iPad launch boosted eBook piracy

In other news, the sky's blue and the Pope's Catholic. It is obvious that an increase in ownership of e-book readers will drive demand for e-books, both at the legitimate e-book stores and on the metaphorical internet high seas.

By flyingbadger on 7 Oct 2010

Rather, the high price and poor availabilty of legitimate ebooks

That boosts piracy. 1 million iPads sold = 1 million people looking for the favourite book and not finding it or finding it priced so ridiculously, that they feel justified in downloading it.
Book publishers, the new "la la la, we're not changing" Music Industry.
The music bods were stuck in the '80s, but book publishers seem to be living in the early 1900's.
A clue: People won't pay 3 times more for a lesser product with more restrictions and no resale value, when they know your costs are minimal.

By cheysuli on 7 Oct 2010

Just the beginning

With the new relatively cheap Kindle as well this is only going to get worse (or better depending on your point of view).

By omnisvalidus on 7 Oct 2010

What cheysuli said!

1. Make sure your entire catalogue is available for all significant devices. If the only option for some books is piracy, people get used to it and will be more likely to use it even when the book is available.

2. Charge fair prices - that means less than the cheapest printed version.

3. Do not screw your authors - pay them the same or more and set the cost against your reduced production costs. Tell the consumers what you are paying the authors. Book readers are loyal to their authors and want them to get paid.

By JohnAHind on 7 Oct 2010

And Authors:

Sack your publisher at the first opportunity at least for ebook rights. Sell direct and hire the services you need - editing, publicity, legal, business management - directly. Many readers who are willing to steel from faceless publishers will have loyalty to you. Personally I would be happy to pay higher prices if I knew all the money was going to the author.

By JohnAHind on 7 Oct 2010

And Finally:

Lobby the government to fix the ridiculous situation that ebooks attract VAT while printed books do not! At least make this factor very clear to your customers by quoting pre-VAT costs so they blame the government rather than you!

By JohnAHind on 7 Oct 2010

To everyone who's accusing e-book vendors of price gouging, have you actually looked at Amazon.co.uk's new Kindle book store? There is a big choice of books at significantly below paperback prices. In fact, looking at the top 20 paid books chart, every title is priced below its paperback equivalent (which, as has been pointed out, is 0% VAT rated while the e-book prices have to include 17.5% VAT), in some cases substantially. Yes, some new titles are expensive, but they are still cheaper than the hardback equivalent (Ken Follet's "Fall of Giants", for example, is £8.55 on Kindle; £9.00 in hardback; not yet out in paperback). I'm sure there are many things to dislike about e-books (non-transferability; DRM; device lock-in; etc.) but exorbitant pricing is no longer one of them.

By flyingbadger on 7 Oct 2010

Obviously I mean "below its paperback equivalent **where available**", since some titles are hardback / e-book only.

By flyingbadger on 7 Oct 2010

£8.55 on Kindle; £9.00 in hardback

Somehow, I find it really difficult to believe that the difference between the production & distribution costs of a hardback and an ebook amounts to 55 pence - with or without VAT.

Not exorbitant pricing?

By greemble on 7 Oct 2010

Lol

Well, at least now we know that "printing -> transportation -> storage -> shelf space -> return of unsold books" chain account for what 55 pence. That's pretty cheap :-)

By Lomskij on 8 Oct 2010

Hope they rot LOL

Yup,
flyingbadger, you just summed it up perfectly for me while trying to defend them.
55p cheaper for the e version which I cannot resell, cannot lend to a friend, cannot have on a bookshelf.
Which does not need printing costs, which does not need distribution costs, which does not need staffing costs for bookstores, which does not need a huge investment in terms of guessing the numbers to be sold and therefore how many to print etc.
They're as greedy as the music industry and I hope they rot for it.
Sell me a book for a few pounds in e version and I'd consider it.
I can buy a physical book for that price if its a couple of years old.
As long as they're trying to make these huge profits they're going to lose out to piracy and I will be glad to see them all have to scratch their heads and realise we dont all want to be f*!ked by them.

By nilathomas on 8 Oct 2010

Paperbacks vs. Hardbacks

I understand part of the logic of hardbacks is to get higher profit in exchange for early access and it is fine to do that with ebooks too as long as you do then reduce the price to below that of the paperback when that is released. Some publishers have stated that they think the 'proper' price AND release date for the e-book is half way between the hardback and the paperback. This policy is an open invitation to piracy. The e-book must be always available when the book is available in any form, and cheaper than any printed version to reflect the lesser rights being granted. And there is no excuse for the e-book version to be "out of print".

By JohnAHind on 8 Oct 2010

The thing with ebooks too of course is that the files are so small you could spend an afternoon downloading pirate versions and end up with enough books to last you for years.

If they behave like the music and film industry and try and force their old business models onto ebooks they will lose out massively.

By omnisvalidus on 8 Oct 2010

I'm quite surprised at the number of people on here that think the difference in price between £9 and £8.55 is 55p. No one has mentioned the other reason people pirate ebooks, they already have bought a physical copy and don't think its fair to have to pay again for the same thing in a different format/

By Shuflie on 10 Oct 2010