I would expect e-books to be considerably cheaper than printed books, since there are reduced distribution and production costs. Yet the retail price often doesn’t match those savings versus an e-book. I would hope that the authors royalties would reflect some of the savings in production costs.
In: Economics
The price charged for a good or service in a capitalist system is entirely unrelated to the cost of production. It’s the seller’s best estimate of the price that will maximize their revenue. If you were willing to spend X dollars on a print book, why wouldn’t you be willing to spend X dollars on a digital book? There are some reasons, e.g. the loss of the ability to resell; potential obsolescence; etc.; but you’ll note that they aren’t related to the production price (other than potentially *spite*, meaning being upset that the price hasn’t come down with the cost of production).
Cost of production is a starting point for price, since manufacturers don’t want to sell for a loss, but manufacturers aren’t going to reduce prices for materials on which they have a monopoly (like that provided by copyright) just because it’s cheaper to make them. They’re going to take higher profit instead.
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