Comments on: Do e-reader price decreases matter in face of e-book price increases? http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:44:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Felix Torres http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/comment-page-1/#comment-1175184 Felix Torres Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:12:19 +0000 http://www.teleread.com/2010/07/26/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/#comment-1175184 It's *some* publishers. The ones who know what they're doing aren't raising prices and getting the extra traffic from the price-sensitive consumers. It's no different than any other market. It’s *some* publishers.
The ones who know what they’re doing aren’t raising prices and getting the extra traffic from the price-sensitive consumers.
It’s no different than any other market.

]]> By: Chris Meadows http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/comment-page-1/#comment-1175146 Chris Meadows Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:17:52 +0000 http://www.teleread.com/2010/07/26/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/#comment-1175146 Under the Agency Model, the publishers are the ones who set the prices, and Amazon doesn't have any choice but to go along with them. It's not Amazon that's raising the prices, it's the publishers. Under the Agency Model, the publishers are the ones who set the prices, and Amazon doesn’t have any choice but to go along with them. It’s not Amazon that’s raising the prices, it’s the publishers.

]]> By: Felix Torres http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/comment-page-1/#comment-1175139 Felix Torres Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:01:22 +0000 http://www.teleread.com/2010/07/26/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/#comment-1175139 There's one itsy-bitsy problem with the premise of the question posed: ebook prices have *not* gone up universally. The Price-fix five don't make up the entire publishing universe. Even before they hatched their scheme they only controlled a fraction of the market; now that they have implemented it, they control a *smaller* and shrinking share. ;) So yes, dropping ebook reader prices matter *a lot* because they bring in new readers to the ebook environment. And these readers are, in fact, more price-sensitive than the early adopters (Otherwise, *they* woud be early adopters. ;) ) With more price-sensitive buyers in the market, we'll see increased sales of the properly-priced content, resulting in even lower market share for the Price-Fix Five. By eliminating ebook discounting and fixing retail margins on *their* ebooks at a hefty 30%, they are in effect giving retailers "extra" money to play with, which B&N and Amazon are using to make up for lower hardware margins; in effect subsidizing their hardware with Agency-Priced content. These discounted readers are then bringing in buyers more likely to buy *other* publishers' content. (Lovely, isn't it?) Those "wonderful" BPHs are, in effect, enabling the evolution of a retail environment best suited to supporting their competition. Let us take a moment to salute these clueless execs for (hopefully) we'll not see their like again. :) There’s one itsy-bitsy problem with the premise of the question posed: ebook prices have *not* gone up universally.

The Price-fix five don’t make up the entire publishing universe. Even before they hatched their scheme they only controlled a fraction of the market; now that they have implemented it, they control a *smaller* and shrinking share. ;)

So yes, dropping ebook reader prices matter *a lot* because they bring in new readers to the ebook environment. And these readers are, in fact, more price-sensitive than the early adopters (Otherwise, *they* woud be early adopters. ;) )

With more price-sensitive buyers in the market, we’ll see increased sales of the properly-priced content, resulting in even lower market share for the Price-Fix Five.

By eliminating ebook discounting and fixing retail margins on *their* ebooks at a hefty 30%, they are in effect giving retailers “extra” money to play with, which B&N and Amazon are using to make up for lower hardware margins; in effect subsidizing their hardware with Agency-Priced content. These discounted readers are then bringing in buyers more likely to buy *other* publishers’ content. (Lovely, isn’t it?)

Those “wonderful” BPHs are, in effect, enabling the evolution of a retail environment best suited to supporting their competition.

Let us take a moment to salute these clueless execs for (hopefully) we’ll not see their like again. :)

]]> By: Meredith Greene http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/comment-page-1/#comment-1175133 Meredith Greene Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:41:53 +0000 http://www.teleread.com/2010/07/26/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/#comment-1175133 I am rather surprised that Amazon would raise prices, in light of Macmillan's CEO revealing recently that their eBooks priced below $10 were outselling every other variety, including those from the 'best-sellers' list. It does not seem logical to raise prices in a bad economy. I am rather surprised that Amazon would raise prices, in light of Macmillan’s CEO revealing recently that their eBooks priced below $10 were outselling every other variety, including those from the ‘best-sellers’ list.

It does not seem logical to raise prices in a bad economy.

]]> By: Mags http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/comment-page-1/#comment-1175118 Mags Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:55:32 +0000 http://www.teleread.com/2010/07/26/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/#comment-1175118 Did Amazon ever promise $9.99 books in perpetuity? I always thought it was ONLY NYT bestsellers, and was meant to be an introductory price. Did Amazon ever promise $9.99 books in perpetuity? I always thought it was ONLY NYT bestsellers, and was meant to be an introductory price.

]]> By: Scott Nicholson http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/comment-page-1/#comment-1175072 Scott Nicholson Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:08:53 +0000 http://www.teleread.com/2010/07/26/do-e-reader-price-decreases-matter-in-face-of-e-book-price-increases/#comment-1175072 Thank you, publishers, for opening the door to me and thousands of other authors who believe in giving our readers a fair price and a shared experience. Scott Nicholson http://www.hauntedcomputer.com Thank you, publishers, for opening the door to me and thousands of other authors who believe in giving our readers a fair price and a shared experience.

Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com

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