Ten bucks for an ebook is already such an offensive ripoff that I am reduced to blithering incoherence at the prospect.
How do I justify that assertion? Consider that Apple has successfully imposed the idea that an electronic copy of a song should cost a buck. As far as the sales and delivery process are concerned, both of them are just some data. The song is actually a lot more data than a regular text book. And Apple makes a killing selling songs for a buck apiece.
How much of Amazon's ten dollar target price goes to Amazon, and how much of it goes to the publisher? (Once it goes to the publisher, it has to get divided again; the author gets paid by the publisher, and the author should be paid, and the cover artist and the copy editor and a bunch of other useful people contribute to the book and they should be paid. But all of that division is handled by the publisher. I could rant about how much of the pie the publisher's shareholders are entitled to, but that's a separate issue.) I don't actually know, but I am assuming that Amazon's cut is a lot more than $.55, which is (if my memory serves) is the fraction of iTunes' $.99 for a song that isn't sent to the music publisher. And I, as a potential future ebook consumer, don't think that Amazon deserves to get paid so much for doing so little.
As to your personal dilemma -- don't sit on your gift certificate in protest, that's the worst thing you can do! Amazon already has that money, so you should seek to get as much value as you can out of them. If you are upset enough to deny them new money from other business, either your own, or your friends' (by telling them to please choose something other than Amazon gift certificates for you), great.
no subject
How do I justify that assertion? Consider that Apple has successfully imposed the idea that an electronic copy of a song should cost a buck. As far as the sales and delivery process are concerned, both of them are just some data. The song is actually a lot more data than a regular text book. And Apple makes a killing selling songs for a buck apiece.
How much of Amazon's ten dollar target price goes to Amazon, and how much of it goes to the publisher? (Once it goes to the publisher, it has to get divided again; the author gets paid by the publisher, and the author should be paid, and the cover artist and the copy editor and a bunch of other useful people contribute to the book and they should be paid. But all of that division is handled by the publisher. I could rant about how much of the pie the publisher's shareholders are entitled to, but that's a separate issue.) I don't actually know, but I am assuming that Amazon's cut is a lot more than $.55, which is (if my memory serves) is the fraction of iTunes' $.99 for a song that isn't sent to the music publisher. And I, as a potential future ebook consumer, don't think that Amazon deserves to get paid so much for doing so little.
As to your personal dilemma -- don't sit on your gift certificate in protest, that's the worst thing you can do! Amazon already has that money, so you should seek to get as much value as you can out of them. If you are upset enough to deny them new money from other business, either your own, or your friends' (by telling them to please choose something other than Amazon gift certificates for you), great.