Should ebooks be free or at least much cheaper?

[unencumbered]

I believe many e-books are over-priced. You can't exactly share the book around, after you've read it, and there's the annoying part of (for example) needing access to Kindle, in order to read your books. Convenient, but also inconvenient.

[NetMassimo]

Ebooks prices vary a lot, depending on their publishers' - or their authors' if they're self-published - policy. I saw ebooks that cost more than their paper counterpart, which is really puzzling. On the other hand, I've seen really cheap ebooks and publishers making occasional offers like €0.99 or €1.99. Possibly it's a market that still needs to evolve.

[sunmuth]

On one hand, I think ebooks should be cheaper because they are much, much easier to distribute and there are no costs associated with physical materials.

Also, I know that when I have physical books I share them with others or I buy used books. You can't really share an ebook or get a used one, so if they are cheaper than physical books (maybe on par with the cost of a used paper book), people may be encouraged to purchase them "new" from the publisher.

[Mrunal Tikekar]

Given that most readers prefer physical copies, I understand why people might feel that eBooks should be cheaper. But making them free would discourage authors who get paid for their writing.

[Syson Dolph]

As a member of the club, I cherish the fact that the books I get are for free. Having to submit an appropriate review, is a talent I have to fulfill with the suitable skill and responsibility. The measures put depend on what a group`s desires and goals are. I highly suggest that paper books should come at a given price to account for costs like knowledge and wisdom used to come up with a particular subject of the book, typing, printing and as a source of income for some groups of people traders.

[nalnas_1]

Authors put a lot of time and effort into making stories for their readers. They are making a living just like anybody else. If a company buys a story from an author and has ownership over it, then the company has the choice whether they can profit from it by selling it or simply put it up for free. Writers can make the choice to post their e-book on a social media for free or sell it to consumers. I think e-books should be sold based on the choice of who wrote it. Of course consumers would want free books. We recently bought Kindle Unlimited and with it's "free" books, it feels like going to a library but with a fee. Options like this are best. To answer the main question of whether e-books should be free or cheaper, I don't know. Free sounds nice but nothing is free.

[Francesco1]

I find all of these efforts in finding a happy median to cost interesting. As an author, as I am sure many of you are; the final amount of production cost for an ebook can easily reach mid four figures before given to a distribution house. Sure if you have a graduate degree in writing and have a perfect sentence structure, storyline, research, grammar, etc., etc. and you did all this yourself book may be plausible for $.99. As for myself and probably many other authors who are committed to improving their craft, go through many rewrites and editing reviews before putting a name on the work. Which could be a minimum of 12 months of writing time or more. All of this is upfront $$$$$. For myself, I couldn't crank out a story on a weekend and expect it to be online by the next weekend. If I did and it was perfect, I would charge $.99. I would also have 52 books out there in one year, which for me is not going to happen anytime soon. Just my thinking...

[Leyla Ann]

I don't think they should be free, but they should definitely be cheaper than the hard copy.

[Mwila_wise]

Ebooks should not be free but a little bit cheaper because paying for authors and writers hard work is vital and helping.

[Maria Esposito]

I don't think ebooks should be free. All the ebooks that I've purchased are cheaper than their paperback counterpart though!

[Ria710]

I don't think ebooks should be free because the author did put time and effort into writing a book, so they deserve to get something out of it. But I do agree that ebooks should be a lot cheaper than paperbacks because you are not paying for paper.

[adamgreenrock]

E-books may should be cheaper because they're just digital books with no physical resources like a real book would have. But it shouldn't be free. Any type of product that is made with labor shouldn't be free.

[Zion Mesa]

If it's one of those mini-ebooks that are more pamphlet sized I agree. If it's an actual full book however, whether nonfiction, fiction or anything in between and the author put the time and effort into it, I don't think they should have to make it free. The cost of production is less, so definitely a lower price, but not free unless they want to.

[tsh1001]

YESSSSS they should (In my opinion) be at least HALF the cost of paperback.

I do know that there is some production cost for ebooks, and payout for the author, but full price for a “file download” is just ridiculous.

[jensmith0126]

I think ebooks should be cheaper than a hardback or paperback book, but I don't believe they should be free or cost much less than other versions. Books are the intellectual property of the author and as such, they should be paid for their work. There should be the same rules for ebooks as there are for music or any other creative property.