Chris Leckness

"The Amazon Kindle is too expensive" seems to be one of the biggest complaints. But is it really? Cell phones, music players, and cameras cost anywhere from $0 to $1000.

Is $399 for a Kindle too much? If you "need" the device and will use it for its purpose, then the answer is purely a subjective one. Let's look at some numbers!!

First, let's look at the cost of reading an actual (purchased) book:

Here are some prices for some of the current bestsellers at different locations: (tax and shipping not included):

Book	List Price	Barnes&Noble	Amazon.com	Borders.com
The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea Buchanan	$        24.95	$        17.46	$        14.97	$        17.46
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett	$        24.95	$        17.46	$        14.97	$        19.96
An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems by Glenn Beck	$        26.00	$        18.20	$        15.60	$        18.20
The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz	$        27.00	$        16.20	$        16.20	$        18.90
Stone Cold by David Baldacci	$        26.99	$        18.89	$        16.19	$        18.89
Double Cross by James Patterson	$        27.99	$        19.59	$        16.79	$        19.59
I am America (and So Can You) by Stephen Colbert	$        26.99	$        18.89	$        16.19	$        18.89
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini	$        25.95	$        18.16	$        14.97	$        18.16
Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld	$        24.95	$        17.46	$        14.97	$        17.46
Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish by Mark R Levin	$        22.00	$        15.40	$        13.20	$        15.40
World Without End by Ken Follett	$        35.00	$        24.50	$        19.25	$        24.50
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin	$        25.00	$        17.50	$        14.99	$        17.50
Cost for twelve books	$      317.77	$      219.71	$      188.29	$      224.91
Average cost/book (price/# books)	$        26.48	$        18.31	$        15.69	$        18.74
Total Cost/year (50 books/year x average cost/book)	$   1,324.04	$      915.46	$      784.54	$      937.13

 

If you purchased all twelve books you would spend anywhere from $188.29 (Amazon) to $317.77 (list price). The average list price for a book was $26.48 and the average cost per book among the stores ranged from $15.69 (Amazon) to $18.74 (Borders). For someone who reads 50 books a year, they could spend anywhere from $784.54 (Amazon) to $1,324.04 (list price) or more!

No one claimed reading was an inexpensive hobby!

People will continue to buy books. I ran out of space for books year ago, and found ebooks to be an alternative I could learn to live with. They take up little/no space and many can be carried with ease!

So what about ebooks? Here are the same books, offered as ebooks at the Kindle store, Sony Connect, Mobipocket, Fictionwise and ebooks.com:

ebook	Amazon	Sony	Mobipocket	Fictionwise	ebooks.com
	Kindle	Connect	store	store
The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea Buchanan	$     9.99	$   11.97	$   19.95	19.95	$   19.95
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett	$     6.39	$     6.39	$     7.99	7.99	$   22.50
An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems by Glenn Beck	$     9.99	$   13.59	$   16.99	16.99	$   16.99
The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz	$     9.99	$   12.57	$   20.95	20.95	$   20.95
Stone Cold by David Baldacci	$     9.99	$   11.39	$   18.99	18.99	$   17.09
Double Cross by James Patterson	$     9.99	$   11.99	$   19.99	19.99	$   17.99
I am America (and So Can You) by Stephen Colbert	$     9.99	$   10.79	$   18.99	18.99	$   17.09
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini	$     9.99	$   12.99	$   25.95	25.95	$   23.35
Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld	$     9.99	$   11.97	$   19.95	19.95	$   17.95
Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish by Mark R Levin	$     9.99	$   10.19	$   16.99	16.99	$   16.99
World Without End by Ken Follett	$     9.99	$   12.99	$   35.00	35	$   31.50
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin	$     9.99	$   10.19	$   16.99	16.99	$   16.99
Cost for twelve books	$ 116.28	$ 137.02	$ 238.73	$ 238.73	$ 239.34
Average cost/book (price/# books)	$     9.69	$   11.42	$   19.89	$   19.89	$   19.95
Total Cost/year (50 books/year x average cost/book)	$ 484.50	$ 570.92	$ 994.71	$ 994.71	$ 997.25

(Note: Online prices, not club member discounts were used)

In this situation, if you purchased all twelve ebooks you would spend anywhere from $116.28 (Kindle store) to $239.34 (ebooks.com). The average cost per book among the stores ranged from $9.69 (Kindle store) to $19.95 (ebooks.com). For someone who reads 50 books a year, they could spend anywhere from $484.50 (Kindle store) to $997.25 (ebooks.com).

The ebooks purchased at Kindle store can only be read on the Kindle. To read the actual book or ebook on your computer (AND another device- phone, PDA, etc) you will pay almost twice as much!

The ebooks for the Kindle can be purchased with or without the use of a computer (an added convenience) and all purchases are saved by Amazon in your media library online.  All of the others require downloading and saving to the computer.

I have been purchasing books from Mobipocket and Fictionwise for years for reading on my personal computer, Dell Axim x51v (pocket pc) and AT&T Tilt (pocket pc phone) using Mobipocket software. It's okay, but I don't usually read sitting at the computer, and reading on a small screen tends to "get old". I have always wanted "more".

Looking at the numbers, the purchase of a Kindle, would "pay for itself" (for me) before 50 books were purchased from the Kindle store!

So, THERE are some numbers...... to make you THINK!

[Editor's Note: My Kindle is "supposed" to be a Christmas gift from my husband to me, wrapped and under the tree. It will get there eventually, but I will be using it during the day while everyone is gone (at school and work). Let's hope no one asks or figures out that it has arrived!]

View Original Blog Post

Jogga

Some great thinking here Susan and it seems difficult to argue with your numbers: nonetheless, the Kindle is a bit of a one trick pony - it only reads books and costs $399 (PCs can do all sorts of clever things in addition to presenting the output of an ebook and can be purchased for much the same outlay).

If you accept the depreciation of your Kindle (the cost to purchase) over a three year period, you will have to add $133 to the cost of your books from Amazon (the only Kindle retailer - another potential limiting factor) each year for the first three years and that makes it more expensive than ebooks.com based on your twelve books. I suspect that, within the next three years, at least one new Kindle will be available, adding to the hardware outlay.

psionandy

Originally Posted by gasusan2005

"The Amazon Kindle is too expensive" seems to be one of the. biggest complaints. But is it really? Cell phones, music players, and cameras cost anywhere from $0 to $1000. No one claimed reading was an inexpensive hobby!

Firstly.. an excellent writeup. Well thought out and argued, and it does make a lot of sense.



However.
I do claim reading is an inexpensive hobby. And that's the problem with the Kindle (and also Sony book reader).

Thankfully DRM has not crippled the paper book world in the same way as it has damaged the ebook market. Hardback fiction (at 50 purchased books per year) is an expensive way to read, but the majority of my reading doesn't fit that patten. I'm guessing if you went for paperbacks then your paper costs would be different.

The majority of my (fiction) reading material isnt hardback fiction, it comes from different sources. There's my Local Library for example.. which costs £0 per book (or at the current exchange rate costs $0). Second hand book stores, discount book stores provide books at a far cheaper rate than even Amazon.

There's the contents of my parents/friends bookshelves. If MrsPsionandy has read something she thinks is great then sooner or later I'll end up reading it. People actually enjoy sharing books, and lending them to each other. And I'll swap books with them. And so the actual cost of paper is divided by the number of readers. In a similar way, any newspaper I buy is read by more than my 2 eyes....

Oh and then there's classics which are free from Project Gutenberg etc.. or only a couple of Pounds if bought on paper.

Now do I think that the Kindle is a bad idea? NO I agree with you and would love to have one, however I think they are selling it in the wrong way. The $400 entry price to the game is too high.

What they should do is sell it like razors, or mobile phones. The reader becomes very cheap but your hooked into buying more and more content. Either sell it like a book club. The reader is heavily subsidised, but you have a committment to buy X number of books per month for a year.

Or Sell it as a $400 device , but with credit on it for $200 of free books.

At the end of the day, Amazon doesn't actually want to sell Kindles.. What they want is to sell content... and the Kindle is a means to that end.

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Box

I have to agree with Andy, I would never buy a Kindle at that price, I would however, happily spend the money on the content.
It costs nothing to walk into a bookshop, but who can honestly say they don't buy a book nearly every time they go in.
Make the kindle cheap and they will make more money from the books.

JNGold

I agree with the above sentiment. Price point still way too high for what it does. Knock this type of device to 99 bucks and make it universally compatible with all ebooks (or at least several large vendors) and then you'll have something.

ctitanic

First of all, I love the article. Very well written.
But I have some "issues". If you buy just the 12 ebooks and the Kindle, the total cost in a year is ~$515, if you buy the 12 books the total cost is $188. In another words, your Kindle will be paid in the 3rd year of you owning it.

If you buy 50 ebooks per year and the Kindle, the total cost is ~$884, if you buy 50 books, the total cost is $784.54. The Kindle will work for you after 2 months of the second year of ownership.

The average American can't spend $884 or $784 per year to read. And that's a real sad reality. Paying $188 dollars in books per year is a different story. If Amazon wants really the Kindle to be the next iPod they have to cut down the price at least in half. And even at that price I personally will think twice.

We are living in a tough time where reading is a privilege. A sad reality considering that we live in the richest country of the world.

ctitanic

Originally Posted by JNGold

I agree with the above sentiment. Price point still way too high for what it does. Knock this type of device to 99 bucks and make it universally compatible with all ebooks (or at least several large vendors) and then you'll have something.

For 100 dollars I think that the whole Kindle concept will take off quickly. I would buy it today for that price.