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Save 50% on All O'Reilly Ebooks and Videos

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Re: Save 50% on All O'Reilly Ebooks and Videos

#21

Post by thefrostytruth »

kops wrote: post #17
pydanny wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As soon as you involve Amazon, that's surprisingly not true. Really. O'Reilly makes more on e-book sales directly through their on-line store then they do on print. However, every e-book they sell via Amazon, their margins are very, very different. Here's a rough guide for a $40 book: * O'Reilly E-Book Online Store: Approx 99% margin or $39.60 * O'Reilly Store selling print book (bulk print discount assumed): 95% mar…

* O'Reilly Store selling print book (bulk print discount assumed): 95% margin or $38.00 Is that really the kind of margins they operate at or is that a typo?

No. Those numbers above are ill-informed.

But yes, the average print costs for a single-color book per unit are in the 2-4 dollar range (that is, manufacturing alone, no design, marketing, editing).

And how would it be possible for Amazon to "keep their lights on" selling physical books at 40% off list price, if they pay O'Reilly $36 for a $40 book? Amazon buys from O'Reilly and most other pubs at 60% off, non-returnable. So the math for the publishers' take from Amazon on physical books looks like this:

[list price] * [.4] - [print costs / overhead] - [author royalty]

Re: Save 50% on All O'Reilly Ebooks and Videos

#22

Post by ryanhuff »

ekianjo wrote: post #19
ehamberg wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just for the record: You don't just get a PDF. You get a real e-book too.

WHatever. you are missing the point. Copying ebooks cost no money at all, there's no reason an ebook should cost that much in the first place. Dead Tree books were heavily dependent on material and inventory costs, ebooks do not suffer any of those yet they are still sold at similar pricing while they should be at least 90% cheaper, if you just kept the margin at the same level. It's pure profit for the publisher.

So you think that things should be based on their input costs, rather than the value that they provide?

Re: Save 50% on All O'Reilly Ebooks and Videos

#23

Post by kops »

thefrostytruth wrote: post #21
kops wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* O'Reilly Store selling print book (bulk print discount assumed): 95% margin or $38.00 Is that really the kind of margins they operate at or is that a typo?

No. Those numbers above are ill-informed. But yes, the average print costs for a single-color book per unit are in the 2-4 dollar range (that is, manufacturing alone, no design, marketing, editing). And how would it be possible for Amazon to "keep their lights on" selling physical books at 40% off list price, if they pay O'Reilly $36 for a $40 book? Amazon buys from O'Reilly and most other pubs at 60% off, non-return…

Thanks. I was mixing up margin with pre-tax profit.

Re: Save 50% on All O'Reilly Ebooks and Videos

#25

Post by eric-hu »

ekianjo wrote: post #19
ehamberg wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just for the record: You don't just get a PDF. You get a real e-book too.

WHatever. you are missing the point. Copying ebooks cost no money at all, there's no reason an ebook should cost that much in the first place. Dead Tree books were heavily dependent on material and inventory costs, ebooks do not suffer any of those yet they are still sold at similar pricing while they should be at least 90% cheaper, if you just kept the margin at the same level. It's pure profit for the publisher.

To expand ryanhuff's point, it seems like publishers are transitioning from cost-based pricing to value based pricing.

Suppose publishers were to maintain profit margins and reduce prices by about 90%, as you suggest. I posit that their additional sales from lower prices wouldn't compensate for the profit margin drop because their books would hit market saturation first.

Re: Save 50% on All O'Reilly Ebooks and Videos

#27

Post by Aldo_MX »

ekianjo wrote: post #19
ehamberg wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just for the record: You don't just get a PDF. You get a real e-book too.

WHatever. you are missing the point. Copying ebooks cost no money at all, there's no reason an ebook should cost that much in the first place. Dead Tree books were heavily dependent on material and inventory costs, ebooks do not suffer any of those yet they are still sold at similar pricing while they should be at least 90% cheaper, if you just kept the margin at the same level. It's pure profit for the publisher.

  Copying ebooks cost no money at all
Can you please tell me where do I get unlimited storage/bandwith for free?

Re: Save 50% on All O'Reilly Ebooks and Videos

#28

Post by film42 »

Maybe this is bad to say, but whenever it comes to "me needing a book" the first thing I do is google "$BOOK_NAME pdf" and check it out.

There is a catch though.. if I find the book a good asset, then I make sure to buy it, but otherwise it just doesn't make sense to gamble $20+ on a book that will be outdated in a year, unlike literature.

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