Your feature on the failure of the ebook to take over the world (‘Kindles now look clunky and unhip’, G2, 27 April) did not mention one of the most obvious reasons – the lack of any realistic price differential with print versions. H is for Hawk, one of the books illustrating the feature, costs £6.99 from Amazon and in Kindle £5.49. Often a second-hand print copy will be even cheaper than the Kindle; in this instance £1.97 via Amazon and described as “used – very good”. A print version includes the cost of paper, binding, printing, warehousing, transport and, when it gets to a retail outlet, rent, local taxes, heating, labour and more. And because printing is only economic with specified quantities in a “run”, the publisher has also to factor in the risks of over- and under-stocks. Ebook selling is purely on demand. If – and it’s a big if – publishers want to sell more ebooks, extensive price revisions will be necessary.
Peter Sommer
London
• You quote Richard Broughton, research director at analyst firm Ampere, saying “a physical copy of a book is a disposable low-cost entertainment tool” (Sales of ebooks slump as ‘screen fatigue’ bites, 27 April). And there was I thinking John Milton put it better: a book is “the precious life blood of a master spirit”. Mind you, Fifty Shades of Grey?
Jill Mortiboys
Stowmarket, Suffolk