Why do e-books sold on Amazon cost nearly as much as paperback copies?
The Hindu
The e-book/paperback price gap is closing for numerous popular books. What is Amazon India trying to do, exactly?
For ₹256.50, a buyer can download Jan Yager’s How to Finish Everything You Start, the no. 1 bestseller on Amazon India’s Kindle store, and start reading it in a few seconds. Amazon India says the reader is getting a discount of 13% (or ₹37.50), compared to the digital list price of ₹294.
However, if a reader chose to pay ₹13.50 more, they could have the physical paperback priced at ₹270 delivered to their doorstep.
While this pricing model sounds strange, it is the case for numerous English-language titles spanning across genres, publishing houses, regions, and formats on Amazon India.
Whether a reader’s pick of the day is R.F. Kuang’s fantasy epic Babel or Chetan Bhagat’s slice-of-life novel One Indian Girl, the price gap between the Kindle e-book edition and the paperback on Amazon India causes a reader to scratch their head as they wonder whether the e-book is overpriced or the paperback is underpriced.
The difference between Kuang’s e-book and paperback is less than ₹30. And Bhagat’s is just ₹1.
Compare this scenario to five or ten years ago, when buying an e-book on an Indian e-commerce platform was a breezy choice that saved money, letting the reader buy two or three additional e-books for the price of one paperback. But now, the e-book/paperback price gap is closing for numerous popular books. What is Amazon trying to do, exactly?
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