Amazon e-book prices creeping up
By Paul Biba
I received an email from Alex Sanchez about a thread on the Amazon fora Boycott anything over $9.99. Evidently the members have been tracking Kindle book prices for a while.
From the latest statistical post by knipfty:
Here are today’s totals. Also, look at the last line. I’ve added a row showing the growth rate of books priced higher than $9.99. Basically, while the overall % of books now stands at 34.21%, 80% of all the new books added by Amazon since Jan 20 have been priced above $9.99. This could also be happening because Amazon raised prices of existing ebooks while adding new books below this threshold. Either way, the trend is not our friend.
According to the thread, on March 13, Amazon had a total of 247,515 Kindle titles and of these 84,663, or 34.21%, are priced at over $9.99.
I don’t know what this all means. Some people obviously think it is Amazon trying to push up prices, but what we don’t know is how much push-back Amazon is getting from publishers. It may not be Amazon’s decision in many cases. We’ll never know for sure.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
I don’t think it is a matter of pushback from publishers. I think Amazon recognizes that it cannot sustain its current pricing model and get an appropriate ROI for shareholders. Publishers offer their books at a uniform price to all retailers (with quantity discounts accessible to all as well), and it is the retailer who sets the retail store price. Amazon has been selling new e-releases at a loss, a way to hook people into buying a Kindle and then locking them into the Amazon store. Now Amazon is slowly raising prices, which should have been expected by every Kindle buyer.
There are only 2 options: (1) Amazon raises prices so it can make money for its shareholders or (2) it becomes so dominant in the ebook market that it can dictate wholesale pricing to publishers. It is trying for option 2 but hasn’t yet reached that tipping point so it has to settle for option 1.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I think Amazon is probably testing the waters to see where consumer tolerance might sit in regards to ebook pricing.
Since it appears the publishers seem to still believe in the fantasy of selling ebooks at about the same price as a paper edition Bezos is possibly trying to establish some data that he can use to smack the publishers in the head with the clue stick.
March 13th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Everyone loves a bargain but I don’t know why Amazon should be expected to offer its books at $9.99 when the publisher lists them for, say $17.99 and demands 50% of that ($8.00), leaving Amazon only $1.
Amazon offers a nice discount on my books, while still pricing them high enough to make a profit for them and pay me the standard 50% royalty. Should publishers set list prices lower? This is a discussion that has been going on for a long time (and clearly based on my prices, I believe we should). Still, it’s not Amazon’s job to set low prices–just to offer attractive discounts from the prices set by publishers.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
March 16th, 2009 at 9:11 am
I agree with Rich and Rob here – Amazon’s been treating all of publishing as a loss-leader with $9.99 ebooks. Keep in mind Amazon doesn’t treat themselves as a bookseller, but an online retailer. This is no different from WalMart’s storied tactics of arriving in a new town, price-gouging the competition, and then raising prices once they’ve established a regional monopoly.
I’m sensitive to the ebook price point as a consumer and a publishing employee: the only difference b/n print and electronic books in the production chain is the last step. Since this step is a fraction of the MSRP, why should changing it so greatly affect the price?