One Last Digital Thing

Following on all the recent posts, here’s an article from The Bookseller about how all of Penguin UK’s books will now be available simultaneously in print and ebook versions.

Penguin UK is set to be the first of the major UK trade publishers to put all its new black and white titles simultaneously into print and e-book format. From September new titles will be available in the .epub format from the company’s own websites and from digital retailers, at the same price as the print edition.

Pricing is going to be a huge issue as ebooks become more prominent. I’m not sure I’d pay full $27.95 hardcover price for an ebook. (Especially one that will probably be DRM protected.) And why should anyone? There are no printing costs for an ebook, so at least that amount can be eliminated from the pricing calculation . . .