Forum - View topicNEWS: Apple Files Opposition to Dept. of Justice Settlement
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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Oh, good grief. If this is how you're going to retort, you're wasting my time. There are many more examples out there. Maybe learn for yourself?
This isn't different from physical goods. You're making the false assumption everyone "strikes it rich" just because they get published.
As if the price changes this. However, more people are likely to waste 99 cents for an unknown author than they are at $24.99. |
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yamiangie
 Posts: 465 |
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Come on 99 cents is too cheep. It should cost no more than 9 dollars for a book. Digital should cost around the price of a paper back. 99 cents? Maybe if they switched to a sericalzaton where you get one chapter at a time.
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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Why? Who is pocketing the distribution and manufacturing fees that would otherwise be distributed among other companies therefore providing more jobs? A handful of publishers? Sounds like a mindset that only makes the rich richer. |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Well, I can see it from both sides. Let's face it, it takes a lot of work and hours to write a book. Authors get shafted big time and I highly doubt that 99 cents per volume is going to compensate them for the amount of time and effort that goes in to writing a book.
On the other side though, the simple reality is that while consumers disregard the effort of the artists, the companies that distribute the works do so even more. I highly doubt that if they inflate the costs of e-books that the author is really going to see much of an increase in their own earnings. It seems these companies are primarily concerned with their profit margins, and certainly not with the earning power of the artists responsible for what they're distributing. |
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Saffire
 Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
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If the 99 cent model becomes prevalent, the number of career authors is going to drop. Sharply. The only current 99 cent author I know of who's making a sustainable income is John Locke, and he's writing something like a book a month. Pretty much everyone else in that space has day jobs or someone supporting them, even ones on the bestseller lists.
Books are not created equal; writing time and costs vary. There is no one-size-fits-all pricing for them but that seems to be the attitude people take towards the issue. There's a lot of struggling with how to approach digital pricing and anyone who thinks they've got it figured out is probably wrong. I don't claim to have answers, but I don't think pricing all ebooks at $.99 works nearly as well as people think it does. And if that's where the industry ends up, I don't think people will like the results much. |
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Keonyn
Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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This sums things up when it comes to these arguments really well. Everyone thinks they know the answer, but 999 times out of 1000 these answers are simply a matter of what works out best for them. People increasingly demonstrate a sense of entitlement and a lack of understanding with the big picture. Far too many arguments conveniently ignore certain aspects of the entire process. |
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labmember001
Posts: 48 |
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A quick look shows this is true, but when did this change? I don't buy ebooks, but I could have sworn a year ago there were $30 ebooks matching the hardback prices on new books. A quick look shows most hardbacks aren't that much though, so I'm not sure what I saw. |
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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Sorry, but you're mistaken. You're fixated on the price and are ignoring what gives an author their "food on the table". First: the advance. Most authors receive compensation for their works, and contract a license to publish. The more successful the author, the higher the advance. Second: the market itself. Again, you're assuming a 99 cent price point means they can't eat. That's not accurate. Whether the book sells for a penny or a million, doesn't matter. The market makes the decision who succeeds and who fails. There is no guarantee for an author to have food on the table through publication. Third: competition will drive the price down by other authors, who aren't whining about the price tag. These will be the authors who actually understand there's more to being a success than sitting in front of a word processor.
Linking to Ars Technica is not proof of this. Sorry, but you're still making broad assumptions on the 99 cent price tag while ignoring everything else which can easily make this price attractive for a decent living.
Then you're not looking hard enough. By the way, many authors work other jobs as well. You're defeating your own position using arguments that are still in play with physical goods.
Now your destroying your own argument by being fortunate there isn't? Proof even you have a limit of what a price should be.
Apples and oranges. If an author undersold their works via the advance, that's not something customers should be punished for.
You're conflating two separate issues now. A physical book will be priced according to what it took to make it (plus all the other fingers in the pot losses). An ebook has none of these restrictions, or at best, very low-cost alternatives to making them.
The only struggling is done by people just like you, who fails to recognize the internet is a tool, not a distributor. People with your mindset are stacking all the negatives against the idea rather than seeing the positives. People like you focus on price, not the tool. Of course people with this attitude are going to have problems. They've already failed with this attitude. Oh, and one more thing: it should be known most authors can't distribute their own works, either. This makes the issue more damaging to them. That was their choice for signing away these rights in exchange for a limited market. And it's extremely unfair and unjustified to blame the market for it, which is precisely why the DoJ is now making it their business.
More negative thoughts based on fear than proof. This is what fails to put food on the table. |
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SereneChaos
 Posts: 384 Location: Middle of Nowhere, USA |
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Hate to be the devil's advocate, but there are ebooks of all prices, some much more than $25. They're hardly the norm, but they are out there. You're getting too hung up on the numbers. Whether ebooks should be priced at 99 cents or $5, the point is that they usually cost far more than they should. A text file that I can't loan to friends, donate to the library, use for a bonfire, smash a bug with, use for an art project, or any of the other things you can do with a physical book is not worth the same price as a book I can do all of that with. The majority of ebooks I look at buying cost the exact same as the physical book, or only a dollar or two off of the price of the hard cover. That's like expecting someone to pay the full price of a DVD/Blu-Ray for an anime season on iTunes when they don't get any of the extras. Ebooks should be at least half as much as their physical counterparts, if not more. |
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RoverTX
 Posts: 424 |
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I pay $40+ for Technical Digital Books all the time.
Also digital does not mean free distribution. While I agree they are artificial high right now, for more than just the reason that Apple is evil, prices will never hit 99¢. Namely because any decent book you might find at B&N takes a lot more effort then 99% of the 99¢ apps in the App Store..... |
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Keonyn
Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Your assuming that half the cost or more is the cost of paper and distribution. You're, like most, still ignoring the time and effort and thought that the creating party still had to put in to creating that "text file". The fact that it is a text file is largely irrelevant since it is the creative process and the creative nature of the product that you are buying. A text file itself isn't worth 99 cents, $10 or even 1 cent; it's the content that you're looking at and it is that content that still needs to be paid for. |
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yamiangie
Posts: 465 |
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Why because I think that a book that going to take me hours to read is worth more than a song that will be done in 3 min. |
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RoverTX
Posts: 424 |
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They also had to make sure their load balancers where working, that their edge servers are running smoothly, and there ad dollars are going into the right place. Also that their devs are paid well, and there system is update to date with good hardware. The internet isn't magic. No matter what people told you even ideas aren't free... Not to say Apple isn't monkey around, just like Amazon and B&N are also, but your hitting the wrong issue. |
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egoist
Posts: 7762 |
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Well, that's irrelevant to other consumers. A pen will last me hours of writing but I don't find myself wanting to pay more for it. |
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Keonyn
Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Everybody is hitting the wrong issue. I mean, basically people are arguing that because the publishers and distributors have been screwing authors and are losing their justification to do so that the right to screw the artist should then be transferred to the consumer. Either way the person that continues to get the shaft is the person that is 90%+ responsible for the work that is being argued about. Instead of equalizing the system to do what's right we just have arguments between corporate profit-whoring and consumer senses of entitlement. |
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