Yesterday, I posted my reverence for J.K. Rowling. I want to add that just because I made a motion for her to be Queen and Empress does not mean that I think she is completely benevolent. I decided to delve a little further into her new book venture, The Casual Vacancy.
I found an interesting article on Financial Times online (you may need to register for free to see it) about her pricing intent for the e-book version of the new book, although I may need to change the word choice “interesting” to “worrying” or “borderline terrifying”. Instead of pricing the new book (out in September 2012) at $9.99, she is doubling that price. It is yet to be determined if she will sell directly through Amazon or through her website Pottermore. However, her high price brings up more questions about e-book pricing. How much is too much?
The Huffington Post put out an article on the Department of Justice lawsuit against Apple and other publishers in terms of pricing. It seems that there may have been a conspiracy to raise e-book prices to several major companies’ benefits. I myself have seen many popular titles at $12.99 to as much as $15.99 for an e-book. And even though I’ve vowed not to spend past $9.99, I know that I’ve broken that vow for books I really wanted.
Now put the power of Rowling behind that price, and suddenly the great deal for being an e-reader goes away. Let’s remember that there is no physical publishing being done. There is formatting involved, but that’s for programming purposes. There isn’t any mass production of resources being used. So why do e-books garner that kind of pricing? Because they can, and we keep buying them.
Part of what’s going on is the publishing houses freaking out over what e-book publishing changes for their world. They want their piece of the pie, and many times I think they set the e-book price high for just that. But now we have an author who clearly states that she will not allow her book to be bought for less than $19.99. So who profits from this exorbitant pricing? Definitely not the readers. And it could be drawing a line in the sand between authors with publishing deals and houses behind them and the independent authors trying to get themselves out there.
Again, I did not say that naming Rowling the Queen and Empress of writing meant that she was a benevolent ruler. I think that we will have to watch what happens with the DoJ lawsuit and her book release to make a full decision on her reign. But we must admit – the girl has game!
Tagged: E-book, Financial Times, Harry Potter, Huffington Post, JK Rowling, Pottermore, Publishing, Queen, writing
Falls Into Writing 
I have thought about this for some time, and the e-book industry is just beginning to hit its stride. The role of a publishing house will diminish in time, as the market is moving away from paper books as a whole. The concept that a writer can write, edit, and publish their books all from a laptop is astounding. I think of the big publishing houses, just as I viewed Blockbuster. They held onto the old way of doing thing to the point that renting movies passed them by. You can rent, view and return/delete a movie from the comfort of your couch, and or go to the local corner market and pick up a movie from a big red box. Has anyone ever thought of Amazon as a publishing house, no, but they sell more books than anyone. They took their nitch as a selling conduit, and turned that into an empire. The big publishing houses will have to change, or they too will become the next Blockbuster. Our generation is the last of the paper book buyers.
As to Queen JK, the market will drive her book prices, not her. There will be a few loyal followers willing to shell out 20$ for her books, but in time, you will be able to buy that same e-book for 1$ on clearence. If she wants to sell books she will have to sell at what the market will allow. The issue with her digging her heals in, is that she will turn people off to her future books. Short of Harry Potter what has she put out there that people are going to fall in love with.
Just a few humble thoughts,
BG
That’s pretty disturbing. Though I wonder if the big publishers move into that direction, will it be a boon for lower priced inde publishers?