retailer to us, they're really a distributor, and their perception of the market is probably different than ours.

If they are charging more than their contracts with the publishers allow, that needs to be reported to the publishers. Good luck in proving it, though.
Top

Return to Out of the Dark