EBooks: changing the publishing industry, PwC

1.4 

Pricing and Distribution 

Models

There are also major differences among 

experts with regard to the pricing of 

eBooks. Overall, approximately half of 

industry representatives consider that 

a discount of between 20% and 30% 

compared with the paperback price is 

necessary to kick-start the market. Even 

publishers believe eBooks should cost 

less than printed books to encourage the 

development of the market. Consumers 

are less willing to pay for eBooks because 

they do not believe they are acquiring a 

tangible object: they receive the rights to a 

virtual asset instead of a physical product 

made of paper and ink that has been 

printed and shipped. Online bookstores, 

intermediaries, and device manufacturers 

therefore believe that publishers should 

permit a discount compared with the prices 

of printed products. 

Mass publishers and also most special 

interest publishers, on the other hand, are 

convinced that there is justification for

setting the price of eBooks at least at the 

level of paperback editions. This is because 

publishers incur additional costs as a result 

of the production of eBooks; together 

with the full VAT rate of 19% charged for 

digital content, this exerts pressure on 

margins. This is especially true in an early 

market state. A further aspect is that some 

authors demand higher fees for the digital 

marketing rights. In the opinion of the 

publishers, this does not appear to be very 

acceptable. Some publishers also believe 

that the prices of eBooks should be higher 

than the prices of printed books if the 

eBooks contain multimedia enrichments. 

Fig. 5  Obstacles for eBooks and eReaders in the opinion of experts

Lack of available eBooks

Overpriced devices

Compatibility of devices

DRM

Technical complexity

Haptic

No interest in eBooks

38%

45%

36%

43%

28%

41%

35%

31%

18%

43%

24%

24%

22%

4%

0%

50%

100%

25%

75%

very important

important

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