Recently in the press we have heard about the “print media”, such as books and news papers, bringing out charging systems for their online content. For example the New York Times is reported to be bringing in a charging structure for 2011 <cite>.
Authors have recently been provided with a workable and accessible system for their printed works to be made available on like, that system is commonly known as the eBook. The open eBook format can be read by many different devices from the iPhone to the humble PC (with all the eBook readers in-between). It is very easy for one to create an eBook, there are many pieces of software (such as Stanza) which can take text and save it to the ePub format.
Many websites have appeared almost overnight providing the ability to download a new release in eBook format, for a price. My problem here, and the thing That Pisses Me Off, is the price difference. Yesterday I decided that I wanted to buy a copy of Dan Brown’s latest work “The Lost Symbol”, I decided that I would buy it in eBook format. My reasoning for this was that I always have my iPhone (and as such Stanza) with me, so I can read the book whenever I have a spare moment. So I started with Google, and found my way to a few sites selling the eBook. What I found shocked me.
The Price difference between an eBook and a Printed book
- Amazon US - Book: $12.00 (£7.75) | eBook: $14.09 (£9.91)
- Waterstones – Book: £9.49 | eBook: £13.58
- WHSmiths – Book: £9.49 | eBook: £13.48
- Barnes & Nobel – Book: £28.20 (£18.23) | eBook: $9.60 (£6.20)
I was under the impression (wrongly!) that an eBook would be cheaper than a printed book. It does make sense that it would be, as surely the process of me purchasing a printed work would cost more? I will point out that B&N were cheaper, but they won’t sell eBooks to the UK.
