Tim McCall, Penguin Group USA; Michael Tamblyn, Kobo; Kassia Lrozser, Booksquare; Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown, Ltd.; Laura Dawson, KNJ Dawson
Ebook pricing: what they should cost and why
Penguin: have to start with the intrinsic value of the material and the format. Need to look at cost – from the time its bought to the time it goes to the consumer. Ebook should not be looked at on its own, especially since ebooks are such a small point of the total market (<4%). Ultimately ebooks will get to the point where they are just another format and will be released and priced on that format's merits at that particular time. Penguin sees that $9.99 sells a lot more ebooks but does not seem to sell more Penguin books over the breadth of their list. Does not seem to enhance overall market. Publishers have not done a good job showing consumers that publishers have a value. Digital prices are artificially low, but that has made digital grow so fast. Curtis Brown: literary agent. author gets from 7.5 to 15% of list rights depending on type of book. Common to get 25% of net today. When publisher licenses rights out to another media author gets about 50%. Amazon told agents directly that Amazon feels that 9.99 is fair for ebook and readers expect that. Costs about $200 to covert an average ebook. Amazon determines which international edition to sell based on location of purchase not location of buyer. Kobo: publishers often tell Kobo they are trying to defend price of hardcovers and they want to sell at hardcover list price which runs form $14 to over $20. Those books don't sell. Consumers buy from Kobo primarily in $6 to $12 area for the most part. Very few sales at above $18. Average of ebook purchased through Kobo is $8.76. Does not feel that Kobo is competing against piracy at all - simplicity of purchase process and immediacy of purchase is most important to consumers. Kassia Kroszer: in a marketplace where info moves fast and needs to stay current you can sell an ebook for $75. Example SEO Book: DRM free, updates for life, extremely current information. To do this have to give customers more than a book. Works better for non-fiction. Some of these sell for up to $150, they are information based. Digital-first publishers do a much better job of giving a high quality-produced product than the big publishers are doing.
