Comments on: Pricing e-books http://snarkmarket.com/2009/4339 The stomping grounds of Tim Carmody, Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson. It's a long-running conversation about media, journalism, technology, cities, culture, design, books, music, movies, the future and the past. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:58:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Linked: On Pricing eBooks – Novelr - Making People Read http://snarkmarket.com/2009/4339/comment-page-1#comment-7448 Linked: On Pricing eBooks – Novelr - Making People Read Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:09:31 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=4339#comment-7448 [...] Tim Carmody on pricing eBooks: Now, dig­i­tal books also offer the pos­si­bil­ity that books, like CDs, can be split and [...] […] Tim Carmody on pricing eBooks: Now, dig­i­tal books also offer the pos­si­bil­ity that books, like CDs, can be split and […]

]]> By: Tim Carmody http://snarkmarket.com/2009/4339/comment-page-1#comment-7447 Tim Carmody Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:31:04 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=4339#comment-7447 Yeah, what's up with that? I thought about this with Matthew Battles's recent Kindle story, which I was going to ask if he'd release for Nook. It's well and good for B&N to pester Amazon on established publishers' pricing, but they need to open up their marketplace to the indies too. On the plus side, they support open formats like EPUB - but the Sloans and Battleses of the world probably just want to sell their stories for the Nook. Yeah, what’s up with that? I thought about this with Matthew Battles’s recent Kindle story, which I was going to ask if he’d release for Nook. It’s well and good for B&N to pester Amazon on established publishers’ pricing, but they need to open up their marketplace to the indies too. On the plus side, they support open formats like EPUB — but the Sloans and Battleses of the world probably just want to sell their stories for the Nook.

]]> By: Robin http://snarkmarket.com/2009/4339/comment-page-1#comment-7443 Robin Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:13:32 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=4339#comment-7443 Yeah, I think the sticky $9.99 is going to be a very good thing in the long run. B/c while, in the short run, publishers are scrambling b/c they've built their businesses around higher prices (and are still paying to print all the physical books, so it's not like they're seeing huge savings from the existence of the Kindle/Nook yet), in the LONG run, publishers restructure or (better yet) new publishers emerge built around this price point and, whoah! An all-digital or mostly-digital product priced at $9.99? That is so. much. money. Seriously, I'm very optimistic about this. First, old-school publishers are going to fight tooth and nail and keep it locked at $9.99 minimum... then, hot new publishers are going to swoop in and sell ebooks at that price, but with a MUCH lower cost structure. (P.S. I haven't seen anything about indie sellers in the B&N Nook store yet, and some quick googling just now didn't reveal anything. Let us know if/when you spot any links to, or mention of, it.) Yeah, I think the sticky $9.99 is going to be a very good thing in the long run. B/c while, in the short run, publishers are scrambling b/c they’ve built their businesses around higher prices (and are still paying to print all the physical books, so it’s not like they’re seeing huge savings from the existence of the Kindle/Nook yet), in the LONG run, publishers restructure or (better yet) new publishers emerge built around this price point and, whoah! An all-digital or mostly-digital product priced at $9.99? That is so. much. money.

Seriously, I’m very optimistic about this. First, old-school publishers are going to fight tooth and nail and keep it locked at $9.99 minimum… then, hot new publishers are going to swoop in and sell ebooks at that price, but with a MUCH lower cost structure.

(P.S. I haven’t seen anything about indie sellers in the B&N Nook store yet, and some quick googling just now didn’t reveal anything. Let us know if/when you spot any links to, or mention of, it.)

]]> By: Kassia Krozser http://snarkmarket.com/2009/4339/comment-page-1#comment-7440 Kassia Krozser Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:03:24 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=4339#comment-7440 I want to thank you for getting what I was saying, and following my logic. I'm (despite my reputation!) a believer in higher priced content. I just wanted to make a small correction: the ebook I'm using in my example is not hypothetical, but was selling quite well, for the author (self-published) at $75. Of course, life being life, there is a fatal flaw in my original thinking. Since you've followed the logic this far, you'll know where I'm going with this. It's not format that creates value. It's content. And, yeah, pricing is going to be all over the map for a few years. I want to thank you for getting what I was saying, and following my logic. I’m (despite my reputation!) a believer in higher priced content. I just wanted to make a small correction: the ebook I’m using in my example is not hypothetical, but was selling quite well, for the author (self-published) at $75. Of course, life being life, there is a fatal flaw in my original thinking. Since you’ve followed the logic this far, you’ll know where I’m going with this.

It’s not format that creates value. It’s content. And, yeah, pricing is going to be all over the map for a few years.

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