People always apply the laws of supply and demand oblivious to other factors. They say "well if we just lower the price, more people will buy these books".
That isn't necessarily true because people can only devote so much time to reading. Much of the investment a person makes in a book isn't money (at least not directly) it's time.
It's entirely possible that the price of books is set by other factors, such as competing books. People may largely decide they want a book, then shop around, and buy one. Which one they buy may have to do with pricing, in fact that may be the key factor in pricing (if I'm on the fence about two books, I'll go with the one that costs lest).
So you can't simply assume that "if the price is lowered enough publishers may earn less per unit, but could ultimately earn more in overall revenue and profit through a greater number of sales." It's quite probably untrue.
I'd actually argue that if you want to sell more books, you should make them shorter. Fewer pages will get the reader through it faster. I'm sure this will only work to a point, as nobody wants to pick up a "book" that feels more like a "pamphlet" but perhaps digital media (where all of your ebooks weigh the same as the Kindle you read them on) will change that too.
Part of the risk in buying a book, is in buying a book that you don't want to invest the time in, and that will end up sitting on the shelf. What Amazon really should to is charge by the page read. This will allow people to have a more enjoyable experience per page read (since they'll start reading books they might not have bought otherwise, and will not feel obligated to finish books they bought but do not like). If they have a more enjoyable experience per page read, they will be willing to spend more. $.05 a page read for non-fiction, and $.02 a page for fiction would be a good price.
While the number of pages being read may remain relatively constant, that wouldn't mean that ebook pages are basically constant. It means that paper books and ebooks are in a zero-sum game with each other, and the price of ebooks could influence the balance between them.
That isn't necessarily true because people can only devote so much time to reading. Much of the investment a person makes in a book isn't money (at least not directly) it's time.
It's entirely possible that the price of books is set by other factors, such as competing books. People may largely decide they want a book, then shop around, and buy one. Which one they buy may have to do with pricing, in fact that may be the key factor in pricing (if I'm on the fence about two books, I'll go with the one that costs lest).
So you can't simply assume that "if the price is lowered enough publishers may earn less per unit, but could ultimately earn more in overall revenue and profit through a greater number of sales." It's quite probably untrue.
I'd actually argue that if you want to sell more books, you should make them shorter. Fewer pages will get the reader through it faster. I'm sure this will only work to a point, as nobody wants to pick up a "book" that feels more like a "pamphlet" but perhaps digital media (where all of your ebooks weigh the same as the Kindle you read them on) will change that too.