Ebook pricing fail (Springer edition)

November 1st, 2010
by jodi

I wrote Springer to ask about buying an ebook that’s not in our university subscriptions. They sell the print copy at €62.95, but the electronic copy comes to €425, chapter by chapter.

Publishers: this is short-sighted (not to mention frustrating)–especially when your customers are looking for a portable copy of a book they already owns!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Springerlink, Support, Springer DE
Date: Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 8:46 PM
Subject: WG: ebook pricing

Dear Jodi,

Thank you for your message.

On SpringerLink you can purchase online single journal articles and book chapters, but no complete ebooks.
eBooks are sold by Springer in topical eBook packages only.

with kind regards,
SpringerLink Support Team
eProduct Management & Innovation | SpringerLink Operations
support.springerlink@springer.com | + 49 (06221) 4878 743
www.springerlink.com

—–Original Message—–
From: Jodi Schneider
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 5:09 PM
To: MetaPress Support
Subject: ebook pricing

Hi,

I’m interested in buying a copy of [redacted] as an ebook:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/[redacted]

This book has 17 chapters, which seem to be priced at 25 EUR each = 425 EUR.

But I could buy a print version, new at springer.com for 62.95 EUR:
http://www.springer.com/mathematics/book/[redacted]

Can you help me get the ebook at this price?
Thanks!
-Jodi

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in books and reading, future of publishing | Comments (3)

  • Cliff Allen says:

    It’s truly amazing that people who have relied on selling paper-based publications refuse to provide electronic versions for their readers and customers.

    Like you,I have a few paper books that I’d buy again in e-book form.

  • jodi says:

    It’s a little ironic, because Springer is doing so many things right:
    * no DRM
    * selling cheap Print-on-Demand copies ($24.95 paperbacks) when the library subscribes
    * considering ePub

    Remaining problems:
    * Reasonable pricing when the library does not subscribe to the content in question (ebooks and print copies)
    * Reasonable whole-book pricing for ebooks

  • Jakob says:

    You should better invest the money in book scanners and propagate P2P file sharing.