Ah, October.? A chill is in the air (somewhere I'm sure, it's still in the upper 80s here).? The talk turns?from the beach to?carving pumpkins.? In the Library (or Research Services as we call it), the Librarian's thoughts?focus on Budgets and Desk References.? Desk References are a challenging part of the Budget process.? Not only do you have to account for additions to the firm's Professional Staff, but you have to juggle the differing demands for how?you deliver the product; do you?provide the books in print or ebook format or both?? Which format do you use for ebooks??And then there are?the big questions:? What is a reasonable?price for an electronic book?? Should it be different from a print book?? If so, should?it be higher or lower???Let's focus on the price?questions and leave the format discussion for another day.
I believe the price should be different.? Tina Brown, on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning,?justified the decision to make Newsweek a digital-only publication by referring to cost of $43 million to print, manufacture and distribute?the publication.? Now, I'm not suggesting that this is the?magnitude of savings?that any publisher going digital will realize but it is indicative that there are substantial?savings that occur when a book is published digitally rather than physically.??And I don't claim to be an expert on the costs inherent in producing books.? However, it seems reasonable to?conclude that the result should be?a decrease in the price reflecting the lower cost to produce and deliver?each unit.? At worse, the price point for an ebook shouldn't?be different from the print.?However, it appears that one legal publisher (located in?Eagan, MN)?has a different view of the economics involved.? I have been told by their representative to expect to pay a premium of at least of 20% above the print price to purchase an ebook?edition.? I'm not sure how they can justify this kind of an adjustment, especially in light of the discussion above.??And to do this in the current economic climate doesn't seem to be good business.?
I don't know of many (if any) Library Managers that rubber stamp purchases without looking at the costs involved.? And we understand the economics of publishing well enough to know that prices should reflect when costs go down.? Other companies are offering ebooks for the same price as the print as well as offering bulk purchase discounts.? With this in mind, why would anyone want to raise prices?
The company referenced above may be trying to accomplish one of two things:? (1) Taking advantage of the ebook demand to increase revenue or (2) trying to chill demand for ebooks to prop up the legacy print business.? If it is (1), they are making a mistake.? Desk References are, for the most part, compilations of the code sections the attorney often refers to in?his/her practice. As such, these are published by multiple vendors which means we have a choice when purchasing these.???Since price is the main driver in these types of products, this will only result in a loss of revenue (and market share).? And, as the Borg said, "Resistance is futile."? Change will continue to occur and it will be this company that will be on the losing end.
????Source: http://www.geeklawblog.com/2012/10/ebooks-tale-of-publisher-stupidity.html
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