Add a Comment

Comment by jaqui wells on April 29, 2013 at 12:35

Hi all, can you give your advice please? I was about to self publish on Amazon and then received an agreement from a publisher. They would take 70% after £50 sales and wanted all rights. I would get 30% thereafter. Do you know if this is standard amount from a publisher. Appreciate feedback as  am new to this.

Comment by Grace Elliot on April 28, 2012 at 11:19

There is a court case going through at the moment about the Big 6 fixing ebook prices. This is a disgraceful example though. Recently I had an 'exchange' with a stellar author of historical romance, on Facebook - on just this subject. I wont name names but she strongly defended the price of eBooks, talking down to me about the cost of editing, cover design et.c - What tosh! That was all done for the DTB copies - it's money for old rope as far as main stream publishers and eBooks are concerned - no distribution costs, no warehouse storage, no printed matter being pulped.

Needless to say, I wont be subsidising her writing career any more...

Comment by Kiru Taye on April 28, 2012 at 9:37

Wow! That is a rip off! I wouldn't buy an ebook for that amount regardless of the author.

Comment by Francine Howarth on April 28, 2012 at 8:48

Love the quote: 

"I'd like to thank Apple and the big 6 for giving me this opportunity, by raising their prices and driving all their customers to find books elsewhere." If I ever win anything, I might use that.

Hee hee. 

Comment by Lanie Malone on April 28, 2012 at 3:31

You would think that they are definitely backing a loser, but I think Americans in general have a tendency to be very complacent about prices on a good many things. As a whole, we are very complacent in general these days. If the price is $14.99 a lot of people will pay it because; either a. they really want the book, or b. they have no idea they are getting the shaft.

 

Personally, I'll be damned if I'll pay that much for a book I can't hold in my hands and smell the pages. I think that their tactics have actually helped the rise of the indie author though, by giving people other options at lower prices. It would be hard for indies to compete with well known, traditionally published authors, if the prices were all in the same range.

 

That would make a really nice addition to an acceptance speech. "I'd like to thank Apple and the big 6 for giving me this opportunity, by raising their prices and driving all their customers to find books elsewhere." If I ever win anything, I might use that.

Comment by Francine Howarth on April 27, 2012 at 15:56

Isn't Apple and the Big 6, though, backing a loser long-term? I know loads of readers are really not happy at inflated e-book prices! Most didn't even check/register e-book price before pressing the Buy-Now button, but when the statement arrived in their e-mail inbox they were livid. So was I. Favoured authors or not, I won't be conned by spin! I've been knocking around the publishing business too damn long for wool to fall over my eyes and cloud the issue on profiteering.  

I double check e-book prices now and if I think it's inflated re content and page count it's a no sale. I'd rather support a self-pubbed/Indie author, an area in which I've found better written (not always), good plot structure and great reads in the price range 1-2-3 $ +, rarely over 4.  

  

Comment by Lanie Malone on April 27, 2012 at 13:36

Apple and the big 6 conspired together to raise ebook prices across the board. They made Amazon fall in line by threatening to pull their books from the site if Amazon didn't list them at the price the publishers wanted. That's the gist of it and that is why most of my favorite author's ebooks list for $12.99 and up.

While I think what they did was wrong and really shady, I can see how Apple felt it was the only way they would be able to compete with Amazon for the ebook market. Amazon is a monster.

Comment by Francine Howarth on April 27, 2012 at 10:32

Hi Lanie,

Yes,  I did see a small article about it,but it was not in depth. I do know Amazon kicked off a whole load of mainstream published novels, but again no follow-up info. I think e-book prices should be sensible and in line with word count and based on costings to produce. But there's an awful lot of spin coming out of mainstream publishers about running costs, and as I see it the truth lies in low paperback sales in high street book stores. Internet based book sites such as Amazon, possibly B&N are creating a damn great black hole for mainstream publishers, in that they're losing ground: no longer the only source of a damn good read! ;)     

Comment by Lanie Malone on April 27, 2012 at 2:29

Did you see all the big stink about the U.S. Dept. of Justice suing the 6 biggest publishing houses and Apple for driving up ebook prices?