Right then, the sale of ebooks is on the rise and is fast outstripping the sale of print books. That’s no secret at all. According to the most recent data, the sale of ebooks has tripled over the last year or so. However, when it comes to the returns, the digital publishing domain still accounts for only 20% of the revenue for the publishers; the rest is taken up by the print medium.
The most plausible reason for the above- readers’ aversion to higher priced ebooks. The virtual boycott of ebooks on Kindle which were priced higher than USD 9.99 is proof of that. And it’s quite obvious- when readers are not allowing publishers to price their digital content over a certain price, publishers’ margins are hit, and thus, their revenue comes down.
However, all is not lost yet. This paradigm shift, with the popularity of epublishing, has given a chance to publishers to experiment with their pricing models. The fixed price model of the brick and mortar store may not be very profitable anymore.
Blame it on the internet, which has gotten people used to freebies. But you can’t change that phenomenon. What you can change as a publisher is your business model. There are definite ways out there to increase your revenue from e-publishing while giving the consumers what they want.
A plausible business model could be that of rentals. Although popular logic has it that rental libraries are not very profitable, but it could just fit in the digital publishing domain. The catch is to keep the rental at the lowest possible.
Using DVD rentals as a parallel, if production houses start giving DVDs on rent for $1, it would prompt the consumers to go for the authentic stuff instead of searching for freebies. And since the low price tag would drive the volume, production houses can get to make some profit too. Similarly, giving out ebooks on rent for a stipulated period of time at a low cost can help generate revenue and the profits through volume.
We are aware that the e-publishing sector is already following such a model for the libraries, but here, we are not talking about the libraries; we are talking about the individuals.
The good thing with digital publishing is selling the complete content is not the only source of income. There are a whole lot of other avenues if publishers are ready to explore them. Selling the content in parts to app developers and displaying advertisements within the ebooks are just a couple of them.
There is another interesting pricing model for ebook publishing sector which may or may not hit the target but is worth the short. Publishers could give the readers their ebooks for free. As a publisher, you would always scream- what kind of business model is that? Well, give the readers ebooks for free only to be read online; if they wish to take them home, that is, download them on their PC or Tablet, charge them for that.
The above could work two ways; one, it could also open up the readers to the joy of reading authentic stuff, against the pirated versions; two, it could prompt the readers to buy the printed version after going through the digital version online.
Innovation is the name of the game. The ebook publishing market is just evolving and it’s a level playing field out there. It gives all the publishers a chance to experiment, and those who will are more likely to reap the benefits later. 