The point is not whether e-book buyers deserve or need a discount or whether authors or publishers or retailers want more money. The point is that the product is a lesser value than a competing substitute product. Why are bus tickets cheaper than plane tickets? Why are frozen peas cheaper than fresh, organic peas? Because consumers perceive them as less valuable than the available substitute.

When I buy a paper book, I know I can turn around and sell it at a used bookstore to recoup a bit of the money I paid for it. Probably not a great deal of it; I suspect I’d be lucky to get 1/4 of cover price (as the used book stores have to make a profit selling it at 1/2 of cover), but at least that’s a few bucks in my pocket. I don’t buy it intending to resell it, but knowing that I can has a bearing on how much money I’m willing to pay for it.

It’s great that your PDA doubles as your ebook reader. I’m all for that; I think that is a much wiser investment than using a device that has one purpose only. I’ve written that dedicated ebook reading devices will one day be replaced by small computers with hi-res screens.

On point number 2., Steve writes:

claiming a book has added value because it can be resold

That’s not what I wrote. I did not claim that a book has added value because it can be resold.

I wrote that if an ebook cannot be resold, then it should be sold at a lower price than the same book (or ebook) that can be resold.

Steve, can you clarify what you mean by: “You don’t buy a book to resell it.”

I buy a book to read and enjoy it, and to learn from
it. But if the book disappoints me, and I plan never to read that book again, why shouldn’t I resell the book? … That seems like a viable alternative to leaving the book unread forever on my dusty shelves.

Michael Pastore
50 Benefits of Ebooks

Match?

If you’ve ever watched your possessions go up in a fire, or ruined by water (often happens after a fire), you might not consider printed books that “indestructible.”

On the other hand, e-books, when stored in a proper format (something more universally long-lasting, like… I dunno… epub, maybe), could last much longer than a hundred years.

2. Ebooks cannot be re-sold. The ebook edition of a work makes it impossible for book buyers to get some money back on their purchases.

As I mentioned under another post, claiming a book has added value because it can be resold is a lot like saying a baseball has added value because it can also break windows. You don’t buy a book to resell it… the only thing people should be buying in order to resell is stocks.

5. Many ebooks, but not all, are best read on ebook reading devices. Consumers who invest hundreds of dollars on these devices and get no discount on ebooks may wonder why they have invested. On the other hand, if ebooks do get priced low, then more people will be motivated to buy ebook reading devices.

Huh? Is Mike suggesting that my nice little PDA is a lousy e-book reader? Or that this has anything to do with the price of an e-book in China? Either way, I disagree. The biggest value of e-books is the wealth of devices, not just dedicated readers, that they can be read on. If someone spends a lot of money on a reader, that’s up to them. But those of us who read on multipurpose devices deserve low-priced books as much as someone who can throw $500 at a dedicated reader… maybe more (I don’t have $500 to throw at a dedicated reader!).

10. People these days are reading less and less; aliteracy is a growing problem, concisely explained in a recent article by Andy Beckett.

With respect to Beckett, I’ve maintained that he’s made the wrong conclusions. People aren’t reading significantly less… they’re reading differently. Especially online, something that no one has accurately quantified yet. But if his only point is that a book, being a less popular commodity today, should be priced lower, I’ll allow him the point.