Where to Find the Cheapest eBooks: Kindle vs. iBooks vs. ePub Analysis
We often compare eBook readers, delve into their features, and finally assess the value for money. Nowadays, it’s even more essential to factor in the ongoing costs when making these calculations. This can be considerably more challenging, but should not be overlooked.
The British magazine PC Pro took this approach by comparing the prices and general availability of 40 preselected eBooks for the UK market. They looked at the most common platforms: Kindle, iBooks, and ePub, using traditional books as paperback or hardcover as a reference.
The result shows, among other things, what we highlighted in our article yesterday: traditional paperbacks at an average of £4.20 are not significantly more expensive than the corresponding digital edition on Amazon Kindle (£4.11) and are even considerably cheaper than iBooks (£5.10) or ePubs (£7.40). We find the situation with hardcovers particularly frustrating, as traditional books naturally incur higher production costs and were on average available for £9.65. The savings are generally not passed on to the customer, resulting in an average price of £8.98 for ePubs, £8.94 for Kindle books, and £9.20 for iBooks. Fairly, it should be noted that even in traditional book retail, new books were often initially offered exclusively as hardcovers to boost sales—this is a benefit they probably don’t want to forgo here.
Overall, Kindle offered the cheapest eBooks—about 50% of the selected books could be found at the lowest price here.
One area where eBooks certainly need to improve is availability. 10% of the selected books were not available as eBooks in any of the stores, and about 50% were available only on some of the platforms checked. However, publishers will undoubtedly make significant improvements in the coming months and years.
The bottom line is that eBooks are still somewhat overpriced. It is clear that the selling price is not primarily determined by production costs, but rather by the value of the intellectual content. Additionally, providing a digital distribution platform costs quite a bit of money. Nonetheless, we believe there is a certain potential for savings here that should be passed on to customers in this way. The expansion of the digital library structure should also be advanced to create a cost-effective alternative to buying eBooks.
If you’re looking for the most affordable platform to purchase eBooks, Kindle is currently likely in the lead. Along with reasonably priced eBook readers, Amazon presents probably the most economical alternative to traditional books for those who love acquiring the latest bestsellers.
