Why are Kindle books so much money?

[Pablo Escobar]

I don't own a kindle, but I'm shopping on Amazon today and noticed that kindle versions of the used books I am looking for are twice the price, and sometimes for new books the same price ($8-12) each.

Ummm, shouldn't Kindle books be 1/3 the price?

After all, they don't have printing or third party markup to worry about.

What a joke!

[shalym]

Talk to the publishers--they're the ones that have set the price, and they don't allow Amazon to discount for Kindle books. For print books, Amazon (and any bookstore, for that matter) can sell a book at whatever price they want--they buy the books from the publisher, and can then discount as deeply as they choose. The way it works with e-books is called the "Agency Model", and it all started when the iPad was released. So...if you don't like the prices of e-books, blame Apple

http://www.idealog.com/blog/apples-d...ith-the-tablet

Shari

[DReynolds]

Originally Posted by Pablo Escobar

I don't own a kindle, but I'm shopping on Amazon today and noticed that kindle versions of the used books I am looking for are twice the price, and sometimes for new books the same price ($8-12) each.

Ummm, shouldn't Kindle books be 1/3 the price?

At $10/book, the author might get $2/book. Most books sell a few thousand copies, yielding maybe $20k to $80k for the author who spent a year or two of his/her life on it.

(The math is different for ultra-bestsellers, say your Grisham or Clancy).

[rb.]

I just bought four ebooks from Kobo. Two were $0.97, one was around $7.50, ans one free. Most of the NYT bestsellers were $9.99. New releases are around $14, IRC. That's way cheap on the new releases, which are usually hardcover only until the paperback print runs.

[Brihard]

"Why are Kindle books so much money?"

Because at the prices charged, it's estimated by the publishers that they will get the greatest cost efficiency. In short, they'll charge what the market will bear. Why would they sell any less than people will pay?

[Pablo Escobar]

Market penetration, and training customers to purchase e books.

Sell 1 million e books at $3 vs 20,000 @ 20.

After they hook you into prefering ebooks, then they can raise the price.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by DReynolds

At $10/book, the author might get $2/book. Most books sell a few thousand copies, yielding maybe $20k to $80k for the author who spent a year or two of his/her life on it.

(The math is different for ultra-bestsellers, say your Grisham or Clancy).

Actually, if the author puts the books onto Amazon themselves, they would make $7.00 for each sale of that $10.00 book. Many authors are now doing just that for their back catalogs. Publishers are resisting, trying to say that they automatically have rights to digital copies of books published in the 60s and 70s. If you are an author, or know someone who is looking to publish, do NOT sign any contract that gives the publisher unlimited digital rights to your book. Remember...digital books never go out of "print", so traditional contracts that allow rights to revert back to the author after so many years after a book goes out of print don't apply.

Shari

[VT9]

I've been enjoying the used books option from Amazon. Scored "The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali" for $17 shipped. Barnes and Noble wanted $35 + 7% tax.

Feels good to read a real book instead of having another digital device attached to me.

[Susie]

jezjnazekj nafomv cq,nz zekzeiàç!!!!!!!

my long post just went into space!!!!!!!!

i'll come back and do it agfain when I calm down

[Potemkin]

Why are Kindle books so much money?

Because people will pay that much.

Seems simple to me.

Of course that doesn't mean I will pay that much.

[DReynolds]

Originally Posted by shalym

Actually, if the author puts the books onto Amazon themselves, they would make $7.00 for each sale of that $10.00 book. Many authors are now doing just that for their back catalogs. Publishers are resisting

So if you give Amazon the right to distribute the electronic version of the book and they don't create any physical copies, then you get $7/book?

And does this start at the 1st book sold, or is it $7/book after the first thousand sold? (This is a contract configuration I've seen, that lets the author bets on his/her own success with the publisher taking little risk).

[shalym]

Originally Posted by DReynolds

So if you give Amazon the right to distribute the electronic version of the book and they don't create any physical copies, then you get $7/book?

And does this start at the 1st book sold, or is it $7/book after the first thousand sold? (This is a contract configuration I've seen, that lets the author bets on his/her own success with the publisher taking little risk).

It's for every book sold. For any book that's directly published to Amazon that's $2.99 or over, the author gets 70%. For any under $2.99 the author gets 35%. This does not mean that you can't sell it anywhere else--you just can't sell the digital copy anywhere else for less money. If you sell the digital copy on Barnes and Noble, Google, Borders, or Smashwords for less, Amazon will either make the book not available for sale on their site, or match the price from the other site, and cut your royalty accordingly. You can sell a print copy anywhere (including Amazon) for as much as you want to.

Shari