[Chad Winters]

Very nice article: http://ireaderreview.com/2009/06/22/kindle-myths-misinformation/

"Amazon is evil because it gives authors and publishers only 35%
Two data-points to consider -
Amazon discounts nearly every book between $9.99 and $24.95 to $9.99 and gives publishers 35% of the list price.
Amazon discounts nearly every book less than $9.99 by 20% and still gives authors 35% of their list price.

So every publisher that is complaining about Amazon 'stealing' 65% of the price is being dishonest with you.

Authors who self-publish their book are getting, when you factor in the 20% discount, approximately 43.75%. That's a lot more than the 8-15% they'd get from a publisher. Not to mention that they might not even get published."

-----
Read the whole thing, of course, its mainly stuff we already know, but its nice to see it all in one place!

Its a sad commentary on the state of "journalism" that these myths/misinformations are so easily corrected and yet fairly "trustworthy" sources continue to spout them!

I would add that some publishers are beginning to game Amazon's system by raising the Digital List Price way above the Print List Price to get a bigger percentage back after Amazon knocks it down to 9.99

 

[Jessi]

Wow, I'm glad to see the rumor of the restricted downloads is mentioned. I've had a few people mention that to me since they know I have a Kindle. They're just jealous and want me to hate my K2 so they can have it. 

 

[Scheherazade]

It's blowing up so beyond rumor now though.  I love what they said about blogs at the end, though, and it's true.  People are taking blog posts as fact... they're so far from that.  They just want a story to run to drive traffic so they'll cut and paste whatever rumors support their outrageous claims without doing a lick of research.  I know the FTC is cracking down on blogs doing reviews who have been compensated without mentioning compensation, they need to do the same for ones that are trying to pass downright myths and lies as proper news.

 

[Chad Winters]

They just want a story to run to drive traffic so they'll cut and paste whatever rumors support their outrageous claims without doing a lick of research.

I heard someone call it "linkbaiting", it doesn't have to be true as long as it draws traffic!

 

[mwvickers]

I found the "expensive e-books" argument interesting. 

On the Amazon Kindle forum (the original Kindle), there is a thread called something like "Boycotting books over $9.99." 

Every day, one person updates the list showing the percentage of books in the Kindle store that are over $9.99.  Now, when that person figures this out, I believe he or she excludes all public domain books.  So, the percentage would be even smaller if those were included. 

As of today, the total percentage of books that are over $9.99 was only about 28%.  That means that roughly 72% of the books on Kindle are $9.99 or less, and that is not including the public domain books! 

I'd say that was pretty good. 

I don't think the percentage has ever gone above the 30% range. 

 

[MamaProfCrash]

I found the "expensive e-books" argument interesting.

On the Amazon Kindle forum (the original Kindle), there is a thread called something like "Boycotting books over $9.99."

Every day, one person updates the list showing the percentage of books in the Kindle store that are over $9.99. Now, when that person figures this out, I believe he or she excludes all public domain books. So, the percentage would be even smaller if those were included.

As of today, the total percentage of books that are over $9.99 was only about 28%. That means that roughly 72% of the books on Kindle are $9.99 or less, and that is not including the public domain books!

I'd say that was pretty good.

I don't think the percentage has ever gone above the 30% range.

Don't tell them that, you will get a lecture on how wrong you are. Some ( very few but unfortunately vocal few) fail to understand that it is ok to have differing opinions on the matter.

I have no problem with the boycott, I have a problem with how some of the boycotter's talk to others. I have been told that I am clearly a rich person who has no compassion for people who make less then I since I will pay more then $9.99 for a book. And the people who don't boycott the Publishers who do not allow tts all hate people with disabilities. (eye roll)

 

[mwvickers]

Don't tell them that, you will get a lecture on how wrong you are. Some ( very few but unfortunately vocal few) fail to understand that it is ok to have differing opinions on the matter.

I have no problem with the boycott, I have a problem with how some of the boycotter's talk to others. I have been told that I am clearly a rich person who has no compassion for people who make less then I since I will pay more then $9.99 for a book. And the people who don't boycott the Publishers who do not allow tts all hate people with disabilities. (eye roll)

Yeah, I stopped interacting over there a long time ago (once I found this forum). I do still check it out just to see the percentages, though.

 

[librarylady]

The whole publishing business model needs to be rewritten.  Music has changed substantially with digital single song downloads, and prices had to change accordingly.  I use to pay for a whole album if I wanted just one or two songs ... not any longer!  Now that I don't expect to be delivered a phyiscal object, who says I should pay the same amount of money? 

List price is also generally false from the practical consumer end - if you can't find a bestseller for at least 30% off very easily, you aren't even looking.  For older items that generally do sell at list, you just wait for a sale or you buy used.  Again, not too difficult.  I suspect the $9.99 price for branch new bestsellers won't hold too long, but I cheerfully paid more for the latest Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly to be delivered to my Kindle on the day of release, no trip to the store, no waiting at the library, supreme portability, and no object now taking up space in my house. 

Don't even get me started on textbooks ... the publishers better start sending those to the DX, students are prepared for full revolt.  I teach on occasion, and the paper textbook is becoming the least useful part of the course, at least for what I teach.  If they could create the ability to buy (license) articles from publications, assemble them into a package, and deliver that package to each student's Kindle on the first day of class, imagine what that would save. 

 

[Scheherazade]

Don't even get me started on textbooks ... the publishers better start sending those to the DX, students are prepared for full revolt. I teach on occasion, and the paper textbook is becoming the least useful part of the course, at least for what I teach.

My Craft of Fiction professor decided he hated all the texts he picked out for our course last semester and started assigning us .pdfs. I've had a lot of my History professors do classes entirely off .pdfs as well. I find it very rare that I'm assigned an actual text book in any of my classes. Only the 100 and 200 level courses had text books if I recall correctly. Everything over that has been a collection of assorted texts picked out by the professor which I vastly prefer. Textbooks feel way too Elementary School to me now that I've been spoiled by professors who care enough to find relevant materials for their courses rather than just throw a useless text at us and teaching from that.

I still really want the DX for all the .pdfs I get assigned. The more I have to wait for the money the more I am having second thoughts! Manga is the devil in my ear everytime I talk myself out of it... as much functionality as I lose with highlighting and annotating pdfs that I thought the DX should have, manga on a bigger screen keeps outweighing it.

 

[Kathy]

Interesting article. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Elmore Hammes]

Nice article. As an independent author, I thought 35% royalty was just fine to get access to the Amazon customer base, and as it notes the percentage of the selling price is actually higher due to the typical Amazon discount. The percentage is far greater than that earned in a typical book publishing contract.
Elmore

 

[L.Canton]

The article was quite interesting, thanks for posting it. 

 

[Greg Banks]

As for the subject of ebook pricing, here's an article that should be of interest:

Barnes & Noble Follows Amazon's E-Book Pricing Model
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/bookselling/barnes_noble_follows_amazons_ebook_pricing_model_120506.asp