Save 50% on All O'Reilly Ebooks and Videos • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by dragonwriter » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:52 PM UTC

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.

> 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.

Well, sure, in the world where the only costs that sales price needed to cover were the marginal costs of the current copy, and not some share of the fixed costs of the content.

> Dead Tree books were heavily dependent on material and inventory costs

"Were"? Physical books are still around, you know. Also, those costs are partially marketing costs -- having the book printed and out on the shelf in a bookstore is a form of marketing. While they may not have the printing and inventory costs of physical books, ebooks definitely have marketing costs and, because of the low barriers to entry in the market compared to the market for physical books, arguably have more competing noise that their marketing is trying to be heard over. There's a cost of dealing with it, and the sales price of the books has to pay for it for selling the books to be a profitable business.

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

#32

Post by espeed » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 11:26 PM UTC

prawks wrote: post #4

I wish they'd have some sales on physical books. Maybe it's just my traditional thinking, but I have a hard time paying $20+ for a pdf. I understand the publisher needs money, the author has to eat, and the printing costs aren't really a whole ton that you can reduce the price with, but it still just doesn't sit right with me. I feel like and old curmudgeon. Side edit: In what kind of strange world does the 2nd editi…

Manning is doing up to 50% off on any purchase this weekend, including physical books:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs172/1101335703814/archi...

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

#33

Post by mjhoy » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 3:26 PM UTC

tomstuart wrote: post #20

mjhoy wrote: post #9

I just picked up Understanding Computation and, having made it through the first two chapters at this point, heartily recommend it. If anyone wants to have a little reading group, I'd be interested. http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920025481.do

Author here. Thanks for the recommendation! There’s already a reading group in London ( http://lanyrd.com/series/compbookclub/ ), but that may not be of any use to you. If anyone else is interested in the book, there's more information at http://computationbook.com/ .

Absolutely. I'm glad you wrote it, seems like an unexpected way to approach the subject, and I can see where e.g. this comment[1] comes from. But I think it's quite valuable and inspires me (lacking any CS degree) to pursue further study.

[1]: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1isawq/understa...

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

#34

Post by ekianjo » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:29 AM UTC

ryanhuff wrote: post #22

ekianjo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

And why is that value on ebooks so much greater than on paper then ? Why would the author be paid 15$ on an ebook and only 1$ on paper for the same customer price ? Is the author creating more value on paper than on a digital format? Certainly not.

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

#35

Post by ekianjo » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:35 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #31

ekianjo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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. Well, sure, in the world where the only costs that sales price needed to cover were the marginal costs of the current copy, and not some share of the fixed costs of the content. > Dead Tree books were heavily dependent on material and inventory costs "Were"? Physical books a…

> Also, those costs are partially marketing costs -- having the book printed and out on the shelf in a bookstore is a form of marketing. While they may not have the printing and inventory costs of physical books, ebooks definitely have marketing costs and, because of the low barriers to entry in the market compared to the market for physical books, arguably have more competing noise that their marketing is trying to be heard over. There's a cost of dealing with it, and the sales price of the books has to pay for it for selling the books to be a profitable business.

Meh, poor justification. A physical book is not really a form of marketing, there are tons of books sitting on bookshops shelves without ever being touched or opened by anyone. Only when you do an actual marketing campaign you get a prominent display with large amounts of your book in visible areas.

Ebooks have marketing costs but you can target the potential customer much more accurately online than in the shop. Plus, there are tons of mechanisms to get your book reviewed and rated by peers, to have a full site to explain the contents in way more details than you could ever expect in an actual store. Ebook advertising is probably not cheap, but it still is nowhere near justifying the large margin they create on the selling price.

It's a market ripe for disruption.