Naturally since I own a small press you’d expect me to support the publishers stance on this, i.e. The “Agency Model” and in fact, I do; but for the reasons that, first, Amazon is using the 9.99 EBook as a predatory pricing method to corner the market and control EBook revenue.
and secondly, Kassia, do you really think the Britannica should sell for 9.99 as an EBook? Or, say, (any specialised how-to out of many that sell for very large sums to a very small market); and many other examples of why an EBook’s price should not be limited to a set maximum.
Third, and such limit is a limit on trade and should not be countenanced any more than a minimum price should be countenanced. If people want to give an EBook away free, well fine, let them. How could you stop them anyway? Impossible.
Fourth, the very concept of a maximum price limit is inconsistent with the fact that there are many third party sellers on Amazon who charge more, sometimes ludicrously more, for an item freely available at Amazon’s usual discount price.

If a reader’s only major sense of entitlement toward me and my work is wanting it in ebook and at a reasonable price. Then step right up folks, I got your nice shiny for $2.99 right here.

As for different formats released at diff times, I’m doing ebook first, then print release, but we’re talking maybe a 6 week window. As an indie it’s a lot easier to get E taken care of and out the door, and then worry about all the print headaches.

But seriously, a great post and one you already know echoes my own sentiments. People at the helm have clearly forgotten what it’s like to be a “mere” reader who actually selects and pays for reading material based on personal tastes, marketing, recommendations, AND budgetary considerations. Seems most of them behave like insiders who read free-of-charge ARCs mostly reactively, based on which upcoming titles stand to compete with their own house’s list, have been deemed “must reads” within the industry before they’ve even hit the street, or have originated from colleagues and industry friends with whom one must be prepared to converse about the books in question with some intelligence the next time paths cross. Price is an abstract, non-impactful concept when one moves in such circles.

Publishers must overcome this tunnel vision if they ever expect to understand their customers. And by “customers” I mean readers, NOT booksellers. Maybe they should start spending some quality time lurking on reader communities like Shelfari, Goodreads and the Amazon forums—with a willingness to hear what their customers are saying and accept it as valid.

As I’ve said before, if the customer perceives your product is too expensive and therefore decides not to buy it, it IS too expensive. You can’t talk consumers into paying more just because the seller thinks a given product is worth more than what the market will bear. You can’t guilt or bully them into it, either. You CAN bully consumers into boycotting your products however, as publishers are learning the hard way.

Well – why shouldn’t I expect to pay less? They have no printing costs and distribution costs aren’t as much. There are no chargebacks, no returns. I have nothing tangible. I cannot take it to the used book store and get another one for a small fee.

I can only store so many digital copies. They’ve made it fairly difficult to transfer or even stores some formats. And unless someone comes up with a used e-book store, at some point I’m going to start deleting what I’ve got to make room for more.

All of which makes it difficult for me to justify paying the prices being charged. Yes, I have an ebook reader (not Kindle). Yes I have Stanza on my iPhone. But unless the price of ebooks comes down significantly, the ebook reader may just be an expensive gadget I bought and the iPhone will go back to what it was doing before I put books on it – and I’ll go back to the used book store.

I love the convenience of being able to carry multiple books around on an electronic device – but not at this cost!

Thanks for this.

I think the industry underestimates the consumer awareness of these issues. I think the consumer is far more sensitive, if only on a sub-conscious level, than most of us realize. This the third or fourth digital transition for most people. The transitory nature of the media alone gives one pause. I cannot be certain my media will survive the decade. It’s a trade-off I accept because I want to read in the way that makes me happiest, but it’s a trade-off I mentally factor into price.

I am not sure how to fix this.