What is the reason for the high cost of professional books in electronic form?

Question

Books

Professional books, in particular technical books, have never been distinguished by a low price, in the printed version it is easy to understand, it is necessary to compose a book, translate and print. The circulation of such books is usually in the thousands, not hundreds of thousands. In general, this always suited me and I never felt sorry for giving 500-1500 rubles, especially when you hold the book in your hand and it has a good binding and you fall on the sofa to read. On the other hand, take some popular science fiction with a large circulation and a cost of 100-200 rubles.

In my opinion, the main cost criterion for a book is its circulation, no matter how much it costs for a book, if it has a circulation of 100,000, it will be several times cheaper than the same book with a circulation of 1,000 copies. Yes, I remember about shipping and everything else that adds value to the book.

Take for example the book Selling texts by Bernadsky it costs 468 rubles in ozone, circulation 3000
www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/7600685/
In electronic form it costs 250 rubles
www.imobilco.ru/books/-/642621/

so fucking expensive?
I don't have to deliver it, it doesn't take up storage space, it doesn't need to be printed on paper, it doesn't require a shelf in the store. I just need to download it. Is it possible that all of the above costs only 218 rubles per book, and its cost price with an extra charge of 250? The cost of a translator and editors for books is quite small, the authors certainly receive their 10-20 percent from publishers, just like in paper books.

Isn't it time for this world to change its mind? Especially publishers.
I will not download a pirated copy, but I will not read this book either.

Answer 1

Mmm, in a capitalist society, the price of a product is not determined by labor costs and cost, but solely by demand and market conditions. It costs 250 rubles because it is bought for 250 rubles. Stop buying, prices will drop.

Answer 2

Question: What is the reason for the high cost of professional books in electronic form?
Answer: High solvency of the target audience.
Your K.O.

Answer 3

Those. a book that teaches you how to make money should be free? And 250r is a penny, you look at good technical books on Amazon, they can cost more than one hundred dollars.
Such books are the result of the work of the author, and I do not mean the labor of writing a book, but the fact that in order to be able to write a good professional book, one must spend more than one year of one's life (or even more than one decade).
If you think $250 is too expensive, then you can spend a few years of YOUR life saving that money.

Answer 4

I know the "printing" business from the inside.
Believe me, they barely cover the cost of producing books. Normally you can print books only if there are subsidies. Otherwise Khan.

Answer 5

Greed. Well, as mentioned above, demand.
Rare technical literature (paper, of course - why buy e-books, I don’t understand) generally costs sky-high money.

Answer 6

> According to my calculations, at home. printers, the cost of laser powder is 2.19 cents per page
. 100 rubles costs a can of toner, which is enough for ~ 4 thousand. pages. We get 2.5 kopecks of toner per page. Depreciation of a cartridge worth 2 thousand rubles. and allowing to print even if only 15 thousand. pages (I printed 25 thousand pages on one cartridge) will be 13.3 kopecks per page. The depreciation of the printer, which costs ~5t.r., will be considered equal to 5000/100000=5 kopecks per page. In total, without the cost of paper, we get ~ 21 kopecks per page.
Paper (newsprint, of course, it is inconvenient to print on a white thick book: very hard pages are obtained) costs ~ 50 rubles for 500 sheets = 10 kopecks per page.
In total, printing four pages of the book (2 pages per sheet, on both sides) will cost us 21 * 2 + 10 = 52 kopecks, i.e. we get the cost of printing 1 page of the book equal to 13 kopecks.
Total: a book block of 300 pages will cost us 39 rubles.
For endpapers, thick paper is used (for example, whatman paper) - I don’t even remember how much it costs, I still have old stocks. Let the ruble go to the book - we get 40 rubles.
The cover is cardboard + leatherette (I also still have stocks), let them cost you 10 rubles for 1 book.
Total: the cost of home printing of a 300-page book = 50 rubles!
The cost of printing a 500-page book = ~72 rubles!

Answer 7

Regardless of the method of distribution, the author (=> publishing house in real life) needs to return the costs + make a profit. So it’s not profitable for anyone to do it free or cheap, of course. How else is that?
From the increase in circulation and reduction in price, it is not at all necessary that there will be a benefit, most likely just a loss. Publishing houses are not fools either :) Circulation is calculated after all from potential demand. For special / technical literature, it is obviously not very high.

Answer 8

Let's not forget about taxes.

Answer 9

This is still a normal discount, on bn.com electronic ones are only slightly cheaper than the originals.
For example Phil Rosenzweig "Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers"
Paper - $13.98
Electronic - $12.99
The price is determined not only by cost, but to a large extent by publishers' greed and demand.

Answer 10

the high cost of electronic publications is a consequence of the opaque and disadvantageous distribution system in Russia for the author

Answer 11

Everything is simple. Printing a book costs a penny: there is enough paper in our country.
The markup of the store and the intermediary are the main cost items in the books.
Look here: www.vedomosti.ru/library/news/2012/06/26/2154133
At the price of the book: 468 rubles. its printing costs 93 rubles => the electronic version should cost 375 rubles !
They give it to you for 250 for nothing , most likely, leaving the author "thrown" on grandmas (

Answer 12

"Selling texts" by Bernadsky, by the way, already cost 120 rubles on Google Play)