Eli5: Why is the purchase price of e-books basically the same as print.

Question

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

Answer 1

In the vast majority of cases it isn’t. For star authors, especially on first publication, it may be. This is probably a simple case of making the books appear reassuringly expensive. But it soon settles down.

Take for example the Cormoran Strike books by J. K. Rowling’s alter-ego Robert Galbraith. Book 7, which is the latest, at Amazon costs £12.99 for both hardback and Kindle editions. Book 6 is £7.49 in paperback but only £5.49 for Kindle.