E-Book Figures are Missing Marketing

Earlier in the week, media blog Monday Note (via Seattle Weekly) crunched some numbers and created the table below to illustrate the supposedly huge savings that e-books will create for publishers and authors.

Writes Monday Note:

You’ll notice the following: even with a 40% lower digital retail price, the author makes 33% more and the publisher’s margin is multiplied by eight. (Needless to say, you can reflow the numbers to address the author’s legitimate whining).

But as a publisher we disagree — because there’s one factor that’s missing: MARKETING. Publishers still have to send out books for reviews to the mainstream media and blogs, send authors on book signings, post it in an e-newsletter, purchase Google AdWords and other online advertising — all things that are time-consuming, and have lower ROI than traditional marketing.