In The Wall Street Journal, 12/15/2011, there is another article about e-book pricing. The first thing to remember when it says "E-Book Readers Face Sticker Shock," and "e-book prices have soared," is that they are not referring to my book, and probably not your books. I wish my book was included in the conversation when the average price of the e-book is in the $9.99 to $15.99 range. They are talking bestseller, you know, Patterson and those guys whose books sell simply because their name is on it. I don't mean to take anything away from them, they deserve it; they are good writers. But, this is mostly about publishers. The big publishers want to bar retailers from setting their own discount prices, as they can do with printed books. Some printed books are now selling for less than the e-book counterpart. Again, not mine, but the big boys books.
The investigation of alleged collusion with Apple (see previous post) continues and the whole pricing business gets a bit confusing , for me.
It makes no sense to me that the price of an e-book will, on average, be higher priced than the printed book.
The number of e-reader owners has doubled in the last year and is expected to almost double again this year. Demand for e-books will be greater. Right? To me that's a reason for e-book prices to remain low. But, I'm not a big publisher that sees the big dollar signs.
As a self-publisher, I think all this ado about pricing won't affect me very much. I'll keep selling mine for $2.99 and sometimes lower.
Another expectation, is that with the greater number of folks owning an e-reader they will seek alternatives to $15 e-books, and turn more toward self-publishers. I say, let the big boys fight their fights. There are many great self-published books available at bargain prices. If more people find them, it will be fine with me.
Here is the link to the article: Wall Street Journal: "E-book Readers Face Sticker Shock."