Note that there are 17 steps in this process for paper books ... and around 15 or 16 for ebooks. And the cost of physical goods (ink and paper) is less than 10% of the cover price.
Steps 13, 14, 15, and 16 are all unnecessary in the electronic world. Perhaps most of step 8 too, since the ARCs will be sent out electronically.
The actual materials are only part of the cost advantage ebooks have over print. Among the other advantages are:
- Real estate for book stores.
- Salaries for bookstore employees.
- Shipping, packaging.
- Inventory management.
- Bookstore profit margins.
- MUCH simpler typesetting, since pagination is mostly handled by the device.
So by saying it should only be ten percent of savings you are really understating the advantage by quite a bit.
The actual materials are only part of the cost advantage ebooks have over print. Among the other advantages are:
So by saying it should only be ten percent of savings you are really understating the advantage by quite a bit.