Bruce Beckham's Blog - Posts Tagged "e-books"

Are e-books too expensive?

In bed a few nights ago I found myself thrown into a panic.

I opened my Kindle to discover I’d finished my last book.

There ensued what in marketing jargon is called a "distress" purchase.

Next morning I woke to an email from Amazon informing me I’d spent £5.99 (roughly $8.50).

Later I discovered the paperback on sale for as little as £1.99 ($2.82), including delivery.

Now, I’ve been hearing that sales of e-books have peaked – and when I noticed ‘15th Affair’ by James Patterson for $14.39 (e-book) and $13.43 (paperback) – I began to think, “No wonder!”

The first ‘Jack Reacher’ I found for $7.14 (e-book) and $7.19 (paperback).

And the opening ‘Harry Potter’ on the UK site for £5.99 (e-book) versus £3.49 (paperback).

Sure, without Prime membership there could be some freight costs to add for the hard copies – but you probably get the gist.

Personally, I think digital reading has a long way to grow – but it looks to me that, as yet, the big publishers have not wholeheartedly embraced the free market.
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Published on May 21, 2016 07:04 Tags: e-books, kindle