(Much love to W for guiding me through this minefield of numbers with so much patience.)
Last summer I read in a (I think) BBC blog that Tor Books were giving away the ebook version of some SF & fantasy books. I wasn’t that interested until Patti O’Shea‘s name leapt from the list. I can’t remember what happened, but I didn’t get to download a copy of her book, In the Midnight Hour.
I forgot about the book until last night when I came across her other book. I fancied a copy of In the Midnight Hour and I wanted to read it now. I hopped over to Fictionwise to buy a copy. As soon as I saw the price, I fell off my chair:
I know I’m a complete thicko when come to money and numbers, but even I could see the price was unreasonably high. I thought perhaps I remembered the wrong title. I googled “In the midnight Hour Patti O’Shea Tor giveaways” to make sure my memory didn’t fuck with me. It didn’t.
(Figures that Dear Author would appear first. Heheheh.) Good to see that my memory wasn’t THAT bad. But why so high the price, Fictionwise? I wondered if it was similar with other online ebook sellers. And so here is the visual result of my journey.
Aw. Not available? Trying another ebook retail site…
Boo hoo. How about the print book sellers? I started with the site of O’Shea’s publisher:
As far as I can see, it doesn’t ship books abroad. OK! That got me trying other bookshop sites:
It’s rather depressing to see the price difference between Amazon UK and Amazon US. W explained that Amazon US’s price would be approximately £4.50 if converted from $US to £UK. The other way round, it would be roughly $10. It’s two pounds or dollars more, either way. I don’t quite get it, but I’m sure you get what he’s saying.
Not available at these sites. Same with WH Smith and similar.
Anyway, Barnes & Noble now owns Fictionwise, doesn’t it? How much is it at their site? Let’s see…
Let us compare that with Fictionwise’s price:
$22.00 for an ebook. Oh, sorry — $18.70 after rebate. This for an ebook. An ebook.
In the Midnight Hour was released as an original paperback at around $6.99, and its ebook version was a giveaway by its publisher.
There is nothing that seems to justify Fictionwise’s price for the ebook version of O’Shea’s In the Midnight Hour. Could it be they are taking advantage of the fact it’s not available at other ebook retail sites? Acting like some used book sellers and their high-priced HTF books? Does this mean there is a limited number of how many ebook copies an ebook seller can sell?
Maybe, an administrative error with the price itself? Let’s hope so. ::laugh:: I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t an error because I’m seeing similar prices for many current-release ebooks.
I remember in the old days of the internet, there were a lot of criticisms towards small press, POD and self-published publishers over high cover prices. Defenders claimed it was the production costs that had the prices up so high. For example, there was a negative reaction to Laura Leone’s Fallen From Grace because although it was a hardback, many readers felt that $28 was too high.
But there is an ebook available almost at that price. Like this one: The Assassin by Stephen Coonts.
And that with Read Aloud and Printing disabled, by the way.
What reasons have major publishers and booksellers for having many ebooks priced so high, ranging between $9.99 and $28.98? I did try to understand, but all I can see is they’re shooting themselves in the foot. Perhaps they’re trying to make buyers get used to it well enough to view these ebook prices as acceptable. Or taking advantage of readers’ trust (and possibly, ignorance of technology)?
Whatever it may be, I still would like an explanation that can justify these prices under the current conditions (DRM/restrictions).