[electromagnetic]

Audiobooks are an after-publishing product. Once a novel has become profitable, they can hand the book to a voice actor and say 'read', they then sell the product for $10 because it no longer kills their bottom line.

The reason eBooks don't cost like this, is because people want them here and now like you get with a real book. I'm sorry, but if people want a $10 book, do what everyone else on the fucking planet does and wait for it to come down in price! There's lots of books in book stores that cost less than $10, so why pay for an ebook? You're never going to get a brand new ebook at $9.99 and it cover the cost of the process. Your best bet is a $10 eBook released a year or so after publication like with an audiobook, or discounted mass market paperbacks.

[lliiffee]

If ebooks cost 10% of what books used to cost, but everyone buys 10x as many books because of the lower cost, convenience of buying and storing them, etc., then the costs can be covered the same as today.

[electromagnetic]

I don't really buy into any of that. How is an eBook more convenient to store versus a book, when I'm not allowed to give anyone else my eBook but there's already well established laws that protect my right to resell any book I own. They also invented these things called bookshelves that store a lot of books and often look very nice too.

People are very unlikely to buy more books because they're cheaper. Yes probably one out of ten people will buy more books, however the majority won't. I don't buy a book because it's priced $9.99 I buy it because of the Author, like most readers do. In fact I bought my wife a book last week that cost $9.95, why? Because I'd been recommended the author, price had nothing to do with the purchase.

Why was the book I bought $9.95 brand new? Because the production cost was lower, because I know for a fact this is the authors debut and the publisher prices it lower to help the author get a following. Her next book is already priced at $19.95.

This is a pointless argument. Go ask Microsoft why they don't price their product at 10% of what they currently do. They'll tell you because 90% of people are stealing their product and when Gates tried lower pricing, 90% of people still stole his software. I'd say 90% of people already get their books new at $5, it's only the fans who are willing to pay $30+ for a new book.

[jeffesp]

This ignores the fact that there might be a fixed cost per book. If it is 10% of the current book price, then you are making no profit. Books don't just grow on trees. It also assumes that I have time for 10x as many books because they are cheaper. Currently, my time is more of a premium than my convenience or money.

[lliiffee]

It seems to me that the marginal cost for an ebook is indeed zero. (Or very, very nearly zero: do you count the cost of the electricity or bandwidth to download it?) You disagree?