Cost

I was amused a few weeks ago to read about a small revolt in which the consumer appears to have been the victor--at least for now. I can only imagine the discussion about market priming and timing that took place before Amazon offered a Kindle version of a new release by a popular writer at hardback prices. The Kindle consumers of popular literature (which until then had cost them less than $10 per download), said no, no, we won't go. And didn't.

Good for them, I say. We have been sheep too long, which was made very clear by the rationalization for upping the price. Apparently, it is not cheaper to provide an electronic version of a book. No, the cost is all in the marketing and promotion, and advances to the authors, etc. The paper and ink, and the expense of transporting them are very nominal costs. The reason that Kindle downloads have been so cheap is that they have been subsidized at a special introductory price to support a new market.

Wait a minute. The cost is in the content and not the materials and shipping? Then why is a "pocket" paperback $10, the larger trade version that used to be reserved for "literature" $15, and the hardback around $25? I wondered this the other day when searching Border's for a book that I found in both pocket ($10) and trade ($15). Hmmm, what to buy? Were there fewer words in the cheaper version? Key scenes left out? No, of course not. But I did kind of assume that there were different costs for the printing, the paper, the shipping, etc. Now I find out otherwise. And where does that leave audiobooks at $50 or $60 per set? If the difference between print and audio format is pocketed by the narrator, that is one fabulous career choice that I wish I had considered.

And now I read that piracy of electronic books is proliferating. The authors certainly deserve their copyrights, but based on what I know now, the piracy has been going on a long time and it is consumers who have been walking the plank. Another recent article bemoaned the fact that audio rights were going unpaid when electronic devices read the electronic versions. I don't even know what to say, (and I am a little afraid that I might have to pay someone to say it.)

Do you suppose Johannes Gutenberg had to deal with these kinds of issues? I can hear it now--"But everyone will have access to written materials at a fraction of the cost. The monks who are currently producing books will have no livelihood and the masses might learn to read. We don't need no stinkin' European Renaissance."

Stick to your guns Kindle readers--we sheep are depending on you.