"Many readers might think that the majority cost of the book is in the physical aspects, namely the printing, materials and distribution."
And they're wrong. The actual physical cost of printing and shipping a book is really cheap. I always find the whole hardcover - paperback thing interesting, even without ebooks. People think what they're paying for the physical stuff, but what they're really paying for is the privilege of reading it first.
Right now, most of the ebooks on the top 100 for Kindle are a lot more expensive than .99 cents, and all the books that aren't indie books are. The number two ebook, for instance, is 12.99.
I don't think the .99 price for ebooks will stick, in the long term. I'm not even a hundred percent sure that Amazon will continue to allow it - they are trying to gently encourage people to charge between 2.99 and 9.99.
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Date: 2011-03-14 03:23 am (UTC)And they're wrong. The actual physical cost of printing and shipping a book is really cheap. I always find the whole hardcover - paperback thing interesting, even without ebooks. People think what they're paying for the physical stuff, but what they're really paying for is the privilege of reading it first.
Right now, most of the ebooks on the top 100 for Kindle are a lot more expensive than .99 cents, and all the books that aren't indie books are. The number two ebook, for instance, is 12.99.
I don't think the .99 price for ebooks will stick, in the long term. I'm not even a hundred percent sure that Amazon will continue to allow it - they are trying to gently encourage people to charge between 2.99 and 9.99.