Whether to Delay the Release of eBooks or Not? An Analysis of Optimal Publishing Strategies for Book Publishers

Abstract: The eBooks market has been growing rapidly in recent years. At the same time, evidence shows that eBooks are cannibalizing the market for physical books. To alleviate the cannibalization effect between eBooks and physical books, publishers may choose to delay the release of eBooks or physi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Li,Fan, Li,Shengli, Gu,Jiarong
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:Chile
Institución:Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
Repositorio:SciELO Chile
OAI Identifier:oai:scielo:S0718-18762019000200110
Acceso en línea:http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-18762019000200110
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:eBook
Publishing strategies
Substitution effect
Cannibalization
Pricing strategies
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract: The eBooks market has been growing rapidly in recent years. At the same time, evidence shows that eBooks are cannibalizing the market for physical books. To alleviate the cannibalization effect between eBooks and physical books, publishers may choose to delay the release of eBooks or physical books for a period of time. Adopting a stylized two-period model, this paper investigates three publishing strategies for a monopolistic publisher: delaying the release of eBooks, delaying the release of physical books, and releasing them simultaneously. We find that the publisher should delay the format that has significantly less market potential. Furthermore, the one that has greater market potential should be priced higher. In addition, a stronger substitution effect between eBooks and physical books favors delaying strategies. Finally, the smaller marginal cost for eBooks than physical books renders the strategy to delay the release of physical books more popular.