I would pay that price because there was no alternative and MANY people recommended it to me.
But those same conditions would apply to an e-book version.
Do you suspect that the publisher is making an "unfair" profit?
Suppose I write a book that takes considerable effort but has an audience of maybe hundred people in the world, but those hundred would derive real value from it.
Pricing it at $30.00 would be economic suicide. To make it worth my time and effort I may have to charge $100 or $500. Or more.
I tend to bristle at the some of the prices of purely digital goods, but one way to look at it is in terms of value obtained by the reader, not value (or cost) expended by the author.
The argument that something deserves a high prices because of how much time and effort went into it is the same fallacy that leads people to say "hard work should be rewarded." Lots of things are hard to do but have no real value, and value should drive reward.
But those same conditions would apply to an e-book version.
Do you suspect that the publisher is making an "unfair" profit?
Suppose I write a book that takes considerable effort but has an audience of maybe hundred people in the world, but those hundred would derive real value from it.
Pricing it at $30.00 would be economic suicide. To make it worth my time and effort I may have to charge $100 or $500. Or more.
I tend to bristle at the some of the prices of purely digital goods, but one way to look at it is in terms of value obtained by the reader, not value (or cost) expended by the author.
The argument that something deserves a high prices because of how much time and effort went into it is the same fallacy that leads people to say "hard work should be rewarded." Lots of things are hard to do but have no real value, and value should drive reward.