Should we consider price in a review?
- LJian888
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Should we consider price in a review?
It is now fairly common for publishers to price the Kindle version of their books near or above the price they charge for their print versions. Their argument that the incremental cost of printing a book is not as significant as many readers assume is a fallacious one, but that’s not my point/question here.
I just took a look at the New York Times fiction bestseller list on Amazon and all of the top ten books offered Kindle versions, ranging in price from $12.99 to $15.99. Six were priced at $14.99. That’s a lot of money for a book that costs the publisher pennies in direct materials costs and, if my memory serves me well, quite a premium over the historical price of the bestselling paperbacks of yore.
I also looked at the current Kindle bestselling list and seven of the top ten, and all of the first six, are priced at $4.99. And, of course, Amazon is always offering Kindle deals for as little as $0.99 and it’s not hard to find free Kindle versions of many books if you’re willing to search for them.
My question is this: When we, as readers, review a book for the benefit of other potential readers, on sites like Amazon,Goodreads, and onlinebookclub, should we take price into account? Should we rate a book that costs $0.99 to the same standard that we rate a best-seller that sells for $15.99? That’s a big multiple—like comparing a mid-size American sedan with the most expensive European luxury and performance cars.
As readers, I think, we also have to consider our self-interests. Consumer acceptance of the higher prices is ultimately going to further enhance the market power of the big publishers and consolidate the market into fewer and fewer branded authors who can quickly get a thousand reviews and propel their sales ever upward.
Eventually, the $.99 authors and publishers will just go away and readers won’t have that cheaper option any more. And as a reader that consumes a new book every few days, that would certainly impact my reading habits. Yes, I can go to the library but we all know that the waiting list for the hottest new books can be a long one. (And publishers, one would expect, will just keep raising their prices as the market consolidates and their pricing power increases.)
It seems to me, in the end, that while good writing is good writing, regardless of price, value is important given the fact that it drives our economy and we consider value in every other purchase we make. Why shouldn’t we evaluate books within a price range? That is, after all, how the books are priced, in theory. A $14.99 e-book, in the eyes of the publisher, is supposed to be worth $14.99. That’s a pretty high standard. Shouldn’t we evaluate the product accordingly?
What do you think?
- RegularGuy3
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