| The expansion of sales and demand for eBooks, | | | | unemployment in the publishing industry? Well, first |
| readable on e-readers such as the Kindle and others, | | | | the paper-making industry will fail and so will forestry |
| has given rise to questions of cost. Why are eBooks | | | | maintenance, leading to even more unemployment. |
| so expensive in comparison with the cost of paper | | | | Bookstores will close down and a valuable resource |
| books, given the fact that no raw materials are | | | | will be lost. Libraries will shut - they will become online |
| involved (i.e. paper, ink and bindings)? | | | | digital libraries, and you can bet your life that they will |
| That will be answered shortly, but first, there is more | | | | not be free - likely run by Amazon, Apple and others. |
| to just cost when comparing the permanence of a | | | | Free digital libraries will give rise to free interchange |
| genuine book with the transient pleasure of reading a | | | | of files, and hence reduced sales, so no books will be |
| digital file. The smell of fresh ink and the feel of | | | | free. Schoolbooks and college texts will become |
| genuine paper in your hands is, for many, worth | | | | digital and the whole publishing industry will be in |
| more than the cost advantage to be gained by | | | | turmoil. According to the review "Is There Hope For |
| purchasing a PDF file - whether that file contains | | | | A Kindle Application In Universities", many students |
| Dickens, Forsyth or pulp fiction. | | | | are finding that they can control at least part of the |
| Many consumers claim that publishers are ripping | | | | money that is spent on their education by getting a |
| them off with the charges they are applying for | | | | handheld reading device like Kindle DX. Even with the |
| digital texts, believing that they must be saving large | | | | restriction on sales of eReaders and the Kindle |
| amounts of money in paper, printing, equipment and | | | | application in Universities, over ten million students are |
| physical distribution costs. A large printing press can | | | | using the applications. |
| cost upward of $2 million, so why are eBooks not | | | | For these reasons, the prices of digital publications |
| priced at a fraction of those of paperbacks, let alone | | | | should and shall be maintained - sure, lower than |
| hardbacks? | | | | physical books, but not so low as render it impossible |
| Let's look at this a bit closer, and consider the costs | | | | for people to resist turning to them as viable |
| we are looking at. These are approximate, so taken | | | | alternatives to real books. The paper book market |
| to the nearest dollar or so, but let's consider a | | | | will survive, and even now many are turning their |
| hardback at $25 (in reality it would likely be $24.99). | | | | backs on e-readers - even many who have |
| First, there are royalties to the writer; overhead | | | | purchased them still use lending libraries. |
| costs in wages, printing materials, paper and so on, | | | | If publishers were restricted to digital formats at low |
| but first consider what the bookseller gets. On a $25 | | | | prices, they would be less willing to take a chance on |
| book that would be around $13. Around $4 will go on | | | | new writers, and would not publish books with low |
| printing, shipping, typesetting, designing the cover and | | | | popularity as they do now. That means that new |
| so on, and the average marketing cost for a book is | | | | authors would die away and that the more esoteric |
| $1. Royalties to the writer are normally 15% of the | | | | titles would remain just that: esoteric and unpublished. |
| selling price, or $3.75. Do the math, and that leaves | | | | What a loss to the nation that would be! |
| the publisher with $3.25. Then we have overhead | | | | There will always be those for whom the look and |
| costs: depreciation of presses, plant and office space, | | | | feel of a good book is just as important as its |
| power costs, editors, staff and so on. Not a lot left | | | | contents, and a list of titles on a computer director |
| as profit. | | | | cannot approach the beauty of a row of books on a |
| Compare that with an eBook. The retailers get | | | | library shelf. Yes, digital may predominate, but many |
| around 30%, which on a $9.99 eBook is around $3. | | | | will still enjoy the feel of their book as they turn the |
| The digital conversion and marketing are around $1.50 | | | | pages, and anybody who cannot appreciate that |
| each book and royalty calculations for eBooks vary, | | | | deserves their digital equivalent. |
| but you can take around 25% of the price as an | | | | There is nothing to beat the smell of a new book, |
| average, or $2.50. That leaves about $3 for the | | | | particularly if leather bound, and such works of art will |
| publisher. That's without the overheads and any | | | | never die for many. In fact, they shall never die, |
| other costs. | | | | because the prices of eBooks will be maintained. |
| That means that there is little difference to the | | | | Amazon's insistence of a maximum price for the |
| publisher whether the book is printed or electronic. So | | | | eBooks in its library is understandable, but even |
| the argument that eBooks should sell at a lower price | | | | Amazon understands that that there is a level below |
| than they do now is untenable. However, there is a | | | | which they would sell at a loss. |
| serious problem associated with inexpensive eBooks, | | | | The future of eBooks and e-readers is secure, but |
| and one that most of the public fail to grasp. | | | | so too is that of the physical book. There is a |
| Should eBooks be priced too cheaply then that will | | | | market for each, and they will continue to live happily |
| spell the end of paper books as we know them. | | | | side by side. For now! |
| What will that mean apart from massive | | | | |