Ebook Pricing

Some Context

United States

• ebooks accounted for 30% of all book sales in the first half of 2013 (Bowker)

• In the US, adult fiction and non-fiction eBook sales increased by 13.6% in 2013 (AAP)

• Sales of children’s ebooks decreased by 30.1% (AAP)

• In 2012, ebooks outsold mass market (BISG)

• Overall, the US ebook market grew by 5% in 2013 (AAP)

Canada

• 58% of people who had read at least one book last year had read a book in ebook format (BookNet 2014)

• 20% of book-buyers bought one or more ebooks in 2013, up from 18% in 2012 (Canadian Book Consumer 2014)

• In 2012, ebooks accounted for 17% of book purchases in Canada (BookNet, 2014)

BookNet: The State of Digital Publishing in Canada 2014

Ebook Sales Channels

BookNet: The State of Digital Publishing in Canada 2014

Ebook Revenue

Pricing

No Standard

• There is no ‘standard’ or ‘best practice’

• 49% of Canadian publishers are using a Direct Pricing model and 28% are using an Agency model (Booknet 2014)

United StatesNew York TimesBestsellers Lists

14-Apr-14

FictionSuggested

list pricePrintprice

Kindle price

The King J.R.Ward 32.95 16.47 hc 15.99

I've Got You Under My Skin Mary Higgins Clark 32.50 19.50 hc 16.99

The Fixed Trilogy Laurelin Page 0.99

Shadow Spell Nora Roberts 33.04 9.50 pb 10.99

Missing You Harlan Coben 32.95 16.47 hc 15.99

Non-FictionPrintprice

Kindle price

Flash Boys Michael Lewis 32.95 19.00 hc 12.90

Heaven is for Real Todd Burpo 18.99 13.68 pb 8.74

Upstairs at the White House J.B. West & Mary Lynn Kotz 1.99

10% Happier Dan Harris 31.99 20.05 hc 16.99

Thrive Arianna Huffington 31.00 15.50 hc 14.99

“At the end of January, the average price of a best-selling ebook was $5.36, just $0.99 off an all-time low, recorded in December 2013. Since then, it’s been steadily ticking up.… In just two months, the average price has increased more than $2.00, or a 40% rise.

After weeks of slowly ticking up, … the average price of a best-selling ebook jumped this week to $7.49.”DBW Daily, March 12, 2014

Globe & MailBestseller Lists

12-Apr-14

Suggestedlist price

Printprice

Kindle price

Koboprice

Flash Boys Michael Lewis 32.95 19.00 hc 12.90 16.99

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth Chris Hadfield 32.00 16.00 hc 14.99 14.99

Shadow Spell Nora Roberts 19.00 9.50 pb 10.99 10.99

I've Got You Under My Skin Mary Higgins Clark 32.50 19.50 hc 16.99 16.99

The Orenda Joseph Boyden 32.00 16.00 hc 14.99 14.99

Canada

BookNet Canada, 2014

Price Paid byFormat in 2013

BookNet Canada, 2014

Ebook PurchasePrice Distribution

BookNet Canada, 2014

Average Ebook Prices

Ebooks2012 2013

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Average Price Paid(including $0 books) 8.02 6.85 6.69 6.30 6.36 6.27 6.86 8.29

Average Price Paid(excluding $0 books) 12.60 10.66 11.38 11.77 11.69 11.32 11.59 12.72

An Age of

Experiments

DifferentRetail Models

• Direct-to-Consumer (D2C)• Bundling• Subscription• (Series, Author cards, BitLit)

Direct to Consumer

• Verso just launched a D2C site a with a goal of £200,000 in sales by year end.

• To “juice” sales, they offered a 50% discount on titles.

• After 1 week of going public, they had achieved £80,000 in sales.

DBW Daily, April 14, 2014

Bundling

• Only 15% of Canadian publishers offer e & print bundles for a fee

• 20% of buyers would chose a bundled book if it was available

• 12% would pay more for it

Canadian Book Consumer Study 2012, BookNet

Subscription

Series, Author Cards, etc.

• Return of serials

• Offering the first title in a series for free or greatly reduced price to attract readers

• Author cards

• Value adds

Libraries& Ebooks

BookNet: The State of Digital Publishing in Canada 2014

Library Distribution

Harper Collins26 checkouts per copy purchasedInstituted February 2011

Print retail:$34.99Print library:

$20.29Ebook retail:

$16.98Ebook library:$28.84

Average price =$14.08

Random House1 copy / 1 user in perpetuity but triple retailInstituted March 2012

Print retail:$32.00Print library:

$19.84Ebook retail:

$14.99Ebook library:$85.00

Average price =$60.23

Hachette1 copy / 1 user in perpetuitymark-up varies, but some triple retailpulled July 2010, back with new pricing May 2013

Print retail:$28.00Print library:

$16.24Ebook retail:

$11.99Ebook library:$77.29

Average price =$40.42

Macmillan Backlist

52 checkouts over 2 yearsprices close to quadruple retail1 imprint August 2013, more October 2013

Print retail:$16.99Print library:

$10.19Ebook retail:

$10.99Ebook library:$40.00

Average price =$40.42

Cuyahoga County Library System acquired “some 300 ebook copies of Fifty Shades of Grey for nearly $24,000 last year.” DBW Daily, April 15, 2014.

Quebec Model

• Library prices for ebooks are the same as retail

• 55 checkouts per copy purchased

• Libraries purchase ebooks through bookstores and the bookstores take a percentage on every sale as does the distributor

eBOUND Publishers

• Of 67 eBOUND publishers, 46 have set a “library” price in CoreSource

• Of those 46 publishers,19 set a hgher price for libraries