Are e-Books overpriced?

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I've read lots of complaints from readers who think that e-books should be much less expensive than p-books. Conditioned by e-books selling for 99 cents (or offered as freebies), these people point out that publishers have no expense for printing, binding, storage or shipping, so no e-book should be priced as high as $9,99-$14,99.

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(Some e-books actually sell for more than the printed version. List price for 985-page Fall of Giants by Ken Follet is $36. Amazon's price for the hardcover version was $19.39 when I checked. The price for the e-book was $19.99  --  60 cents more --even though no paper, cloth, cardboard, ink, glue or trucks were involved in production or delivery. The hardcover version of Don’t Blink by James Patterson and Howard Roughan has a $27.99 list price. Amazon was offering it for $14 -- but the e-book version was priced at $14.99 -- nearly a buck more, despite an infinitesimal cost to produce, store and deliver.)
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Regardless of the distribution format, publishers have substantial costs to produce a book, such as editing, formatting, cover design advertising, public relations and all the overhead that every business has to pay for. This costs thousands of dollars per book. Most books lose money, so the bestsellers have to subsidize the bad sellers.

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The cost to print a 300-page paperback is about $1.30, The hardcover version would cost about $3.  



If a hardcover has a list price ("cover price") of $24.95 and you deduct the cost of printing, storage, shipping and an allowance for returns), you get a price of about $19 for the e-version.

 

Complainers emphasize that when they pay $9.99 or more for an e-book, they just receive the words and pictures. They have nothing to keep on the shelf, nothing to lend to friends, nothing to give away.



It's important to keep in mind that you are paying for an experience, not a physical object.

 

There are many experiences people pay for with nothing to hold in their hands: travel, movies, sports events, arcade games, museum exhibits, concerts, lectures, car rentals, appliance repairs, conventions, zoos, club membership, clothing alterations, shoe shines, haircuts, education.



You can spend over $200,000 for a college education and all you walk away with is a piece of paper. You probably don't even get to keep the graduation cap.

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More about e-book pricing in the New York Times​