Book Midwife Predicts E-book Price Crash As Sales Get Set To Soar

E-books continued rise in demand will put more pressure on publishers to reduce the heavily inflated prices of many of the current titles available in e-book format, claims internationally renowned book coach and publisher Mindy Gibbins-Klein.

There is no doubt that when e-books were first introduced, they produced a practical and more user- friendly way of reading a book. They were space saving, light-weight and made with little materials. However they quickly developed their problems. Software clashes, uncompatibility, and rows about who owned the rights to publish the material quickly spiraled into a debate as to whether the e-book is just the latest fashion-fad which was doomed to failure.

Mindy Gibbins-Klein, Book Midwife, author, publisher and founder of Ecademy Press believes that while the e-book has its faults, it will become the new accessory of the decade and this will force publishers to cut the pricing of e-books as they increasingly become common place on the virtual bookshelf.

"I do believe that while E-books may well be gadget of the decade, they come with a hefty price tag. Why buy an e-book for £100 when you can buy a paperback for £10? They are nothing more than a cultural phenomenon, and the users of e-books have sat back and allowed it to take hold. But the mass market won't stand for the highly inflated prices we are currently seeing in the e-book market and so if it is to continue to grow, they'll have to bring the costs down to a figure the market can stomach," says Mindy Gibbins-Klein.
So will Ms Gibbins-Klein be introducing e-books at her independent publishing house Ecademy Press any time soon?

"It's totally down to taste and preference. E-books carry the same content and are the same length as the paperback. We do offer e-books as a medium for authors at Ecademy Press but we try to discourage our authors from putting hefty price premiums on them. If you are prepared to sell your book for £14.99 then charging £69.99 for the same content but as an e-book seems ludicrous and in my opinion, damages the credibility and reputation of the author, who may be seen as simply taking advantage," says Ms Gibbins-Klein.