Given the recent hoopla over the question of the prices for e-books and who should determine them, it seemed appropriate to sum up a few of my own (semi-educated) views of the subject.
This all came to a head recently, when MacMillan tried to set prices on its Amazon e-books higher than $9.99. Amazon objected. Now, depending on which source you read, either Amazon threw a hissy fit and removed MacMillan's "buy buttons" from the order pages when the publisher refused to lower their prices or MacMillan demanded that Amazon either agree to their price or remove the buttons from their site.
Which is the truth? How should I know?
Anyway, Apple added another complicating factor by giving publishers carte blanche on pricing e-books sold for the new iPad.
There's been a lot of hand-wringing over all this. (Literary agent Nathan Bransford does a nice job summing it up.) Kindle readers have been blasting MacMillan as a bunch of greedheads and accusing the publisher of thinking they're stupid. Authors (at least with MacMillan) have been siding with the publisher. I'm sure there are exceptions to both of these statements, but by and large, that seems to be the consensus.
I've criticized MacMillan for trying to charge too much for their e-books and been told the issue isn't the price, but MacMillan's right to set it.
Okay, let's examine each aspect of this multi-sided affair.
First, Amazon probably wants to keep e-book prices low, so they can sell Kindles. Even if it takes a loss on e-books, it still makes money on Kindle sales and assures itself a healthy market share by providing buyer incentives (i.e., cheap e-books) to get one.
As the publisher, MacMillan wants to set its own prices, so it can cover its costs (which should be relatively low) and maintain the value of e-books. (I'll get back to the latter point in a moment.)
Meanwhile, Apple (who's going to have to hustle to catch up with Amazon and convince buyers to pay twice as much for iPads as Kindles), is out there going, "Yoo hoo, publishers! We'll give you what you want."
Which still leaves us with the question: how do you value an e-book?
I think it comes down to two concepts: reader perception and the notion that "content is king."
In his post, Bransford throws in a bit at the end about customers. What do readers want? What about the cheaper alternatives to higher-priced e-books? In other words, what price for e-books will the market bear? Naturally, he has no clear answer to that one. No one does.
But let's get real. When you come down to it, now is not the time to be charging an arm and a leg for e-books.
Frankly, the entire argument for keeping e-book prices low is laid out quite well by Joe Konrath.
So, what about this notion of content being "king"?
That's the good news for authors. We create the content. By having Amazon and other digital platforms on which to publish it, we can eliminate the publisher as middleman.
At some point in the future, e-books may become the norm, while print books get bought and sold by a smaller market of collectors.
When we reach that point, e-book prices should rise (assuming basic supply and demand rules eventually kick in) and they shouldn't be based solely on production costs.
If people want stories, they should be willing to (as Harlan Ellison put it) pay the author. Stories add value to people's lives. They entertain. So, an e-book's value depends on much more than overhead or production costs. It should, to a large extent, be based on the benefit it provides readers.
Is that a subjective standard? Of course, it is. But, for some reason, no one's talking about this.
Here's the thing--a book (print or electronic) is more than just words in paper and ink (or pixels). They convey ideas--whether we're talking about stories, memoirs or cookbooks. Someone had to work pretty hard to create them. And that's what e-book authors should be compensated for.
Say what you will about writing being a passion. Even passionate people have bills to pay and mouths to feed. Along with that, it takes time, talent (or, at least, a modicum) and patience to write.
As Konrath has pointed out on many occasions, it's the content that counts, regardless of the format. Without the writers, you have no story. Without the story, you have no book. Without the book--well, there you are.
Meanwhile, e-books are still a small (but fast-growing) market. So readers still perceive that they should be cheaper than print books, based on the relatively low production costs.
So, fine Harper Collins--go and renegotiate your prices with Amazon. See if your e-books sell in our current publishing environment.
Go on, authors--do 1,000 standing ovations for MacMillan. Clap as long and loud as you like. Then, keep on clapping while you watch your e-book sales drop even further.
Meanwhile, those of us who hold our own rights will decide how much to charge based on what the market will bear.
My humble opinion--right now, the market won't bear $12.99 and up. But someday . . . it just might.
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