By BOB SNYDER
Bear in mind when ebooks have been speculated to be the cheaper, greener different to print? “Purchase a Kindle,” they mentioned. “Digital is quicker, extra sustainable, and straightforward in your pockets.” Again then, a brand new e book usually meant $2.99 for an indie title, or $9.99 for a bestseller. It felt like a reader’s dream—frictionless entry with out the hardback price ticket.
Effectively, a lot for that dream. I now pay $15-18 for Kindle books. No paper, no ink, no warehouse, no delivery. Simply bits and bandwidth. Living proof: The Let Them Concept by Mel Robbins, at the moment listed for $17 in Kindle format on Amazon. That’s not a fluke—simply considered one of a number of overpriced ebooks I’ve purchased lately.At first, I assumed this was Amazon squeezing readers. However right here’s the twist: it’s primarily the publishers driving the value will increase.
The foremost publishers—the identical ones who as soon as touted ebooks as a budget-friendly format—are actually those setting the excessive costs, due to what’s known as the company mannequin. Meaning Amazon doesn’t management the retail worth of most ebooks from massive publishing homes. Publishers do. Amazon simply takes its 30% minimize.
Why the change? The large publishers argue they should:
–Shield print gross sales, which nonetheless usher in sturdy income and assist justify costly print runs.
–Protect the perceived worth of books, fearing that readers will develop too accustomed to $2.99 or $4.99 pricing.
–Preserve pricing management, particularly after years of preventing Amazon’s deep discounting technique.
Amazon can nonetheless strain publishers to alter costs in particular conditions, however principally it is a writer’s recreation.
It’s the traditional sample: launch a disruptive new know-how with low costs to drive adoption, then reverse course as soon as the shopper base is locked in. Jogs my memory of the early days of ATMs—pitched as a free comfort, till sufficient of us have been hooked. Then got here the charges.
Now the identical is going on with digital books. We have been skilled to count on ebooks as a deal. Now we’re being instructed they’re a premium expertise—and priced accordingly.
And what about audiobooks, the poor cousin on this digital triangle? Regardless of all the thrill in regards to the booming audio market, they usually get pushed as membership freebies or sit even greater on the pricing ladder. Everybody’s scrambling for income in a world the place content material is infinite and a spotlight is scarce.
I’ll admit, I nonetheless purchase hardcovers and paperbacks. I like holding an actual guide. However with my private library downsized from 4,000 to 1,000 books (due to a spouse who doesn’t get pleasure from dusting cabinets), I’ve gone digital for many of my on-the-road studying. That used to imply Kindle. Now it means… hesitation.
Digital was speculated to scale effectively. No useless bushes, no vans, no returns. Simply environment friendly distribution. As an alternative, we’re paying practically the identical—or extra—than for print. It’s arduous to see the place the additional price goes, except for writer margins.
I’m not saying publishers shouldn’t make a revenue. However it’s truthful to ask: are they honoring the unique promise of digital publishing—or quietly cashing in on our dependence?
Bob Snyder is a excessive tech commerce editor whose love of studying started with Ace Books’s “flippable” sci-fi paperbacks.” You first learn one science fiction novel after which flipped the guide over to learn one other (the “tête-bêche” or “dos-à-dos” format with two books certain back-to-back, inverted).
AI-assisted.
