MattMaroon.com

In any event, in order for the e-reader market to thrive publishers must lower their wholesale prices so that distributors can turn a reasonable profit.  We believe 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.  This, of course, benefits the e-book distributors as well.

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.