♥!The Young Adult Book Club!♥ discussion

The ongoing war between two giants Amazon and Hachette is actually a war between traditional publishing and self publishing. I received a mail from Amazon as a kindle author to support their cause, but I have been traditionally published too. I am unable to take sides, so I watch from the sidelines. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brooke-...

The war in the books business finds an echo in Bangalore with booksellers taking up battle with Amazon and Flipkart for their pricing strategies. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national...

I'd say you'd be more equipped than anyone to pick a side since you've seen them both :)

Personally, I think it's pretty obvious that Hachette is seeking to overprice ebooks to push their margins even higher. There is no logical reason for an ebook to be priced greater than $9.99. In my opinion, even $9.99 is on the high side, especially because most publishers are giving their authors a measly 25% of the royalties.

Actually no, David, as I see value in both sides.
I agree ebooks cannot be priced high, as it does not have the touch and feel of a printed book. But printed books still have value, but that's changing here in India too. Many booksellers in Bangalore have protested over Amazon and Flipkart reducing prices.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national...

I would never pay $9.99 for an ebook. I would rather buy a used paperback for a few bucks. Sorry, but that is my opinion.

I think you misunderstood me, Janaki, I AGREE that printed books have value, MORE value than ebooks. Because they are tangible and made of something that costs money, that you can display on a shelf or give to someone else. What I don't agree with is that ebooks are worth THE SAME as paperbacks. Publishers see ebooks as an opportunity to make HUGE margins by selling something worth less that costs next to nothing to produce (an ebook) for THE SAME as something more valuable that costs $4-$5 to produce (a paperback). That's simply not fair and a greedy way of doing business. As an example:

If Hachette sells a paperback for $14.99, the cost of producing the book might be $5. So that's $10 left, $3 of which goes to the bookseller, and the remaining $7 is shared between the publisher and the author (and the publisher will generally get a lot more of it).

If Hachette sells the same ebook for $14.99, the cost of producing is basically zero. $4.50 might go to the book seller, and the remaining $10.50 goes to the publisher and author (again, the publisher gets more, which is just another unfair aspect to all of this).

COnclusion: Hachette wants to overprice ebooks in order to pad their profits. In my opinion, it's very black and white.

As far as the article about booksellers, again, they're thinking about themselves and the legitimacy of their own businesses, not about what's best for readers. For readers, lower prices is better, because it means they can afford to read more books, which is better for authors too. I believe readers should be the number one priority here, and if you poll readers and ask if they'd rather pay $9.99 or $14.99, I can tell you what they'd say.

I agree with totally with your views. While the jury is out on the ongoing debate I went and did a countdown deal for my ebook which will definitely reach more readers. Amazon has ensured that readers get cheaper books. At the final count its the reader who counts, if they're are not reading we as writers don't count either

Well said, the readers are number 1!

And why're we discussing the topic so heatedly? If people are not reading, no safety net to safeguard the publishing industry will make any difference. Do readers care?

Yeah, exactly, I'm not sure the readers really care, they'll go wherever they have to to get their books.

Absolutely David, it's much like what the music industry went through. Everyone is downloading music free or listening to live music streaming. Even hardcore music fans don't seem to be buying music CDs anymore.