I’ve been using the soundleaf app with a self-hosted audiobookshelf server and it’s been a game changer for accesing books without those insane ebook markups.
For publishers ebooks pay 25% royalties compared to the 50% of print books at bookstores. Sustaining a company on selling items for 25% of $20 is unrealistic. So, I would say you are not the one getting the worse deal.
Typesetting, ISBN registration, image editing (if any), royalty processing, platform specific promotion, and more are not shared.
I’m not saying they should be greedy. I’m saying we shouldn’t underestimate the effort of producing and selling an ebook. Most publishers are barely profitable due to how the industry works.
It’s crazy how much some ebooks are since they avoid printing costs. Seeing ebooks for $20 or more pisses me off so much.
I’ve been using the soundleaf app with a self-hosted audiobookshelf server and it’s been a game changer for accesing books without those insane ebook markups.
For publishers ebooks pay 25% royalties compared to the 50% of print books at bookstores. Sustaining a company on selling items for 25% of $20 is unrealistic. So, I would say you are not the one getting the worse deal.
Books are not massively profitable.
25% of $20 when the cost to the hoster is almost zero…
Why do you think that hosting is the only cost?
I don’t, but the other costs, like management, promotion, formatting, etc., are shared by traditional print books.
Typesetting, ISBN registration, image editing (if any), royalty processing, platform specific promotion, and more are not shared.
I’m not saying they should be greedy. I’m saying we shouldn’t underestimate the effort of producing and selling an ebook. Most publishers are barely profitable due to how the industry works.