Inver Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 I don't have a kindle/ebook thingy but I think this is just a bit excessive is it not! Just had my regular Waterstones email through and there was the latest list of top ebooks. Would be nearly just as well buying the hardback! This one of them Would you pay this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 I have paid that for a couple of e-books and didn't really baulk at it, as both were quite rare books which I wanted to read and which I knew would be good ones. It may seem like a lot, but really to me it is an investment in good quality writing. As for the hardback being the same price, well we always have that option. Once the paperback edition is released, the price will come down anyway, so maybe if you don't want to pay that, you will just have to wait. At the end of the day, it is all about choices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 I have paid that also for one or two that I really wanted. It depends what it is really. But that would be over half my monthly Amazon budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inver Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 Fair enough if it was a difficult original book to source I guess. I don't really know enough about the ebook things, but was just surprised at the price of it when I saw it. Thanks for moving this 'mod' whoever you were. I didn't even know there was a separate section... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 I have paid that (and probably more) for books that I really wanted to read as soon as they came out. It didn't bother me. I would pay that for the hardback or the e-book, if it's something I really wanted. I've never been bothered by the fact that you don't have a physical book, and don't really see the reasoning that an e-book should be that much cheaper than a paperbook. I always thought that the bulk of the cost of books is for royalties, and the printing was a very minor cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 (edited) There's two criteria's for buying an expensive ebook for me - firstly, pre-Kindle, would I have bought the book in hardback because I was desperate to read it, and secondly, is it cheaper than the hardback edition? If I can answer both questions with a "Yes", then I'd be happy to pay the money for it. Incidentally, the cheaper than the paperback also works in my buying decisions. I think the whole way books is marketed is wrong, if I'm honest, and don't see why publishers still insist with hardback only editions for 6-12 months, then cheaper paperback editions - an old fashioned way of marketing, especially with the advent of ebooks, but if they're going to stick to that then I'll stick to my criteria. I'm also a believer that I'm not buying the physical object of a book, I'm buying the work of the author. Whether I buy a hardback, paperback or ebook, it took the author the same amount of time to write it, the same amount of time to edit, and is part of the cost of marketing it, so the only thing different about the digital version, is that it doesn't cost the publisher anything for the raw materials of physically printing a book, and that should be reflected in the cost. As this is not a massive proportion of the cost of publishing, if the hardback edition was £14.99, I'd be happy to pay £11.99 for the ebook, but unless it's an author I desperately want to read, I'll wait for the paperback edition to be published and the cost of the ebook to come down. What bugs me more, is when the paperback edition is released and they still don't reduce the cost of the ebook, or the paperback is discounted by the seller, and the publishers set the price of the ebook higher than the book version - I'm not prepared to pay more for an ebook than a physical book! Edited October 20, 2012 by chesilbeach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I wish there were more readers like you Chesil ! I always thought that the bulk of the cost of books is for royalties, and the printing was a very minor cost. If only that were true - the truth is that most authors earn around 10 percent of the price of a book in royatlies (i.e. 79 pence for a £7.99 book). When my own book was published back in 2007, I worked out exactly who got what and was quite shocked to find that the book store earned more than both me and the print costs put together ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashleighjane Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I wouldn't pay that much if I could get a physical copy for cheaper. I always go for the cheaper option, even if only by a few pence. I think the reason they're so expensive comes down to greed :/ (And I mean the greed of publishers & companies, not authors ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I'm with the majority on this one. If it's a book I'm really excited to read, I don't care how much it costs . I'm thrifty in every other area of my life that I CAN be,so if there's a book I want , I buy it . It also doesnt matter to me if it's in eBook form, you still get to read it ,you can keep it if you wish,and read it again 50 times ,so it's yours forever once you buy it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 In the majority of cases (in the U.S.)the ebook is at least as cheap as the paperback and in most cases it is approx. 25% cheaper. I have not seen any book where the ebook was more expensive than the hardback and almost always it is 10 - 25% cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I would only pay that kind of money for a rare e-book or a book that I simply couldn't find in hardcopy. If the ebook is more expensive, there is no way I would buy it - it ought to be less, even if only a little, for substraction of the cost of printing and distribution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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