In the role-playing game business, a similar discussion is underway. The issue for them is similar to the pay-what-you-want post from yesterday.
To supplement says of printed books, some companies are offering PDFs. Determining the price point seems to be difficult. For example, one book, Septimus RPG costs $39.95 for a 364 pg book. (buying the book includes a CD with the PDF on it) It is available as a downloadable PDF for $20.
There have been some complaints about the price, noting that a PDF costs very little to distribute through drivethrurpg.com. Some commenters have stated that the PDF should be high to help WEG (the publisher) recoup the cost of the book. Others state that the price should be lower to attract more fans.
The odd thing is that almost everyone seems to think that pricing it for $10 or lower is too low. The perceived value of the content is viwed to be between 1/2 to 2/3 the printed book price. It would seem that the RPG buying public views PDFs at a certain price point as 'low quality', 'poor content', or 'not a serious product'.
I know that the numbers are arbitrary and have nothing to do with economics, yet the perception of the buying public appears to push the PDF price up, not down.
Maybe the niche market of RPG publishing is an exception to the rule. What does everyone else think?
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by John Payne.
e-book prices
To supplement says of printed books, some companies are offering PDFs. Determining the price point seems to be difficult. For example, one book, Septimus RPG costs $39.95 for a 364 pg book. (buying the book includes a CD with the PDF on it) It is available as a downloadable PDF for $20.
There have been some complaints about the price, noting that a PDF costs very little to distribute through drivethrurpg.com. Some commenters have stated that the PDF should be high to help WEG (the publisher) recoup the cost of the book. Others state that the price should be lower to attract more fans.
The odd thing is that almost everyone seems to think that pricing it for $10 or lower is too low. The perceived value of the content is viwed to be between 1/2 to 2/3 the printed book price. It would seem that the RPG buying public views PDFs at a certain price point as 'low quality', 'poor content', or 'not a serious product'.
I know that the numbers are arbitrary and have nothing to do with economics, yet the perception of the buying public appears to push the PDF price up, not down.
Maybe the niche market of RPG publishing is an exception to the rule. What does everyone else think?
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by John Payne.
Submit a story now.