2024 Price Update
For 2024, we have pulled recent prices from the Big Five publishers, comparing the costs for their top 20 eBooks and top 20 eAudiobooks on OverDrive and on Amazon. (Read more about the Publisher Price Watch methodology here.
To add context to changes in library prices, it is instructive to know what has happened with the Big Five in the retail space since we last analyzed their data in May 2022.
The prices on consumer print titles on Amazon went up an average of 3.0%, with wide variations from publisher to publisher. Hachette raised its prices the most.
Kindle
Kindle prices, in line with print, increased moderately at 1.8%, with Simon & Schuster raising prices the most.
Audible
The eAudio format saw the greatest change, with an average decrease in prices of 22.5%. (The prices shown are what a customer would pay for an eAudiobook not including the cost of an Audible subscription.) All five publishers lowered prices significantly, with Penguin Random House making the biggest cut.
OverDrive eBooks
Publishers increased what they charge libraries for eBooks more than they increased what they charge readers at retail, with an average increase of 4.4%. Macmillan and Penguin Random House prices stayed flat, while HarperCollins increased library eBook prices by 17.8%.
Importantly, all of these library licenses are limited to one borrower at a time and expire after 24 months or 26 loans. So a true comparison of the cost of a print book or Kindle book at retail must take into account the cost of licensing the library copy multiple times over the lifespan of the book. If a library keeps a hardback copy of a James Patterson book from Hachette a modest four years, the cost of the digital equivalent for that long is twice $68.25, or $136.50. In an apples-to-apples comparison, the eBook costs more than 7 times the print.
OverDrive eAudiobooks
Publishers raised their unit prices on OverDrive eAudiobooks by an average of 3.7%. The top 20 most popular titles from Macmillan in December 2022 were actually lower than Macmillan’s top 20 in May 2022. All other publishers increased their library unit prices, with the greatest jump coming from HarperCollins at 17.5%.
Both Macmillan and HarperCollins offer a perpetual use eAudio license (along with Penguin Random House). Hachette and Simon & Schuster expire their eAUdio licenses after 24 months, as they do with their eBooks.
Since publishers all lowered their prices on Audible to about $20, we know that the cost of producing the eAudio format is not what drives the high unit price and cost increases for libraries. We are paying almost four times more than Audible users for no reason, except that these are the prices the market will currently bear. As long as we are willing to pay, regardless of price, we should expect the price hikes to continue.
