Should ebooks be free or at least much cheaper?

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Camille Turner
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Re: Should ebooks be free or at least much cheaper?

Post by Camille Turner »

While I see your point (how should paying for a digital download be the same price as a physical product!), I disagree only because of the authors. If ebooks rise in popularity but are sold at a huge discount, how will writers be able to support themselves?
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Sakilunamermaid
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Post by Sakilunamermaid »

I honestly think that ebooks should be cheaper than physical books. Paper books take up more resources, shipping/ fossil fuels. Distributing ebooks is far simpler and you need to have a device to read them. I'm surprised when ebooks cost close to the same as the hardcopy. I was looking to read The Disaster Artist, and due to its popularity at the moment it is $14 for the eBook. Spending more than $5 on single eBook is kind of crazy. I've seen box sets for $10 and that's fine but most paperback books are $5- $15. Its probably more based on your preference, but I tend to look for cheaper or even free ebooks.
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Post by EllieA »

Katy Isodo wrote: 26 Feb 2017, 12:14 I can agree with cheaper than a paperback because the overall cost of production is cheaper and that savings should get forwarded on to the consumer. That said, I completely disagree with them being free unless it's a sale or promotion as so often happens on Amazon. The reason being is that writing books is an author's job - the way they pay the bills and support their families. Ebooks don't take any less time to write than a physical book and authors should be compensated for their work accordingly. I think it's easy to get into this frame of mind where we want ebooks either super cheap or free because they aren't tangible products we hold in our hands the way a physical book is so somehow they seem less valuable. I find myself much more willing to buy regular books full priced and usually only get ebooks on sale or borrow them from my library.
I completely agree with this answer. Of course I love free books, but I feel like society is in a really strange place where we have gone from art being a luxury to art (and writing) being an expectation. The problem isn't that everyone shouldn't have access to art, it's that the creators worked hard to provide it and deserve compensation. They put in time, skill, training, resources, and care to create their product for us. We should celebrate when free art and literature are available to us, but fairly compensate authors and artists who ask.
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[Valerie Allen]
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Post by [Valerie Allen] »

RonakP wrote: 26 Feb 2017, 01:20 I think that ebooks should be a lot cheaper than paperback if not free
I certainly agree and think you on to something here! But, then again, what about the authors? How would they financially gain if books were sold at equal value or for free? Hmm...
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Post by See_B00kReaDs »

RonakP wrote: 26 Feb 2017, 01:20 I think that ebooks should be a lot cheaper than paperback if not free
It's better if they are free, although how will the authors earn then?
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Post by rave_2 »

I'd say that ebooks should be cheaper than paperback, but never free. Authors need to eat, too.
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Post by Eryn Bradshaw »

As someone who works and earns money of the kindness of people who want to support me, I'm happy to pay prices for ebooks. I think taking off the cost for actually producing a shelving a book is a good idea, but that's most likely pennies. Authors have spent hours to even years on their books, I fully believe that they deserve compensation for the joy they've given us.
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Post by Amanda Nixon »

I don't think it's realistic or even fair t say that e books should be free. Authors still put a lot of time into their stories and deserve to be compensated a good amount. I think that in general a lot of books should be cheaper but I don't think it would be fair to have a different price on an e book then a real copy of the same book because it still had the same hard work put into it so one price all around is fair
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Post by Misael Carlos »

Whatever the platform, authors need to earn. We can only thank technology for giving us fast access to what we need and want in life so paying or not paying does not matter.
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Post by Cswrawr »

I do think that, being cheaper to produce, ebooks should cost less that physical books however as with most items, particularly those that aren't a life necessity, they're priced according to demand. If no one ever paid for the high priced ebooks then the prices would drop. There are people buying them however so the prices will remain high.
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Post by Beth KG »

by Beth KG

Free is great for promotions, increasing readership, and for providing new authors with a way to reach an audience. If the writing is good an author will be able to charge more as their career advances.
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Post by Jnlacy1102 »

I feel that ebooks should be cheaper to reflect the lack of paper and industrialization. The author, editor, etc. still needs to charge appropriately to get their cut, but they should take off a few bucks because it is far cheaper to transmit it electronically.
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Post by CinWin »

I believe they should be a bit less expensive than paper books. I also believe that they are really underpriced. Do you realize how many 99 cent books an author would have to sell to make a living? I think a good price would be about 1/2 the cost of a paper book.
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Post by bclayton13 »

I definitely think they should be cheaper. When I'm on the lookout for a specific book and it's 20 bucks to download, there's nothing stopping me from ordering a used paper copy for much, much cheaper. It definitely hasn't helped my hoarding tendencies.
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Post by Kmykel »

If a paperback is selling for ten dollars, I believe that the ebook should be six. They should be cheaper just because there is no overhead cost of manufacture, however, the writer should still be paid for their efforts.
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