price of pdf's compared to price of printed books

[Aus_Snow]

What's the general consensus, or for that matter what are some of the various opinions, regarding what the reasonable price range for a pdf happens to be, in relation to the printed and bound version of the same document?

Sorry if this is a double-up of another thread (I'd be surprised if there's never been one like this).

Personally, I think 50% is acceptable. Much over that, and I'll probably balk.

On a similar note, what do pdf publishers think is reasonable to charge, given all the relevant factors? Also, I'd be interested in hearing what those factors are, as I haven't really heard, nor read much about the processes and joys/woes of e-publishing.


edit --- Likewise, I'd be curious to know what people are - or might be - willing to pay for the printed and bound version of a pdf of cost X. . . 2X (i.e., 200%)?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I don't know about "reasonable" in general. Personally, I will only consider a PDF purchase if a print version is available as well if (a) it is a sourcebook with little to no rules that I will have to refer to during general play and (b) it has at least a one-third price reduction.

 

[philreed]

For me the price depends on the product. If it's an OGC reference tool, like the Tome of Horrors of Unearthed Arcana, I have no problem with paying the print price for a PDF. (This assumes it has no security that prevents me from using the PDF).

If it's any other sort of PDF for gaming purposes, 50% is just fine. Anything over that will make me think about just how badly I want that product.

 

[Slife]

Hee, misread that as "compared to price of pirated books". Completely recontextualizes it.

Personally, I would think that it should cost the same as the printed books minus the printing charges. Same markup for the publisher, lower price for the consumer.

 

[PetriWessman]

I'd say anything up to about half the price of the printed version is ok. Even though the actual cost structure of producing a printed copy and a PDF aren't maybe all that different, to the customer they are worlds apart. Pretty much everyone I know views printed books as *much* more valuable than PDFs. Not saying PDFs are useless or valueless, quite the opposite -- but as long as PDFs are cumbersome to read compared to books, books will rule.

Ideally, it would be financially sensible for me to buy both the printed book and the PDF of stuff I use a lot (core rule books, etc). Currently, with PDFs of the big publisher stuff going at pretty close to the Amazon price of the printed version, that's a "no sale".

 

[Aus_Snow]

Currently, with PDFs of the big publisher stuff going at pretty close to the Amazon price of the printed version, that's a "no sale".

Is there a practical solution you can see to this?

PDFs are cumbersome to read compared to books

. . . or that?

 

[Aus_Snow]

Hm, if anyone (publisher and/or buyer) feels up to opining on price per page for either or both, that'd be helpful too.

 

[Rasyr]

Okay, here is how ICE handles it.

For PDFs of print products, we charge 40-50% of cover price, though the vast majority is at the 50% mark. For example, HARP retails for $25, the PDF sells for $10 (60% off), and the other products in the HARP line sell at 50% of cover price for the PDFs.

For PDFs that do not have a print version, we use the simple guideline of $1 for every 10 pages, or portion thereof, thus the HARPer's Bazaar PDFs (each 12-13 pages long) sell for $2 each.

Now, we will occasionally tack on an extra dollar or two for larger works, especially if it was a more difficult project to produce. For example, the "Hack & Slash" pdf is 38 pages. Under normal circumstances this would be $4, but we actually sell it at $5 since it was a bit more intensive to produce.

I fully agree with this pricing schema, especially since I helped define it for ICE.


Price per page? I don't have any actual numbers that I could give, but here is a little tidbit about print publishing that you might not realize. Most printers use what is called a "signature". A signature is a base number of pages, and the printers charge companies by the signature. Most signatures are in multiples of 2 with the most common ones being 8, 16, or 32. The actual price for a signature will often vary according to how many actual books are in the print run (larger print runs have a smaller price per book than smaller print runs in almost all cases).

This is also one of the reasons you will often see one or more pages of ads or other filler material at the back of a product. You see, if you do not use a full signature, you have to pay for the individual pages that are outside of a signature, those are more expensive (and can end up being more expensive than a full signature). Thus, if you buy a book and see an ad in the back, you will know that the publisher most likely did it to save money on printing costs (thanks to a manuscript that was not as long as they had originally hoped).

However, with PDFs you do not have this problem. Also, with the rise of POD printing, this problem is also starting to disappear from the print side as well. PODs can and often do use a 2 page signature. And the quality of POD printing is also getting very good which make it a very viable alternative to regular printers.

 

[Psion]

I am generally reluctant to buy anything prices over 50% MSRP. I attach additional value to a physical book (as well as understand the costs publishers bear in terms of printing costs and warehouse associated with a physical book), so if it goes above that, I'd rather order the physical specimen.

(Case in point: I'll order a copy of More Magic and Mayhem rather than grab the PDF.)

Not that I don't appreciate the PDF format. If there is a book I use a lot, I actually prefer to have BOTH a PDF and a print book (which means the publisher gets more of my money). Pricing the book above my 50% watermark puts that preference out of my reach.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Most printers use what is called a "signature". (...)

Huh. I always wondered why so many RPG books were 128, 224, 256 pages etc.

Thanks for that and other insights, Rasyr.