E-books

Why are they so expensive? I wanted to check out Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series. The first book, "The Mediterranean Caper", was published in 1973. There was a paperback reprint done in 2004.

Amazon is selling the 2004 paperback at no discount for $9.99. The Kindle and iBook versions are also $9.99.

What the...?

I've noticed this trend lately for several books. I refused to buy the e-Book of the third Gail Carriger book because they wanted the same price as the physical book. I looked into "Shades of Milk and Honey" by Mary Robinette Kowal. The paperback Amazon price is $9.77, but they're charging $11.99 for the Kindle version? Not gonna happen.

I don't know what the publishers are doing, but I believe they're trying to keep the popularity of e-Books at a lower level. Why do I think this?

My response in these and other instances has been to by a used copy of the book. I really hate to do this. In doing this, the author receives nothing and the publisher receives nothing. So the only concept I can logically come up with is that they want to force people to buy hard copies of the books. Maybe they think that Kindle or iPad people have wads of cash just lying around... but if that's true, then I'm not one of them.

Once, I contacted an author and told them I'd bought a used copy of their out of print book and requested a PayPal address so I could send them what I would have paid for it. For something in print, that seems... creepy.

I'm not a person that has to read a book the day it comes out. I can wait a week and pick up a used copy for 30% the cover price. I'd rather keep things electronically, simply to cut down on the environment impact of yet another book.