The Cost of Digital Lit

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February 11, 2010

First there was the bitter move by Amazon to remove all Macmillan titles from its digital inventory after Macmillan demanded higher e-book pricing.

Then two more publishing houses publicly denounced Amazon’s dime a dozen approach to pricing e-books at $9.99. Now, in the latest installment in the tug-of-war over e-book prices, publishers have convinced online retailers to sell e-books on a varied scale, ranging from $12.99–$14.99.

But as the diligent New York Times reporters Motoko Rich and Brad Stone reveal, no one knows yet how consumers will react. Even if publishers have reason to celebrate their small triumph in e-book pricing, they will still have to struggle with the American readers’ complacency towards paying much for literature. “The sense of entitlement of the American consumer is absolutely astonishing,” said author Douglas Preston in Rich and Stone’s article. “It’s the Wal-Mart mentality, which in my view is very unhealthy for our country. It’s this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something.”

Read all sorts of perspectives about this past week’s e-book pricing ordeal by selecting from The Virginia Quarterly Review’s links.

BSKY

Maddie Oatman

Maddie Oatman has interviewed musicians and writers for The Rumpus. She’s the research editor at Mother Jones, where she also writes. A Boulder transplant, she can often be found on her bike, skis, or cooking with vegetables, and she wrote her English thesis on a gay red-winged monster and Billy the Kid. Follow her on Twitter or read occasional musings on her blog Oats.

2 responses

I’m not “entitled” and I’m not as rich as that hack author

February 14, 2010

The sense of entitlement on the part of authors and publishers is amazing. They should all go fuck themselves if they think those of us who work hard for our money don’t want to pay exorbitant prices for a digital edition of a book which is both very cheap to produce compared to both hardcovers and trade paperbacks and which is not as versatile (i.e., you can’t re-sell it or even lend it to friends). There is a lot of material to read that is comparatively cheap or free — like the articles on The Rumpus or e-books by great authors in the past whose works are in the public domain.

I notice the “indie” types who are published and feted on The Rumpus are often the most elitist, along with the hack bestsellers like Douglas Preston.

Remember, you price things too high and piracy will prevail. Who needs authors, literary or commercial, who have an overblown sense of entitlement? Stephen Elliott, watch your back!
Stephen Elliott

February 14, 2010

I’m too busy video conferencing from my private jet to watch my back. I’ve assigned an intern to do it.