Chris Rippel (the webmaster of \”Can
e-books improve libraries?\”) wrote:
Is the cost of $1 for 20 pages of \”The Plant\” outrageous
or fair?
Is anyone getting ripped off?
Here are the facts (based on my best calculations) for
answering the
questions above.
Chris Rippel (the webmaster of \”Can
e-books improve libraries?\”) wrote:
Is the cost of $1 for 20 pages of \”The Plant\” outrageous
or fair?
Is anyone getting ripped off?
Here are the facts (based on my best calculations) for
answering the
questions above.
According to Amazon.com, the price of Stephen King
novels in hardcover
are:
Average (i.e., mean) list price: $31.02
Average (i.e., mean) Amazon\’s discount price: $20.81
(Econoclad offers hardcover editions at about half the
list price.)
PRICE PER PAGE – List: $.07 per page Amazon: $.05
per page
Reading on a computer, \”The Plant\” costs $.03 per
page plus the cost of
running the computer and Internet.
Laser printing \”The Plant\” raises its cost to $.05 to $.06
per page,
plus the cost of paper and binding if bound.
In thinking about King\’s profit and the fairness of \”The
Plant\’s\” pricing consider that most authors get 10% to
15% royalties on their books, Stephen King gets 50% in
royalties.
25% to 40% authors of e-books get.
Below are the details of my calculations.
Here is the mean and median of pages, price, and
price per page for 13
Stephen King novels according to Amazon.com. (The
list of novels is at
bottom of this email.)
MEAN (i.e., average) for 13 King novels
458 pages
List price: $31.02
Amazon discount price: $20.81
Price per page – List: $.07 Amazon: $.05
MEDIAN (i.e., 50% of titles are above this number and
50% of titles are
below this number) for 13 King novels
v
428 pages
List price: $29.95
Amazon discount price: $20.96
Price per page – List: $.07 Amazon: $.05
The Plant (Source: The Plant FAQ
<
Episode 1: 20 pages Price: $1.00
Episode 2: Approx. 26 pages Planned price: $1.00
Episode 3: Approx. 44 pages Planned price: $1.00
Episode 4: Approx. 96 pages Planned price: $2.50
v
Episode 5: Approx. 96 pages Planned price: $2.50
Episode 6: Approx. 96 pages Planned price: $2.50
Episode 7: Approx. 96 pages Planned price: $2.50
Episode 8: Approx. 96 pages Planned price: $2.50
Total for 7 episodes*:
Approx. 474 pages
Planned price: $13.00
Approx. price per page $.03
Total for 8 episodes*:
Approx. 570 pages
v
Planned price: $15.50
Approx. price per page $.03
* Stephen King\’s FAQ says there may be seven or eight
episodes.
If readers print out \”The Plant,\” the printing costs must
be calculated
in.
According to ZDNet at
<
Printing on laser printers cost $.02 to $.03 per page not
including
paper.
Inkjets are more expensive.
***********************************************
Data for the calculations above:
List of King\’s Novels in hardcover (Source
Amazon.com):
Bag of Bones 529 pages List: $28.00
Amazon:
Geneva
$19.60
Carrie 199 pages List: $29.95 Amazon: $20.96
Cujo 319 pages List: $29.95 Amazon: $20.96
The Dead Zone 426 pages List: $35.00 Amazon:
$24.50
Different Seasons 527 pages List: $35.00 Amazon:
$24.50
Firestarter 428 pages List: $37.00 Amazon:$25.90
Hearts in Atlantis 523 pages List: $28.00
Amazon:$19.60
Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon 224 pages List: $16.95
Amazon: $11.86
Nightshift 336 pages List: $30.00 Amazon: $21.00
v
Rose Madder 420 pages List: $25.96 Amazon: $6.49
Salem\’s Lot 429 pages List: $32.50 Amazon: $22.75
The Shining 447 pages List: $29.95 Amazon: $20.96
The Stand 1153 pages List: $45.00 Amazon: $31.50
Thanks,
Chris Rippel
Central Kansas Library System
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