Is this why ebooks in general are so expensive? I always wondered why digital copies cost as much as the physical ones, and I always thought the publishers were just being greedy.
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.
And, frankly, I have no idea how they hope to avoid a charge of horizontal collusion for that alone.
It seems to be an open secret that the big publishers are coordinating their discussions with Apple and Amazon. And that would seem to be an open-and-shut case of collusion.
>>>And, frankly, I have no idea how they hope to avoid a charge of horizontal collusion for that alone.
That is why Random House did not leap in with the other five of the Big Six. To avoid that appearance.
It's also the same trick Apple is using by making iBooks a download, not an app already pre-installed on every iDevice. They can claim their app has to be downloaded just like their competitor's app. But that does not obscure the fact people can order eBooks only with iBooks, not their competitor's apps. Apple is still guilty of Restraint of Trade in eBooks and that should be the next examination by the DoJ.
