Comments on: Textbook Publishers Prepare for iPad, Murdoch Favors High Prices

By: Phil

Phil — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:38:46 +0000

There’s no way that textbook publishers would allow Apple to have a low-price model for textbooks. Note that Kindle titles on amazon tend to be 10-20% off the physical edition. (This is probably too expensive but way more than $9.99.)

By: New Frontiers: iPad e-Magazine Pricing | Wall St. Cheat Sheet

New Frontiers: iPad e-Magazine Pricing | Wall St. Cheat Sheet — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:01:59 +0000

[...] many publishers like Murdoch seem more prone to employ beefier pricing models that hinge on how much people are willing to pay. Can you blame them for wanting a bigger [...]

By: New Frontiers: iPad e-Magazine Pricing

New Frontiers: iPad e-Magazine Pricing — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:19:20 +0000

[...] many publishers like Murdoch seem more prone to employ beefier pricing models that hinge on how much people are willing to pay. Can you blame them for wanting a bigger [...]

By: cc

cc — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:32:00 +0000

So what is the profit margin on a hardback vs. softback book? Must cost a lot to print books, but like anything, the more you print the cheaper it is.

A lot are going to go kicking and screaming into the digital age. They don’t want to give up their monopolies and huge profit margins.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:18:29 +0000

I don’t pretend to understand the factors affecting publishers, but I do know that I almost never buy full-priced books anymore – and I love books. There is so much good information available on the web (admittedly mostly non-fiction) and so many free or almost free books and references just a few clicks away in Apple apps, that the only books I am willing to buy are used books at steeply discounted prices. In this day of the web, I can no longer justify spending $15, and often much more depending on the book, for just one book. And it doesn’t matter if the book is made of paper or electrons; I’ll usually forego it if it’s more than a few dollars. I already have thousands of books and I can almost always wait until I locate what I want in an inexpensive or free digital format. This has been a significant modification of my book buying habits and it surprised me when I noticed it. I understand, though, that I’ve changed because the web has altered permanently my perception of information. If publishers ever identify ways to manage (profitably) the new reality and offer eBooks at truly reasonable rates, say $5.00 (which I’d hope wouldn’t be overly difficult as paper and warehouses are not required), I would likely spend hundreds of dollars to obtain large numbers of eBooks. I’m sorry about what this means for bookstores, but I’m no longer willing to pay thousands of dollars for those same books in paper versions; I want vastly more for less and with the convenience of digital storage, search, etc. Sadly, with the new developments reported here, I’m even less likely to buy paper or digital books at full price. Publishers, are you listening? I’ll turn over plenty of money to you, but you have to make it worth it to me in light of all the other easily accessible, inexpensive, and rapidly increasing, information on the web.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:16:02 +0000

I completely agree with Liam. I and friends were on Limewire etc…. And when ITunes came out it gave me better quality, a better conscience, less grief waiting for songs, and all for $.99/per….which everybody feels/felt they could afford. Paul — you’re wrong on this one.

By: Omar

Omar — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:15:45 +0000

Agree pre-2004 all my song came from file sharing and played nicely with MusicMatch then I got my first iPod and with it iTunes.

And is amazing how much I spent on it each year. I don’t even have a file sharing software on my mac anymore.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:29:39 +0000

I think a lot of people miss the point on the Macmillan deal. What they wanted was the ability to price books higher at the time of initial release (especially during the hardback phase) so as not to interfere with the cream of the market. Then, when the work is older and comes out in paperback, the price slides down to a fraction of the paperback price. Then, when the book is old and remaindered, the digital price can slide still lower.

This makes perfect sense as a sales model: you don’t want the cheaper digital version to take sales from your more expensive versions while they last. Eventually, however, the digital version can be quite cheap.

You can see this in action today at Amazon, where digital versions of older paperbacks that have dropped to $9.99 are priced at $6.39 or so. Ten years down the line, that digital version might drop to $1.99 and still be making money for the author and publisher long after a paperback would even be in print.

The real destruction here is of used book stores. Digital content will destroy them.

By: The Apple iPad

The Apple iPad — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:40:27 +0000

[...] Textbook Publishers Prepare for iPad, Murdoch Favors High Prices [...]

By: On the Call: Comcast CEO on Apple’s iPad

On the Call: Comcast CEO on Apple’s iPad — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:52:20 +0000

[...] Textbook Publishers Prepare for iPad, Murdoch Favors High Prices [...]