Do You Want To Influence Wrox's eBook Prices? Then Please Read.

[tinjaw]

I have begun a (civil) conversation with Wrox's Jim Minatel, Associate Publisher as a comment stream on their site. Wrox has done "The Right Thing" and started to release their ebook titles DRM-Free. I applaud them for doing so, but mention that I think ebooks priced the same as dead tree editions is not good.

Since Wrox is a developer book publisher I felt readers of this section might be interested in adding their comments as Jim has said he will be posting about pricing in the next week.

I have suggested they follow the other publishers in this space and price their ebooks 30% less than dead tree editions.

[Stoic Joker]

Dead Tree Editions <-Now that's funny!)

But seriously, standard business model is Cost-of-Goods + Fair~Mark-up. So... If cost drops dramatically (no more publication & shipping fees to deal with...), then said savings should be passed on to the consumer as well.

That's fair trade.

[f0dder]

That's fair trade.

Not to be confused with FairTrade, which means paying more for less, for all those smug bastards.

[Stoic Joker]

That's fair trade.

Not to be confused with FairTrade, which means paying more for less, for all those smug bastards.

Didn't see that one coming ... But it figures they'd find a way to screw that up too.

Kinda reminds me of a rant I did quite frequently (years ago) when somebody annoyed me by quipping "That's not Fair" once too often.

[Rant] (As best I can remember it):
Fair? Where do you get the inaine idea that fair has anything to do with a equitable split of anything?!?

Fair only has 3 possible usages:
1. Fare as in what one must pay for a service (e.g. Cab Fare).

2. Fair as in County fair - the point of which is to funnel visitors (in cattle chute fashion) through the midway...Where cleverly designed games entice you into screwing yourself.

3. Fair as in trial. Now, given that it's a game of 50/50, the only thing for sure, is somebody is going to lose. And said loser will never be happy about it.

Hence in reality (and by definition) fair/fare actually means (quite simply) that somebody is gone get the shaft & somebody else is gone be holding the handle.

So yeah, you missed the handle this trip pal - Sorry 'bout your luck - Just quit whining about it not being "Fair"

[/rant] Note: the original version usually contained a level of profanity consistent with my mood at the time.

Mind you this isn't directed at anyone, I just thought I'd share it as it came to mind.