July 6, 2010 9:00am by David Farrar

Prices for e-books

How much should a digital book cost? The answer is more complicated than you might expect.

In the United States, the popularity of the Kindle has been driven largely by Amazon’s US$9.99 deals for ebooks. But many publishers feel bullied by Amazon’s dominance of the market, and resent the huge cut it takes – which can be up to 65 per cent of the sale price.

When Apple came along and agreed to a much lower cut, publishers cheered. The industry is keen to see even more competition, but what that will mean for prices remains to be seen.

Last year the New Zealand Digital Publishing Forum conducted an online poll, asking members how much the digital edition of a $30 book should cost here. The most popular answer was $15.

That sounds about right to me. If the costs are much the same, you feel ripped off. Plus one can get hard copies relatively cheaply off Amazon.

I’m thinking of getting some sort of e-book reader in the next week or so, as I have a month long trip coming up and the sheer weight of a dozen or so books makes e-books worth considering even though I prefer the paper versions.

Any recommendations out there as to what people have found best?