Kindle books: Why so expensive?

[Lanshark]

Why are Kindle books so expensive? I know a new release hardcover is over $20 but the Kindle version is typically $10. I keep waiting for them to come down.

I know the Kindle just came down to $299.

 

[eeyore65]

There is a really good article on this today in the Wall St. journal. Basically, the publishers are trying to hold the line with the pricing. They can get $29 for a new release and want to keep it that way. Apparently, this is still more profitable to them then an e-book even without the printing and delivery. (I find that hard to believe!) They are trying to push that new releases may only come out in hardcover (no e-book) for a period of time and then come out later at the $9.99. Sort of like movies on DVD.

I think it is crazy and they are fighting a losing battle. I think the e-books can be a huge profit center for them because you can't share them like passing off a book. So they will make less but sell more. Just my opinion....

 

[kelleigh1]

I just don't understand the pricing at all and personally think the Kindle is a waste of money. (If someone can explain to me why it's not, I'd love to hear it.)

From what I gather, you buy the Kindle for a couple hundred bucks, then buy a download of the book for another fee, so why don't I just buy the book and read it instead of buying a fancy gadget so I can read it? What does the Kindle really do for me?

So what am I missing? There must be something that I'm just not getting about this whole thing because it doesn't make sense to me that I'd spend so much more money just to read it on a handheld techie device when I could just read the book.

 

[eeyore65]

The big thing for me is convenience. I travel a lot for business and read very quickly. I also like to read in the hotel at night. So I could read 4-5 books per business trip. I can't possibly carry these all. With the kindle I can bring hundreds of books and buy one before the plane takes off if something strikes my fancy. But....it is VERY expensive compared to using the library.

 

[sallysmom]

The biggest advantage to the Kindle is that it makes reading easier and more portable. If you travel for either vacation or business and typically go through several books, it's a lot lighter to carry an electronic reader than the actual books.

It is also better for the environment -- no actual paper.

But regarding pricing, there any many reasons why the e-book is not as cheap as you think it should be. The author still needs to make money (and no, the majority of authors don't make the kind of money you think they do). The editorial process still has to happen to a book (it has to go through all the stages of a printed book just the same with all the costs involved). And so on.

 

[Papa Deuce]

I just don't understand the pricing at all and personally think the Kindle is a waste of money. (If someone can explain to me why it's not, I'd love to hear it.)

From what I gather, you buy the Kindle for a couple hundred bucks, then buy a download of the book for another fee, so why don't I just buy the book and read it instead of buying a fancy gadget so I can read it? What does the Kindle really do for me?

So what am I missing? There must be something that I'm just not getting about this whole thing because it doesn't make sense to me that I'd spend so much more money just to read it on a handheld techie device when I could just read the book.

Carry 100 books... and it still weighs just a couple of pounds.... Variable type size, make it larger while working out at the gym. It "can" play mp3's and audio books. Built in dictionary. Eventually, you will recover the cost of the unit, and then it becomes less expensive than buying new hardback books.... I could go on and on.

 

[Targsmom]

So what am I missing? There must be something that I'm just not getting about this whole thing because it doesn't make sense to me that I'd spend so much more money just to read it on a handheld techie device when I could just read the book.

While visiting the inlaws in Orlando (and DYING because I was so close to Disney! and couldn't go!) I was super grateful for my Kindle. Their idea of a visit is to watch TV for 12 hours and go to bed.. I read 5 books in 4 days. If I didn't have my kindle I would have had to lug that many books... at least. I also had the advantage of perusing my entire library and deciding what I was in the mood to read. I read books multiple times.

Also, very often you can get FREE books.. and not the public domain ones either.. I have found some very good authors this way. Often the publisher will release older books by an author for free so that people will want to read their new books that are coming out soon.

 

[DVCLiz]

I just don't understand the pricing at all and personally think the Kindle is a waste of money. (If someone can explain to me why it's not, I'd love to hear it.)

From what I gather, you buy the Kindle for a couple hundred bucks, then buy a download of the book for another fee, so why don't I just buy the book and read it instead of buying a fancy gadget so I can read it? What does the Kindle really do for me?

So what am I missing? There must be something that I'm just not getting about this whole thing because it doesn't make sense to me that I'd spend so much more money just to read it on a handheld techie device when I could just read the book.

kelleigh1, if you only read one book your logic would make sense. If you only checked out books from the public library or bought used paperbacks at a thrift store, the Kindle would be too expensive for you.

But, if you were the type of book customer that I am, it would make sense very quickly. I routinely used to go to the bookstore and buy 6 - 10 hardback books at full retail price. I would read most of them once, store them for a few years, then donate them to a school book sale in my community. That was my pattern for many years. When I began to run out of book storage space, I built in another set of bookshelves - I think I am up to 37 shelves as of now. It just began to get ridiculous.

With the Kindle, I typiclly pay 5 dollars less at a minimum over the hardcover cost of the book - some I got a NYT bestseller discount on in the bookstore but they were always more than 9.99. I don't have to store the book or worry about donating it to the book sale. I can download it (in my pajamas at 2 in the morning from the comfort of my bed if I want to) read it and not have to think about it again. I can even send it back to Amazon to store for me if I ever want to read it again - and I don't have to pay for it twice. AND, because my daughters now have Kindles of their own, one 9.99 fee lets all three of us read the same book - at the same time if we wanted to - for that one cost.

I think the Kindle is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but if I didn't read the way I do and purchase the way I did it wouldn't make economic sense.

Then again, why do I pay for a cell phone with data plan when I have a perfectly good land line and computer in my house? I certainly don't NEED to have those. There is sush a thing as spending disposable income in the way that suits you as an individual. Becaue I will never be a non - reader, it suits me to spend on the Kindle.

 

[Ephany]

I just don't understand the pricing at all and personally think the Kindle is a waste of money. (If someone can explain to me why it's not, I'd love to hear it.)

From what I gather, you buy the Kindle for a couple hundred bucks, then buy a download of the book for another fee, so why don't I just buy the book and read it instead of buying a fancy gadget so I can read it? What does the Kindle really do for me?

So what am I missing? There must be something that I'm just not getting about this whole thing because it doesn't make sense to me that I'd spend so much more money just to read it on a handheld techie device when I could just read the book.

My DH travels a lot for work, I may see him a total of 3 months in the next year. The kindle has been wonderful for him. He's required to drive from job to job and they're usually in fairly rural areas. Many times he's an hour drive from a bookstore (and no walmart does not count as a bookstore) and they don't carry a large selection of the type of books he likes to read. Before he was buying books and having to lug them around as they accumulated in the back seat of his truck. Since he also has to carry his household type items (kitchenware, luggage, bedding) with him, his space is very limited. He couldn't have books shipped to him b/c he was moving around so much, and he was unhappy with the whole situation.

Now it doesn't matter how rural of an area he's in, he can download a book right there and then. He doesn't have to cart books around and since we're not good library users and keep all of our books, it's freeing up space in the house. We actually just got rid of about 500 books this month due to moving and they took up so much room. I can fit 3 times more than that on my kindle and not have boxes stacked floor to ceiling. My fingers don't get inky; I don't have pages falling out of new releases (it's happened many, many times over the last few years) and if I don't like the book, I can just delete it and have Amazon store it for me. Oh, and for me, the kindle is way lighter than any hardcover book which makes reading much easier.

Oh, and my budget for books has decreased since we bought our kindles. There are so many good books out there for a couple of dollars or free, I'm not buying the $7.99 paperbacks or $30 hardcovers like I used to. I'm sure that by the end of the year, the amount we've saved in book purchases will have paid for our kindles. It's not for everyone, but I love mine. It's so convenient.

 

[FireDancer]

Publishers have neglected to learn the lessons that were previously learned by the music and movie industries. The price will come down when authors realize that they can self publish in the current world. At worst an author can negotiate a contract with a publisher that doesn't include electronic media or voice performance.

The advantage of the Kindle, which I do not own for the record, is convenience. If you want to carry 300 reference manuals with you for work, it is more convenient to load them on a Kindle than to cart around all those paper references. This is a huge advantage for technical people.

It also makes it easier to carry a multitude of books. The whispernet interface also makes it easy to order a new book and have it pushed to the device. Imagine you are sitting on the beach and finish a book. You can either get in your car, look up the closest bookstore, drive there, buy the book if it is even in stock, and then drive back to the beach. With a Kindle you can press a couple of buttons and start reading.

The Kindle isn't for everyone but if it fits your needs it is a good device.

 

[kelleigh1]

Thanks for the replies (sorry for disrupting the original topic.)

I guess it makes sense for those of you who use it. I do read a lot, but I don't buy a ton of books at one time and I don't buy much in hardcover. I'm also a bargain shopper, so I rarely pay full price. My family also reads a lot too, so we are always passing books around. I guess if I traveled more or found that I was spending tons of $$ on books, it would make more sense. But I just don't see it working into our budget right now - especially with the hubby being laid off. It's one of those things I just really don't need.

But thanks for the replies. I didn't know that there are "free" book downloads available too.

 

[FireDancer]

But thanks for the replies. I didn't know that there are "free" book downloads available too.

Anything that has a "creative commons" license is free.

 

[Targsmom]

Free books I have gotten to date: and I've had my Kindle for less than 6 months.

1. Settling Accounts Return Engagement: Book One of the Settling Accounts Trilogy [Kindle Edition]
   
2. Weapons of Choice (Axis of Time, Book 1) [Kindle Edition]
   
3. Paranoia [Kindle Edition]
   
4. Serial [Kindle Edition]
   
5. Lion Among Men [Kindle Edition]
   
6. Heart of Darkness [Kindle Edition]
   
7. Pride and Prejudice [Kindle Edition]
   
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray [Kindle Edition]
   
9. The Island of Doctor Moreau [Kindle Edition]
   
10. Gulliver's Travels [Kindle Edition]
    
11. The Jungle Book [Kindle Edition]
    
12. The Return of Sherlock Holmes [Kindle Edition] (ok.. I paid 49 cents for this)
    
13. Dracula [Kindle Edition]
    
14. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow [Kindle Edition]
    
15. Little Women [Kindle Edition]
    
16. The Scarlet Letter [Kindle Edition]
    
17. Oliver Twist [Kindle Edition]
    
18. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea [Kindle Edition]
    
19. The Three Musketeers [Kindle Edition]
    
20. Treasure Island [Kindle Edition]
    
21. Persuader [Kindle Edition]
    
22. His Majesty's Dragon [Kindle Edition]
    
23. Red Mars [Kindle Edition]
    
24. Assassin's Apprentice [Kindle Edition]
    
25. Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection (Every Sherlock Holmes story written by Doyle!) [Kindle Edition]
    
26. A Dangerous Man: A Novel [Kindle Edition
    
27. The Whiskey Rebels: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
    
28. Free-Range Chickens [Kindle Edition]
    
29. The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal [Kindle Edition]
    
30. The Foreign Correspondent: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
    
31. Murder List [Kindle Edition]
    
32. Six Bad Things: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
    
33. Caught Stealing [Kindle Edition]
    
34. Prague: A Novel [Kindle Edition]

If I read even 1/2 of these (and I'll read all of them.. I've read almost 1/2 already!) at 7.99 average price of paperback thats $135.83. If I read all of them at 7.99 each that's $271.66

Well worth it to me. But as it's been said.. it's not for everyone.

 

[Lanshark]

I asked because I am an avid reader but I wonder if they would sell twice as many of these things if the price of Kindle Books were in the $5 range rather than the $10 range.

I'll eventually buy one but I am waiting for the price of the books, not the Kindle, to come down.

 

[hopemax]

DH is a voracious reader, and so we keep checking out the Kindle, but the book costs are the reason we haven't purchased one yet. He has always been a used book store person. The area we live in now doesn't have the same turnover and selection in the used places as our old area, so he checked out Paperbookswap.com . He sends out about 3 books per week, and at a cost of between $2-$2.50 per book. If the price for most books were $5 instead of $9.99 it would be more appealing to him. Now he's like, "Why would I pay that when I won't even pay $7.99 for most paperbacks?"

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Are text books available on Kindle yet? I remember hearing talk about that a while back...the convenience of it. I've got two DDs in college, and one spent something like $200 on ONE book last year. And they've got tons of books to carry around.

 

[Handbag Lady]

While visiting the inlaws in Orlando (and DYING because I was so close to Disney! and couldn't go!) I was super grateful for my Kindle. Their idea of a visit is to watch TV for 12 hours and go to bed.. I read 5 books in 4 days. If I didn't have my kindle I would have had to lug that many books... at least. I also had the advantage of perusing my entire library and deciding what I was in the mood to read. I read books multiple times.

Also, very often you can get FREE books.. and not the public domain ones either.. I have found some very good authors this way. Often the publisher will release older books by an author for free so that people will want to read their new books that are coming out soon.

Do we have the same out-laws? I swear, our visits are the same and I HATE being that close to WDW and not being able to go, yet, I can sit there for hours each day watching The Weather Channel with them.

I would LOVE a Kindle. Can you also check email for free on them? Meaning, does the cost of the device include all future wireless use?

 

[Targsmom]

it definatley does depend on what you like to read. New best sellers are definately more than the older books.

 

[keenercam]

I've found many other advantages, as well as those already listed:
1. I can change the font size -- I have severe vision deficiencies and buying/borrowing or carrying large-print books is a pain in the neck.
2. My kindle does for my books what my ipod does for my music -- puts it all at my fingertips. I can flip from one book to another as easily as clicking on the home button and choosing another book.
3. I can instantly search for other books by the same author or instantly get the next book in a series when I've finished one and am eager for the next.
4. When I am reading a long series by an author, I can search all of the books for a reference to a character or place and instantly flip back to those other references to refresh my recollection
5. I can use the built-in dictionary to look up words as I read
6. I can go to wikipedia to read references to things, people, places, events that occur in a book.

I have always been a buyer of books. And I re-read many books several times. I also tend to read EVERYTHING by an author that I like. My kindle allows me to do all of that very conveniently with minimal death to trees.

With all of that being said, I am pleased that there are many, many books up to $5.99. It seems that many of the hard-covers could be less than the $9.99 - $12.39 that they are on Kindle. As to those, as a matter of principle, I try not to buy at that price, and instead borrow from the library or a friend or resign myself to waiting for a less expensive version to become available.

 

[Imzadi]

I love, Love, LOVE reading eBooks. My library has a huge eBook collection of 17,000 eBooks which I can download at 2am for FREE! I can download an eBook in the middle of a winter storm here and stay nice & warm. I think most of their collection is the current bestsellers or the most popularly read books, not just the public domain snoozers.

For non-fiction, research type books, I can download, skim for the needed info and delete at will. I can go through several books this way without leaving home or having to lug several books home for only 2 chapters worth of necessary info in each book.

For fiction books, I've read a lot of new authors & genres I never would have looked into before. Since I don't have a car, I really have to think over carefully each book I am going to walk home. I hadn't realized how much that limited the choices of books I was willing to risk taking home. Each book had to seem like a sure bet.

I can't tell you how long ago it was that I stepped into my actual library. I still have a $10 library fine to pay off. I returned the books a week late but didn't haven the money pay it off at the time. Since I used to take out about 5 books at once, if I can't make it back to the library on the due date, I wind up paying 25 cents per book for each day overdue, times five. Ouch!

With library eBooks, the book file automatically doesn't open past the due date and I simply delete the file. No more library fines.

The biggest feature I love about eBooks is the ability to change font size. My eyes have gotten worse as I age. Switching to the largest font size has been a god send for me. Also, since I don't have to flip actual pages, I'm reading much faster.

I don't have a Kindle or any other eReading device yet. I download everything to my portable laptop, set up a few pillows and can read in bed or on the couch. I can even read and eat messy foods at the same time.