Low prices? Don't count on it, say publishers

Going paperless isn't necessarily a big saving for publishers, argues Martin Taylor. Photo / Anthony Doesburg

How much should a digital book cost? The answer is more complicated than you might expect.

In the United States, the popularity of the Kindle has been driven largely by Amazon's US$9.99 deals for ebooks. But many publishers feel bullied by Amazon's dominance of the market, and resent the huge cut it takes - which can be up to 65 per cent of the sale price.

When Apple came along and agreed to a much lower cut, publishers cheered. The industry is keen to see even more competition, but what that will mean for prices remains to be seen.

Last year the New Zealand Digital Publishing Forum conducted an online poll, asking members how much the digital edition of a $30 book should cost here. The most popular answer was $15.

At the time forum director Martin Taylor described the result as "interesting ... in light of comments made by CEOs of our top publishing companies, who see the price point at close to the paper book price".

In fact Taylor is sympathetic to publishers' pleas that there is much more to consider than simply saving printing costs, and all the other expenses associated with getting dead-tree books into retail stores.

"The cost has always been in distribution and the cost of writing it, editing it, designing and producing it. Those labour costs don't change materially in the digital world," he insists. "Paper and ink is only 10 per cent of the cost - maximum. You don't eliminate those costs; there is some substitution. You pay people like Amazon and Apple and Google. And the wholesale channels for ebooks are very expensive. You're paying technology companies, instead of printers and couriers."

Converting back catalogues into digital editions can also be very labour-intensive. Some publishers are having to scan their old books, then convert them into digital files using optical character recognition software. An entire industry has developed in India to carry out this task. However the proofreading has been patchy, meaning many older ebooks are riddled with errors.

One blogger recently complained that his digital copy of The Sniper was titled The Snipper - which doesn't have quite the same ring.

Obtaining the digital rights for photographs and illustrations has also been a nightmare for publishers, and many older ebooks are being released without any images at all.

"Individually, the cost is not huge but when you add up the cost of doing that for the whole catalogue, it adds up," says Taylor. Naturally, publishers here need to be convinced the effort is worth it to recoup their costs, he says.

While many publishers are still experimenting with pricing, a consensus appears to be emerging that the digital version should be released at the same time as the hardback version. Once the paperback comes out, the digital price should also fall.

HarperCollins has decided to set its digital list price at around 20 per cent below the cheapest print price. Its New Zealand managing director, Tony Fisk, says it seems to be "working okay", although he has yet to see any sales figures since Whitcoulls started selling its ebooks at the end of May.

While Fisk agrees digital publishing could be a boon for authors keen to go it alone - Amazon, for example, is offering authors a cut of up to 70 per cent if they self-publish by using its Digital Text Platform for the Kindle - he is confident the industry can continue to add value with its editing and marketing skills.

"It's easier than having to print thousands of books and putting them in your garage, but the value that publishers add in terms of editorial advice and so on has still got to be there. There are an awful lot of self-published books being made available, but the quality is pretty dubious."

Digital rights management (DRM) also remains a hot topic in the industry. While most publishers are keen to avoid say publishers

the sort of problems that have plagued the music and movie industries, not everyone agrees on the solution, and at least one local publisher has already gone ahead with its own DRM-free digital bookstore.

MeBooks has been launched in association with Victoria University Press, and to promote the launch it is offering digital versions of contemporary New Zealand literature for $9.99 until the end of this month.

MeBooks founder Jason Darwin agrees DRM offers "some nominal security" to publishers. But he argues that it also frustrates customers and dampens sales because of various technical issues, such as limiting purchases to particular devices. "We're hoping to establish that, like online music sales, DRM is only a transitional approach, and one that will soon be largely discarded by the industry."

There is also the option, of course, to build your entire digital library at almost no cost at all, if all you want to do is to read the classics.

This weekend Project Gutenberg founder Michael Hart will help open the fifth annual World eBook Fair, which will see another million titles added to the 2 million or so already available free, or for a nominal fee, on the internet.

The aim of Project Gutenberg, which Hart started way back in 1971, is to make available as many non-copyright digital books as possible, as cheaply as possible, to "break down the bars of ignorance and illiteracy".

Hart remains convinced that cellphones will eventually be the most popular way of reading digital books. "The cellphone is the wave of the future; not - I repeat, not - the Kindle or Sony approach, for they are only targeting millions, and I should like very much to reach billions of people," he has written on the fair's website.

Not everyone, however, is grateful for the freebies. Some Kobo buyers have been less than enthusiastic about having 100 classic titles included on the device, cluttering up their digital bookshelves.

"The biggest irritant we heard from lots of users was 'I don't care about *&@^#$# Jane Eyre! Get it out of my Library'," a Kobo executive admitted in a note to customers last month.

A firmware update has been developed that will enable Kobo users to hide the free books, while the company works on a longer-term solution.

And that, it seems, sums up just about everyone's attitude to just about everything in the digital book trade right now.

SHOPPING AROUND ON THE INTERNET

If you want to shop around for ebooks, you'll need a device that will accept various formats. And be warned - lots of ebooks for sale on the internet cannot be downloaded from NZ. At this stage it's mostly a hit-and-miss affair, depending on the publisher and what territorial rights they hold. The Business Herald went screen-shopping for a few popular titles - on paper and in ebook form - to compare prices.


Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

*whitcoulls.co.nz (hardback) - $53.95

*fishpond.co.nz (hardback) - $49.95

*bookdepository.co.uk (hardback) - $30.72 (£14.37)

*fishpond.co.nz (paperback) - $16.95 + shipping

*whitcoulls.co.nz (paperback) - $15.95

*whitcoulls.co.nz (ebook) - $14.95

*Sony Reader Store (ebook) - $14.14 (US$9.99)

*bookdepository.co.uk (paperback) - $13.45 (£6.29)

*kobobooks.com (ebook) - $13.29

*amazon.com (paperback) - $10.12 (US$7.15) + shipping

*Kindle Store (ebook) - n/a


Michael Lewis, The Big Short

*whitcoulls.co.nz (hardback) - $69.95

*fishpond.co.nz (hardback) - $49.97

*bookdepository.co.uk (hardback) - $35.47 (£16.59)

*Kindle Store (ebook) - $28.32 (US$20.01)

*amazon.com (hardback) - $21.74 (US$15.36) + shipping

*kobobooks.com (ebook) - $17.39

*amazon.com (paperback) - $15.35 (US$10.85) + shipping

*Sony Reader Store (ebook) - $14.14 (US$9.99)


Bill Bryson, At Home

*fishpond.co.nz (hardback) - $49.95

*whitcoulls.co.nz (ebook) - $31.95

*bookdepository.co.uk (hardback) - $30.70 (£14.36)

*kobobooks.com (ebook) - $25.19

*Kindle Store (ebook) - $23.27 (US$16.44)

*whitcoulls.co.nz (hardback) - n/a

*amazon.com (hardback) - n/a

*Sony Reader Store - n/a