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Apress Print Books and eBooks pricing policy

 
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Please tell me if I'm being unreasonable , but I find it bizarre that when you buy an Apress ebook ,
then later decide that you want to buy a print copy , you're expected to fork out another full amount (usually more than the ebook price) .
For instance , the book Practical Eclipse Rich Client Platform Projects , will set you
back by $34.99 if you buy the pdf eBook .Then lets say you really like what's in the book and decide you want a print copy, then that means forking out
$49.99 ( + shipping costs) , basically costing you $84.98 !!!
Other vendors such as Manning would only charge the difference between what you paid for the pdf ebook and the price of the print copy , which,
in the example above would be $15 ( + of course the shipping) . Oreilly also has an almost similar pricing model , and to me that makes sense.
(See examples here Oreilly Bestselling Java books


I've bought a few book from Apress and suggested this to them , but nothing came out it.I feel discouraged to
continue supporting their business.

Am I the only being aggravated by this? Am being unreasonable?

Jeff Mutonho
 
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They do have books where they offer a discounted eBook (and even sometimes, a free one) version of a hard-copy purchased book, so I think it's a bit unfair to wholly categorize Apress as always requiring payment of the full-price to get an eBook copy of a paper book. Nor do I think it's unfair the other way around, to expect them to charge full price for buying a paper copy when you've already bought the electronic - you can't expect them to take a loss on the paper copy, can you?

That said... if you don't like their price structure, vote with your wallet and choose another publisher. Companies will, over time, do what their customers want. If customers are willing to pay the price point they're targeting, then there's no real problem.
 
jeff mutonho
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Theodore Casser wrote:They do have books where they offer a discounted eBook (and even sometimes, a free one) version of a hard-copy purchased book, so I think it's a bit unfair to wholly categorize Apress as always requiring payment of the full-price to get an eBook copy of a paper book. ?

.



I think you misunderstood my post .There's no logic in doing it on "some" books and not the others...if the books come in both print and e-book format.


Theodore Casser wrote:Nor do I think it's unfair the other way around, to expect them to charge full price for buying a paper copy when you've already bought the electronic - you can't expect them to take a loss on the paper copy, can you.



I'm not expecting them to make a loss . They don't make any loss on the paper copy,because the customer has already paid almost 70% when buying the e-book.The difference covers the 30%.That's how Manning and Oreilly do it and I don't think they'd continue to do so if that meant making losses on the paper copies.

Anyway , I mailed Apress and they came back to me saying they " will seriously consider your comments, and if changes are made, we will let you know for sure" , which is great.

Theodore Casser wrote:That said... if you don't like their price structure, vote with your wallet and choose another publisher..



Sure, but unfortunately that's not always possible , because the other publishers might not have any publication on the title/subject of interest.
 
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Pragmatic Bookshelf is another publisher that offers a discount on the book/PDF combo, and where the discount is still available if both are not purchased at the same time.
 
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