Rich, lazy, author. Which of these doesn't apply?

[seanan_mcguire]

Okay. So this article appeared in the New York Times, explaining, in brief, how authors are greedy bastards trying to screw the e-book reader. (I'm sorry, are my prejudices showing there? Oh, wait. Yes, they are. Because I like being able to feed my cats.) To quote one of the more charming bits:

"This book has been on the shelves for three weeks and is already in the remainder bins," wrote Wayne Fogel of The Villages, Fla., when he left a one-star review of Catherine Coulter's book KnockOut on Amazon. "$14.82 for the Kindle version is unbelievable. Some listings Amazon should refuse when the authors are trying to rip off Amazon's customers."

So let me see if I've got this straight, shall I?

1) The author sets the price, not the publisher.
2) The author is, apparently, getting a huge percentage of the cover price.
3) The right way to object to this is to make people think the book sucks.
4) It doesn't matter if this means the author can't sell another book; they shouldn't have been greedy.

Um, what?

There is this incredible, eye-burning, heart-shattering impression that all authors are rich; that we sign that first contract, receive that first check, and spend the rest of our days lounging on the beach in Bura-Bura while dictating our works of creative genius to a scantily-clad cabana boy named Chad. If this is true, something's wrong with my authorial contract. I've sold six books—by the standards of any beginning author, I'm doing pretty well—but Chad has yet to put in an appearance, and I'm still not sure where Bura-Bura is. Instead, I get up every morning at 5AM to travel an hour and a half to get to work, spend my evenings hammering away at my keyboard and praying for another sale, and all my grocery purchases are heavily influenced by what's currently on sale. I make a weekly trip to Target to stock up on frozen dinners and kitty litter, because I can't actually afford to let my cats crap on silken beds of cedar shavings hand-milled for them on a little organic farm in Minnesota. I buy sweaters at Goodwill, and consider myself blessed by the Great Pumpkin when I find an Ann Taylor top for five dollars, because it saves me a trip to the mall that I really shouldn't be making. And I'm doing well.

The fantastic rolanni has posted a very realistic view at a working author's finances. This is someone who's been publishing for years, and has actually reached the stage of getting royalty payments (not every book will reach the royalty stage; many books never actually earn back their advances). If anybody deserves their ticket to Bura-Bura, it's her. And she ain't on a plane right now.

Look: the $15 price point that some publishers are proposing is for the hardcover edition. The Kindle edition of Rosemary and Rue costs $6.39, which is 20% less than the price of the physical item. Because the physical books are published, at least currently, in bulk, 20% is a fairly valid reflection of the cost of paper and distribution. 80% of the cost of the book goes to the author, the editor, the copyeditor, the layout artist, the cover artist, the marketing department, and the magical mystery adventure we like to call "keeping the lights on at the publisher's office." Saying that an electronic copy of the book costs the publisher "nothing" is like saying that an MP3 of one of my songs costs me "nothing." So wait, I don't have to pay my recording engineer anything if I'm only selling virtual music? It's all free money? Score! Sure, Kristoph won't be able to make his mortgage payments or upgrade his equipment, but what do I care? Free money!

If publishers aren't allowed to charge more for the electronic editions of expensive books, they'll refuse to offer the electronic editions until the mass-market paperbacks come out. Hardcovers cost more for a variety of reasons—including the fact that often, hardcover authors are getting slightly larger advances. So that is, I suppose, a bit of authorial greed, because we're putting our desire to feed the cats (and ourselves) ahead of the consumer's desire to pay six dollars for something we spent two years writing. Sorry.

Also, these reactions are, well, hurtful. By saying that authors are "greedy" for wanting to make a living, people are saying that our time has no value. These are often the same people who will willingly pay ten dollars for a movie ticket (and ten more for popcorn and a soda), knowing that the actors were paid thousands, if not millions, of dollars to speak lines that somebody wrote. Every cool quip you've ever heard in a movie or on TV? Yeah, somebody wrote that. If somebody had been flipping burgers to keep the lights on, maybe somebody wouldn't have had the time to come up with that awesome line. Authors need to eat, and if we can't do that through our art, we'll find another way to do it...and things won't get written. I mean, look:

Time to write a book, six months to three years.
Time to sell a book, six days to eternity.
Time to edit a book, six months.
Time between publication and print, one to three years.

How much money do you make during that time? (Don't actually answer that, I don't want to know. I'm just making a point.) Unless you're Stephen King, writing is never going to make you rich, and saying you'd like to eat doesn't make you greedy, it makes you sane.

I am not saying that publishers should be charging whatever they want for everything—just that e-books cost money, too, and that not all the costs of creating a book are in the physical artifact you can point to and shout "book" about. My publisher wants to make money. My publisher wants me to make money, because when I'm making money, so are they, and more, when I'm making enough money, I can actually get that cabana boy and spend a lot more time writing. Right now, I'm literally working myself sick, spending three days in bed, and then doing it again, because that's the only way to stay on top of all the things I need to do.

Authors, as a class, aren't greedy. We're just tired.

Now where's my damn cabana boy?

Comments

[deire.livejournal.com]

If I had a cabana boy to offer, I would so send him your way.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

That would be awesome. I could make him clean the bathroom.

[beccastareyes]

See, I figure if something like a hardcover or a Playstation 3 is too expensive, then I wait for the price to drop*. Because things tend to do that once they pay off the initial development costs, whether they are books, DVDs or electronics. If I am impatient and have the money, then I can splurge and get something early, which I've been increasingly able to do with books. (Still not getting the PS3 until I work through all my old PS1 and 2 games...)

* This is also why I wait on buying anime DVDs -- I can pay $15-$20 for four episodes, or wait and pay $40 for a season box set.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Right. There are a lot of things I don't buy in hardcover, because I'm waiting for the paperback price drop.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

The Times appeared to take sides against the publishers/authors right from the initial news reporting of the situation.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yeah, which strikes me as odd, given that newspapers are published by publishers.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Blaming the Authors, Who Do Not Set Book Prices, is just Stupid. That opinion person is being LAZY! Not to mention crazy.
I actually think the publishers are ripping off everyone when they charge $15 for an ebook. I can almost understand $10, but $15 is too high, and will hurt Everyone (including the authors) in the long run. But that's my opinion.
The worst is that it is not being set like the cover price, a suggested price which Amazon can dither with as they wish, but an AGENCY Price, in which the Publisher TELLS Amazon how much they will charge and Amazon can't decide anything. This is what Amazon was Fighting Against. Now your book will be overpriced at $15 Everywhere, and people will be mad at the cost of All ebooks. And thanks to this idiot and people like him, the Authors will be blamed for this money grab.
PS This really all goes back to Apple, which wanted it's ebooks for the iPad to cost more than $10 and they figured if they can get the publishers to force Amazon to go Agency, so that Apple ebooks and Kindle ebooks cost the same, then people won't want a 1-trick reader Kindle for the cheaper books.
Yeah, you really do have to read the Whole Story on all this ebook crap.
But it does explain why Amazon is Not Amused. And why Kindle has now been damaged in a major way.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I do understand why Amazon is upset, and I honestly think that if the $15 price point proves too high, it will be reduced. At the same time, I understand why the publishers felt the need to have the option. So many people get angry (and some strike out at authors in their anger) when they can't have The Hot New Hardcover in an electronic format the day it's published that something had to be done—and if that "something" is pricing it like a paperback, you've just killed your hardcover sales.

I'm glad to be a paperback author, and to have paperback pricing. But if I can ever sustain a career as a hardback author, and make more money, thus allowing me to spend more time writing, I'm going to want those hardbacks to sell. Saying "You can pay $25 for a paperback or $7 for an electronic version" makes that impossible, because no one will buy the hardback.

Now, maybe this heralds the eventual death of the mass-produced hardback book. I don't know. But with the current hardback/paperback structure and price points, the $15 is the start of finding a position that makes sense, and lets the lights stay on.

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

Interestingly! I was talking about something like this with my grandmother today. I think we get articles like the above (at least, in the US) because US Americans as a culture feel entitled to anything they want and don't value education, teaching and literacy overall. Hence, they feel that teachers should be under or unpaid, that college professors are snooty, disagreeable snobs who get paid for nothing, and writers are all rich and shiftless. This is about privileging certain kinds of work over others as well as the idea that people who don't do "real" work (that is, work that in a capitalist economy yields tangible work that yields tangible mone) should do it for the love and shut up already.

You know? I think I blame TV for this. Regardless of the fact that TV shows are paid for by advertising (as are newspapers), they were given to people initially for free -- and still are in the case of PBS and the big three networks.

I am VERY bitter and angry about this issue, can you tell? ;) I am also very, very tired as you say for exactly the same reasons as you -- having to bang out words fast while doing a day job (banging out words, too), so I know I am not exactly being coherent now. To echo a colleague of mine sitting across from me at the con where I am currently writing: "The caffiene is wearing off, so now you're getting the stupid Jo."

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

The culture of entitlement is big and dangerous and scary, and it makes me very sad and even more exhausted than I would be otherwise. Which is probably dangerous, given how tired I am already.

[lysystratae.livejournal.com]

I must be weirder than I thought; if i'm buying a book by an author I like, I don't even look to see how much it is (whether paper or kindle). On my Kindle purchases of people I haven't read before, I get the free sample first; if I like it, I buy it, again not looking at the price tag. I wouldn't dream of blaming the author for the price, any more than I would the nameless designer of a dress I just bought at Sears.

Hell, the price tag's right there on the order page. Don't like it, don't buy it - go shop in the free section and read a classic like Moby Dick. But don't give the book a bad review because you're feeling pissy about the price. Write to the publisher and bitch instead, where it might do some good.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Which is my approach, but apparently, yes, we're very weird.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

The NYT is going the way of the dodo for a reason; they can no longer report their way out of a wet paper bag. I've known about this situation for months, specifically since OryCon, when Mary Robinette Kowal explained things rather eloquently (but with much the same content as you have here). And I'm not exactly an insider... I mean, I follow you and annathepiper and Scalzi, but still.

I gotta wonder (especially given the earlier comment) if NYT doesn't have some sort of Agenda coming out on Amazon's side here... but I could be wrong. Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity? After all, NYT has never been the sharpest bowling ball in the knife block when it comes to electronica....

But, yeah, AFAICT the fans who give a damn are upset... and I can't speak for everybody but I'm damn happy to contribute fifteen bucks to your cabana boy fund for good quality product.. folks as want to cheap out should find themselves in the penny dreadful section. Including - especially! - Mr. Bezos.

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity

...Someone should put that on a bumper sticker.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Wait...is that $14.82 for the hardcover e-book, or for the mass market paperback e-book? That makes a difference in deciding what is considered a reasonable price...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

$14.82 for the hardcover e-book. All of the "agency" model price structures have come with a steady decrease as the book ages, settling on the eventual mass market paperback e-book price.

[naurwen.livejournal.com]

Giving a bad review because the price seems too high could be hilarious if it wouldn't cause damage. That's just one stupid unfair thing to do.

Besides... who's forcing him to buy it if the price is oh-so high?
A just-out-of-print hardcover is always the more expensive version of a book. Same goes for the newest playstation game, a movie shown in the cinema, and dunno how many other things. Either one wants it and the price doesn't matter or one waits a bit to get the lower price version, or one waits some more to get the thing in a sale.
I can't see any of this as a rip-off cause we all have (ok, I'm NOT so sure about this) brains and can decide for ourselves. It's not like the author of a book gets me to the next bookshop poking a knife into my back and whispering *buy it!* (right?).

[tikiera.livejournal.com]

I do concur that giving a bad review for a high price is very, very bad. It's bad manners, it's bad form, and hurts an author in ways they can't do anything about.

And I would gladly beat such a person about the head and shoulders with a bag of oranges.

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

I think your cabana boy got stuck in snow.

::applauds::

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Dammit.

[tikiera.livejournal.com]

I am not going to buy an e-book that is more than $10. My budget allows for two of them at $10, it only allows for one book if they go up to $14. And it's not like I can make my budget bigger, or that I will find anything else to do with the $6 - that won't even buy an e-paperback. So, my book buying budget would go _down_ and I would end up with fewer books.

I stopped buying hardcovers because I didn't have room, I was only able to afford a very few of them, and only deeply discounted. I just ended up using the library. This meant no sales for authors, my book budget being spent on other things (getting to a bookstore is hard, and well, spending money on shipping books seemed kinda pointless).

The kindle has enabled me to constantly use up my book budget, authors were getting money 'cause I was buying books, and all was right with the world.

I am probably going to have to go back to the library with the raise in e-book prices. Sure, I will get some e-paperbacks, but it won't be my 'budget Tuesday, what do I want to get now'? 'cause it's not like the only books I will be getting at the library will be hardcovers.

An ebook doesn't compete with a hardcover sale for me (you could argue that it competes with an paperback sale, but then I would look at the pair of Ilona Andrews which were bought at my last 'I can get to a bookstore' budget period' which are also on my kindle and say, nope still getting in paperback what I would have otherwise gotten though more of that is through gifts, which again, adds to money going to the publisher).

E-Books compete with the movies (yes, I can get a ticket for $10 in my area), they compete with Starbucks, they compete with the library (and were winning) because those are the places my excess book budget goes. They don't compete with hardcovers because I had stopped buying them until I got my magic phone.

I have bought more books since I got my magic phone then in the last year. I am not the only one I know that is true for.

I am going to have to wait and see. A model where I had to wait a month or so to get it would work. Waiting for the paperback? Not going to happen for me.

I don't blame authors. I am worried for them. But I think the publishing industry is going to hurt itself by trying to cling to higher prices for something that the buyer doesn't truly own - we can't lend or share or sell our e-book, and it's DRM so we are stuck with the kindle software.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

You're right in that this is a hugely complicated issue, and one that I don't think any of us is completely equipped to understand (have opinions on, sure, disagree with, sure, but know all the ins and outs and secret niches, not so much). I understand the not buying books at over $10. What seems to be getting missed a lot is that the agency model not only says "we will price brand new hot hardcover releases at $15, thus allowing for an e-book release that isn't six months delayed," it says "we will reduce costs as books age, gradually taking them as low as $4." So it's not a forever "oh pay more or miss out," it's a pretty classic "pay more if you want it RIGHT THIS SECOND."

The DRM stuff makes me sad. On the one hand, I get how it feels "not yours." On the other hand, it's there to slow down the pirates...and even fifty cent e-books get pirated enough to make it necessary.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you posted that timeline. Writing for a living requires a long lead time - something I keep trying to tell people when they ask me why I didn't do it (after going to school, after doing the internships, after, after, after....)

Cliff got sick. Inside of 24 hours, my desk job was the only income our household had. And for five years? I barely got sleep!

I gave myself permission to write in 1993. In 1994, I had to take it back. Thankfully, I was immediately able to make enough with computer ski11zors.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Good on you.

[beable]

This brings up an interesting point.

I haven't bough a Kindle or similar device because I can't be arsed paying even $10 for a DRM'd book.

I bet the publishers/booksellers could make more money offering a non-DRM'd version for a premium (e.g. $15 for without DRM, $10 with).

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

On a slight tangent, all my Ralph Lauren and Ann Taylor sweaters come from eBay. The only things I buy off the rack are pants from Layne Bryant, becuase my Scottish hips won't fit into typical American jeans.

I don't want to be a writer to make money. I want to be a writer to give back some of the joy and wonder I've received from so many books.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I don't buy much clothing off of eBay because I don't know how it'll fit. Aside from that...

...sister!

[laurenthemself]

Ugh, I'm so sorry that some people don't get how the publishing industry works. I wish you didn't have to work yourself sick, and I hope that one day you'll get to the cabana-boy level of fame :)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I'd settle for being able to afford to stay home and write, really.

[allaboutm-e.livejournal.com]

Word.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

KITTY!

[phantomdancer.livejournal.com]

You know I talked to Chad and he said he wanted to surprise you, and be all setup with his loincloth and palm frond. Unfortunately Lilly and Alice took exception to his presence and said loincloth and palm frond provided very little physical protection. As soon as the lacerations heal he said he'll make an appointment to return, but he'll be wearing a full set of body armor...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Damn. Protective cats are troublesome like that sometimes.

[jaylake.livejournal.com]

I'll phone you later from the hot tub in the back of my Porsche to discuss this vile calumny. Actually, I'll have my cabana girl phone your cabana boy to set up our call...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Excellent.

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

I definitely don't get the logic of the person giving the bad review. It reminds me at least a little of software pirates who justify stealing with the excuse that the price of software is too high. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, but I'm so old that I was brought up to do without things I couldn't afford...or save for them...or look for cheaper equivalents.

(OTOH, I don't get the meaning of "hardcover" vs. "paperback" Kindle editions either. Is it just a measure of timing or are the actual bits and bytes different?)

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

I was raised that way too. It's that nasty "entitlement" thing again. When exactly did that happen? I don't know when people got either so impatient or so selfish that they stopped being okay with waiting to get something, no matter how badly they wanted it.

I might be wrong, but I think "hardback" eBooks are just earlier release, like to coincide with the actual hardbacks in stores. Just a guess. That's the only thing I can think of that makes sense.

[maniakes.livejournal.com]

Not only is Blame the Author deeply unfair considering the realities of the industry, but we're also seeing the One True Price fallacy rearing its ugly head. A thing is worth what someone's willing to pay for it or what someone's willing to sell it to you for, and that number is going to be different for every buyer and seller. If a particular eBook is not worth $15 to you, then don't buy it, and instead spend your $15 on something else that you'll get more use/enjoyment out of. And if it is worth $15 to you, then stop complaining and enjoy your consumer surplus.

I rarely buy new hardcover books anymore because they've gotten so expensive; very few books are worth $30 to me for the opportunity to read them right when they first come out in a big, durable format. But I buy tons of new and used paperbacks and quite a few used hardcovers because $5-10 is an excellent value for a good story or an interesting and informative bit of nonfiction. Different people have different preferences, though, which is why publishers still print hardcovers and charge what they charge for them. I don't begrudge it, since they buyers get what they want without harming me in the slightest; to the contrary, the additional money the publishers and authors make off hardcover sales increases the quality and quantity of reading material available for me when it eventually comes out in paperback.

I'm also the last person to begrudge anyone getting rich off of creating a good product at a price people are willing to pay, even if authors were getting rich left and right. Entertain enough people with your stories, and you deserve a cabana boy.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I think a cabana boy would be harder to feed than the cats, though.

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

Be back to read the rest in a bit--right now, the crazy is not allowing me to move past the first paragraph without seeing red.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Fair enough!

[gothicsparrow.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see what he'd say if he went book shopping in Australia- the last (paperback) book I bought cost $21, and that's completely normal. Looking at the whole Amazon/Macmillan thing makes me think that part of the reason might be that we don't have tiered pricing, apart from some books coming out in a $30 trade edition before the smaller paperback comes out.

And authors are certainly not getting rich this way- we don't have the population, which may be part of the reason why books are so expensive locally too.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Australia is definitely a whole different kettle of fish in terms of pricing. It'd be sort of funny to make some of these people buy at Australian prices for a while.

[jenk]

This sucks, and I'm sorry this misrepesentation of the market is getting so much play.

Part of the problem is mistaking duplication costs for creation costs. Yes, once a book is created and layed out, the incremental cost of creating another ebook copy is zero. This doesn't mean the retail price should be zero. The retail cost of a hardback or paperback is much higher than the incremental cost of printing that one copy, too - because of the reasons you outline, in terms of layout, design, artwork, salaries, and oh yeah throwing the author a pittance.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY.

[shveta-thakrar.livejournal.com]

This. *clap, clap, clap*

I wish the NYTimes had actually done some research first.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

That would be a fascinating change.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

I am sad to say this, but I am going to have to Not Completely Agree with you here.

No, e-books aren't "free", but to the publisher, they are close enough to being free. The margin on ebooks is HUGE compared to that of hardcopies.

Out of the MSRP, typically 50% goes to the retailer, 25% to the distributor, and 25% to the publisher (on average).

So with a $26 hardcover, this means 13 goes to the retailer, 6.50 to the distributor, and 6.50 to the publisher. Royalties and all that jazz come out of the publisher's share. Amazon et al discount the book out of their 50% share, accepting a smaller margin because they have smaller overhead and higher volume.

Now lets compare this to ebooks. You no longer have printing costs OR distributor costs. You eliminate the other expenses associated with hardcover, namely returns and remainders. That saves a BIG chunk of change. It's not uncommon for the actual printing cost to be 10-15% of the list price - half the publisher's share.
While there are processing costs for doing the transaction and delivering the file to the user, these costs are pennies per transaction.

So here was have an article about Google's plans for an eBookstore: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/173749/google_online_bookstore_fuels_ereader_war.html

They mention that 63% of the sale price would go to the publisher, or if purchased through a retail partner (Amazon, Barnes&Noble), 45% goes to the publisher. That's a lot more than 25%, especially since there are no publishing costs eating into that 25%.

So now you have your $15 ebook. 63% of that goes to the publisher - $9.45. Or more likely, only 45% under the retail partner share - $6.75.

So here we have the publisher taking in a noticeably larger share of the List Price, while incurring a lot less of the expenses (printing) that are paid for with that share.

If you're getting a 10% of cover royalty on a $26 hardcover, and 10% on the $15 ebook...
You're getting $2.60 out of $6.50, or 40% for hardcover.
Or you're getting $1.50 out of $6.75, which is only 22% of the publisher's share (even less if sold directly through google).

Again, there are no printing costs associated with the ebook sale, so the margin the publisher pulls in is significantly higher.

And THAT is the Big Thing That Pisses Me Off With Ebook Prices.

I'm well aware that ebooks cost money, and it's not all paper and ink. But the massive difference in margins rankles me. It's not like the ebooks are being priced based on the actual costs that go into them... as best I can see, they add up how much less it costs by taking out the distributor and printing, and then only apply half of that as a discount to reach the ebook price.

I want you to get paid. I want you to have 13 cabana boys, all decked out in pumpkin-fucker orange livery, 3 of them tending to your every need, with the other 10 pampering Alice and Lily.

But I can't justify such huge prices on electronic editions.

Even the $1.60 savings for R&R isn't worth it for me. The cost savings is just too little to warrant it. Even though I'd PREFER an electronic edition, you just get so much MORE for that buck and a half that it's silly not to.

So herein I present my solution - this is the scheme that would make me Mr McHappyPants. And I honestly think it would be a very smart move for publishers, which will help retain the print industry while growing ebooks.

In a word: Bundles.

DVDs are already doing this, with "Digital Copy". They've been doing it for some time, because they realized the necessity. They include a portable-device friendly copy of the media with the main DVD, so people can put it on their iPhone or what have you. And this has made consumers very happy.

So do the same thing. Don't sell ebooks through a separate channel. Bundle them with the hardcopy - at a SMALL premium.

That $26 hardcover? Make it $20 with the ebook. Plus $4
Rosemary and Rue? Make it $10 even with the ebook. Plus $2.

And here's a sample of consumer psychology in favor of this.
I won't pay $6 for an ebook of R&R. But I will fall over myself to pay $10 for the bundle just to get the ebook in the bundle. It's all about perceived value.

Aside from this, I also support delayed release for ebooks, to allow a sales lead on hardcopies.

[kyrielle]

I like the bundle idea.

As far as the margins, I agree they're gross - but the problem is that selling that eBook eats into sales of the physical book. So I don't mind seeing high initial eBook prices as long as they drop over time, so that as remaining physical copies of the book drop off and/or are less likely to sell and/or get remaindered, the eBook becomes more affordable because it's not cutting into sales any more. So if you put the eBook out at the same time as the hardcover - it should be priced high then but lower six months later and lower still two years later. (Not suggesting the price be dropped at those points, just that I'd expect different prices at those points.)

In another comment it was noted that the pricing scheme would drop the price over time, perhaps as low as $4. I'd snap up several books in eBook at $4 a pop...when they got there.