This week the average price of an ebook bestseller hit its highest level in all of 2013, clocking in at $8.92! For comparison, last week the average was only $6.95, and it's been betwen $7 and $8 all year. Here's how the entire past 12 months look, according to the Digital Book World chart:
So, why did it happen? Does it mean a big trend is starting? Will we be paying $2 more for ebooks in the coming months? Are we headed back to the > $10 prices of 2012?!?
On this point, Digital Book World has two theories that I think end up being kind of circular logic. They posit that, 1) "Of the nine new titles to hit the list this week, only two were priced below $10" and that, 2) "There is only one self-published work on the list and it’s priced at $3.99."
For me, both of those reasons are ways to say, the average price of a bestselling ebook is higher because the books on the list cost more. Yeah, I got that part. It's like a joke we tell in the Midwest.
You know why one side of the V is longer than the other when geese are flying? Because there's more geese on that side.
The more plausible reason, in my opinion, is that "Sylvia Day hit the list in a big way this week after the release of her latest Crossfire book, Entwined With You. The book pre-sold a million copies and is currently the best-selling ebook in the country. Two other Crossfire books crept back up onto the list as a result, all priced at $9.99." This reason I like best because it draws a clear causal link between a much-anticipated book and the rising average cost.
So, what does this mean? I think it means people are willing to pay an average of $9 for books they want. Or more, or less, depending on the way the book is priced. I think it means, at the end of the day, that people are willing to pay for books that they want.
No matter the product, people are willing to pay for quality.
Image source: ssoosay via flickr
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