Last week we reported on a growing boycott of digital books priced more than $9.99 at Amazon.com–participants have already tagged more than 800 books with a “9 99boycott” label. Trying to head off this kind of controversy, Angry Robot Books have a new survey for readers about ebook pricing.
Meanwhile, GalleyCat readers debated pricing problems. One reader wrote: “as the price of the readers like the Kindle or the Sony Reader begin to come down, and go from $350 to about fifty bucks, then we’re going to see the cost of the books rise slowly. I don’t think they’ll ever be full cover price, but maybe will end up around $15-17. It’s going to become a Gillette situation–give away the razor and make your profit on the blades.”
Another reader wrote: “The actual, physical cost of producing a book is around $1.50. It’s all of the other overhead that drives the pricepoint, and so eliminating the buck and a half doesn’t really change anything. The AAP should be getting out in front of this issue now, explaining the pricing issue more clearly, but they won’t, and public perception will continue to harden against publishers.” (Link via SciFi Signal)
