The Justice Department is suing Apple and two big publishers, accusing them of illegally conspiring to raise the cost of e-books. Will this effect Logos to lower prices?
Here's an interesting article in response to that: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57412587-93/why-e-books-cost-so-much
It says many of the same things that keep coming up when people complain about how high Logos's e-book prices are.
Thanks for the link. It helps to understand what is really going on or at least this guys idea of it.
One can easily understand that the cost of a Logos reference book - such as Greek and Hebrew Lexicons, commentaries, Bible dictionaries, etc. - is higher to produce than a ebook of fiction or biography or other pleasure reading. The specialized tagging and intergration into the Logos research system make that easy to understand.
However, if what the article says is true then the future of ebooks is bleak, indeed. For fiction or biography or pleasure reading, or any book that is being read cover to cover, paper is more desirable to most people than an ebook. And a paper book looks much better on the shelf. After all, no one uses an ebook for decorating. So if there is no economic advantage in the ebook, then it is in for a bleak future except for specialized uses such a Bible reasearch.
But I don't think that is true. I do not think for most books the cost of producing ebooks is nearly as high as paper books - despite the protestations to the contrary. But time and market will tell the tale.
I do think that publishers will have to make some structual changes to deal witht the reality of the ebook market. One of the reasons that their costs may be high is that they are trying to sell ebooks through a paper book structure. That transition may be painful - the closing of the big brick and mortar chain book stores, for example. But change is inevitable. Whose to say that publishers themselves could not become less important. The article lamented authors by-passing publishers and selling .99 ebooks themselves.
What no one has comment on is this isn't just any old body complaining but it's the U.S. government suing.
Here's an interesting article
Thanks for sharing this, Rosie. I found this insight really interesting.
I do think Logos is a good counterexample to my biggest problem with publishers. Let's take the recently advertised Bonhoeffer series. This is a current production, new translation, critical edition series. Fortress retails the hardcovers at around $60 per volume. A few are available ion soft cover. At the $60 per volume, the retail would be roughly $900 for the hardback copies without discounts.Amazon prices range quite a bit per volume, but the hardbacks are more than 50% of retail, say $40 average or $600Paperbacks, for the volumes available, are in the $20 range on Amazon. If all were available (which isn't even close to being true) the set would be say $300.Logos made the 15 volumes available for $340 (now $400).That would be a good buy if they were just ePubs or Kindle books, but as volumes with all the Logos searching, tagging and other advantages, it's an excellent deal.
Compare that to Stephen King's newest novel. Amazon's prices:Hardback, $17.46Paper, $13.59Kindle, $16.99
I think it is true that many people think that producing ebooks costs almost nothing, and that misses the mark. But when the ebook costs considerably more than the paperback and almost as much as the hardcover, publishers, in my estimation, are going to have a hard time garnering sympathy.
Many have made the argument that Amazon's squeeze of the publishers is the real culprit, which may well be true. But by forcing Amazon and others to sell ebooks at prices greater than paper versions and with little or no added value, publishers lose a lot of credibility in making their economic arguments.
Yep, & the analysis I'm seeing says DOJ has a MUCH better case against the publishers than against Apple... likely to lose against Apple... To me, the parallel suggests that we look at publishers for cost relief, not Logos...
One thing I have trouble with is why is apple involved, apple does not set the price but simple says we get 30% of the price. The publisher can set the price to whatever they want. Apple did help to set up a system where the publishers may have more control, but hardly a worse system than when Amazon was holding a virtual death grip on the ebook publishing world. Indeed the smaller publishers were in some cases were basically getting no money for their ebooks. I do think that most ebooks are over priced but not sure apple or amazon are to blame.
-dan
To me, the parallel suggests that we look at publishers for cost relief, not Logos...
A little devil's advocate here:
So when we have public domain works for Logos with extremely high purchase prices, this would mean that Logos is...
Well, I'm sure you know what I'm getting at.
it's the U.S. government suing.
Somehow that does not give me a great deal of confidence [:D]
So when we have public domain works for Logos with extremely high purchase prices, this would mean that Logos is... Well, I'm sure you know what I'm getting at.
Hi Paul, you're right of course... for PD works, Logos becomes the publisher, doesn't it?
Somehow that does not give me a great deal of confidence
I'm betting on Apple. [:D]
Here's an interesting article in response to that: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57412587-93/why-e-books-cost-so-much I do think Logos is a good counterexample to my biggest problem with publishers. Let's take the recently advertised Bonhoeffer series. This is a current production, new translation, critical edition series. Fortress retails the hardcovers at around $60 per volume. A few are available ion soft cover. At the $60 per volume, the retail would be roughly $900 for the hardback copies without discounts.Amazon prices range quite a bit per volume, but the hardbacks are more than 50% of retail, say $40 average or $600Paperbacks, for the volumes available, are in the $20 range on Amazon. If all were available (which isn't even close to being true) the set would be say $300.Logos made the 15 volumes available for $340 (now $400).That would be a good buy if they were just ePubs or Kindle books, but as volumes with all the Logos searching, tagging and other advantages, it's an excellent deal. Compare that to Stephen King's newest novel. Amazon's prices:Hardback, $17.46Paper, $13.59Kindle, $16.99 I think it is true that many people think that producing ebooks costs almost nothing, and that misses the mark. But when the ebook costs considerably more than the paperback and almost as much as the hardcover, publishers, in my estimation, are going to have a hard time garnering sympathy. Many have made the argument that Amazon's squeeze of the publishers is the real culprit, which may well be true. But by forcing Amazon and others to sell ebooks at prices greater than paper versions and with little or no added value, publishers lose a lot of credibility in making their economic arguments.
Add to that the extra benefit the publishers rarely speak of - unlike printed material, the electronic material cannot be resold. The biggest losers in the conversion to electonic media (books, music, and video) as the USED sellers.
In a way yes, but don't forget about how easy it is for someone to pirate ebooks. Everyone looses when this happens.
Somehow that does not give me a great deal of confidence I'm betting on Apple.
I'm betting on Apple.
Article concurs => http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57412861-38/doj-is-likely-to-lose-e-book-antitrust-suit-targeting-apple/
One more lawsuit ? => http://afr.com/p/technology/accc_monitors_apple_book_price_fixing_ut7WB3gdkRKhteXs7IK3aL
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