Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Giving eBooks The SAME Value As Books

There's an interesting post on MobyLives regarding an unscientific survey conducted by Nathan Bransford.
 
What should an e-book cost when the hardcover is $25.00?

$0.01 - $4.99 - 5%
$5.00 - $9.99 - 29%
$10.00 - $14.99 - 45%
$15.00 - $19.99 - 15%
$20.00 - $25.00 - 3%
* Survey results from Nathan Bransford's blog


It's intriguing to see where the "best price point" lands.  I would imagine that the price point has as much to do with a reader's familiarity with the author whose book is being considered. (Let's be honest, spending $10 on the latest Stephen King novel in ebook format is one thing - spending the same $10 on a horror author you've never heard of is going to be a bit more of a stretch)

So ultimately, there's likely multiple factors hitting that "ideal price point" -- but just the same, the survey offers some interesting results.

What I particularly like about the MobyLives post is the concept of adding value to the ebook. Yes, there's convenience and portability, yes there's often a price less than the printed version of the book. But how interesting to look at adding some sort of other value/special feature.

They ask in their own poll what would MOST increase the value of an eBook or app and include such options as bonus material from the author, bonus images and videos, social networking features, additional contextual, critical and scholarly materials and interactive features.

It's rather interesting to see how eBooks are expected to cost less and potentially to offer more in order to bring the same value as a printed book. I'm curious to read the results of their survey.

1 comment:

Crosby Kenyon said...

Thanks for this post. It's a bit of a conundrum...ebooks costing less while possibly having to offer more.