To think Kindle books shouldn't be £2 more than hardback versions?

[rollonthesummer]

Why-why aren't they the same price? Or even less??

[OutDamnedWind]

For one thing, they're subject to VAT.

[FATEdestiny]

You aren't paying for the physical book you don't pay the manufacturing cost to buy paper, do the printing and binding arc

You are paying effectively for a service. You are paying for someone who wrote that book, for the time and work it took them.

Same as music

[GeneralBobbit]

The writer gets about 50p per book so it's ridiculous that Kindle books are that price

[ImperialBlether]

I've noticed that when an author has a new book out and it's come out in hardback and Kindle, but not yet in paperback, then the Kindle cost matches (at least) the cost of the hardback, but when the paperback comes out, the Kindle price comes right down.

There's 20% VAT on e-books, so that could explain why it's more.

[ScarlettDarling]

I agree op, I think it's disgraceful! I totally get that the author and publishers still need to be paid, but it should surely be less when there isn't a physical product which has had to be printed, transported etc etc. It drives me mad, especially for children's kindle books which seem to np be so expensive.

[RichardBucket]

YABU for traditionally published books. Printing costs are a tiny fraction of the cost of the book and all the rest (editing, marketing, promotion) is the same for Kindle or paper.

Self-published is a different matter, because frankly most of them are worth £0.

[everdene]

Usually a price-promoted ebook if the book is still in hardback is from retailers trying to grab market share. So the price is set by retailers rather than publishers (who may not even know it's going to be reduced until it happens). The retailer normally soaks up the reduced earning.

If a hardback physical book is half price then that has been agreed by the publisher and tends to be to get a higher volume of sales in the first couple of weeks after release.

[4yoniD]

YANBU. How come petrol goes up 1p and all the shops put up the cost of everything blaming the price of oil, but we are expected to believe the cost of transporting printed books (from factory) is so low that the Ebook is still more expensive...

[LanaorAna1]

1. Print books aren't Vat-ed, Kindles are, so that adds 20 per cent to the cost.
   

1. Amazon rips publishers and authors off. If you think their non-taxpaying ways are eyebrow raising, you wouldn't beleeeeeve how greedy they are to the creative industries. Wholesale robbery. Unreal intimidation practices, yada.

[PikachuSayBoo]

Is this Mount?

It actually says under the price of the kindle version that the price was set by the publisher.

[RustyBear]

It probably won't be that price for long, it's just to catch those who feel they can't wait.
I use this site to track ebooks/authors I'm interested in and get an email when they come down in price, I hardly ever buy new ones straight away.

[ImperialBlether]

The writer gets about 50p per book

With paperbacks, they usually get between 7.5% and 10% after VAT has been taken off, so about 30p - 40p on a book that's £4.99.

[HarrietVane99]

Self-published is a different matter, because frankly most of them are worth £0.

Most self published authors price their books considerably lower than trad published books, but have to allow for 20% VAT and the 30% that Amazon takes.

I agree that a lot of self published books are poor, but I'm self published and hope my books are worth more than £0. I can at least string together a sentence in grammatical English!

[Sciurus83]

Never understood it either, goes to show how little we value natural resources such as paper production and fuel to transport books