전자책 가격 격차와 시장 과제

### 전자책 가격 책정의 딜레마: 소비자의 기대와 시장의 현실
* 📚 많은 소비자는 전자책이 실물을 사용하지 않음에도 불구하고 **종이책과 비슷한 가격**으로 책정되는 것에 대해 불만을 표합니다.
* 💰 한국소비자원의 조사에 따르면 소비자들은 **전자책 가격이 종이책 평균 가격의 약 39.2% 수준**이어야 한다고 생각하는 것으로 나타났습니다.
* 📊 그러나 교보문고의 베스트셀러 상위 10권을 분석한 결과, **전자책 10권 중 8권의 가격이 종이책의 70~80% 수준**인 것으로 나타나 가격 인식에 상당한 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났습니다.
* 📉 2021년 국내 출판 시장 매출의 **58.2%를 종이책 판매**가 차지할 정도로 인쇄 도서 시장에 대한 의존도는 분명하며, 출판사는 인쇄 판매를 보호하기 위해 **더 높은 전자책 가격**을 유지해야만 합니다.
* 🔒 고정 도서 가격 시스템은 가격 책정 전략을 더욱 복잡하게 만들어 **전자책 할인을 제한**하고 다른 업계에서 볼 수 있는 프로모션 이벤트를 방지합니다.
* 📖 Millie와 같은 구독 서비스로의 소비자 수요 변화는 **출판사가 전자책 시장을 활용할 수 있는 기회를 놓치고 있다**는 것을 의미합니다.
* 🚀 전자책 시장을 확대하려면 **가격을 대폭 낮춰 전자책의 품질을 높이고 플랫폼 성능을 개선**해야 하지만, 이를 달성하는 것은 여전히 어려운 과제입니다.
* 📬 문의사항이나 취재 요청이 있으시면 언제든지 댓글로 남겨주시고, **최근 뉴트리아 사냥꾼 전홍용 씨의 상황**을 비롯한 다양한 주제에 대한 업데이트도 기대해 주세요.

출판사의 인쇄 도서 시장에 대한 의존도 때문에 전자책 가격은 여전히 높습니다.

There are complaints about e-books, stating that they don't use any paper but are not much cheaper either. Some people say that the quality of the e-books they purchased is poor and that it's a waste to pay that amount to read them. In a YouTube comment, someone asked to investigate why e-book prices don't seem much cheaper than paper books. 

The complaints about e-books ultimately stem from the perception that they are more expensive than expected. According to a report from the Korea Consumer Agency, consumers responded in a survey that they believe e-book prices should be about 39.2% of the average price of paper books. However, when analyzing the online selling prices of the top 10 bestsellers from Kyobo Bookstore, it was found that in eight out of the ten titles, the e-book prices were selling at 70 to 80% of the price of the paper books. This shows a clear disparity between the publishers' and consumers' perceptions. Even when considering costs, e-books do not require physical storage and have lower distribution management costs, such as servers.

Aside from platform costs, there really isn't much else, and since infinite reproduction is possible, wouldn't it be possible to sell it cheaper considering that it's in second place? A large publishing company said there is a reason they can't drastically lower prices. If they were to only release e-books, that could work. The problem is that if e-books are sold too cheaply, it affects the sales of printed books. For instance, if a printed book is sold for 10,000 won and an e-book for 1,000 won, no one would buy the printed copies that have already been printed. It's hard to mitigate that risk. It's a somewhat difficult explanation to understand, but it sounds like they are saying it's problematic to set e-book prices too low. From this, we can infer that the prices of e-books in Korea are linked to the prices of printed books, especially hardcover editions, and that publishing companies, which cannot afford to give up the printed book market, are setting e-book prices based on that standard.

What is the reason for the continued reliance on the existing paper book market? First of all, the revenue share obtained from this market is overwhelming. According to a report from the Korea Publishing Culture Contents Center, paper book sales accounted for 58.2% of the domestic publishing market revenue as of 2021. Although this has decreased significantly from 69.2% in 2017, it still remains the largest segment. Given this heavy reliance on the paper book market, publishers find themselves in a difficult situation if they incur losses and fail to compensate with profits from the e-book market. In summary, to ensure stable revenue, publishers are taking a conservative approach by prioritizing the paper book market. The disparity between price expectations and reality is so large that it cannot benefit the overall publishing market in the long run. Even if readers want to buy affordable and easily accessible e-books, the high prices deter them from making purchases, preventing the market size from expanding sufficiently, and leading the publishing industry back to paper books.

It is a vicious cycle that relies solely on the market. So, is the situation significantly different abroad? Upon examination, it didn't seem to be the case. When we directly compared the prices of the top ten bestselling paper books and e-books on Amazon last year, only two of the e-books were priced 70% lower than their paper counterparts. Surprisingly, there were even four instances where the e-books were more expensive than the paper books among the ten. Of course, in the English-speaking publishing market, the demand is already large enough that lowering e-book prices is not necessary, making direct comparisons somewhat unreasonable. If we decide to lower the prices of e-books, how far can we actually go? I obtained internal data on how a large domestic publishing company measured the costs of two recently published books. The costs incurred for the paper, printing, and other related expenses accounted for a significant portion of the overall costs.

It was about 40%, but just looking at this, there is a lot of room for thought. So, could we not have a promotional event like a game sale in the team? However, that is blocked by the fixed book price system. The fixed book price system is a law that determines the maximum discount rate for books. Because of this law, e-books already have a nominal fixed price set, and in reality, they are sold at a price that is 10% lower than that, which is the legal maximum. Web novels are also bound by this regulation, and recently, a web novel author even filed a constitutional petition with the Constitutional Court, but it was dismissed last year. There is also an unintended balloon effect. The demand for e-books is shifting not towards purchases but towards subscription services like Millie. The book price regulation does not cover rental fees or subscription fees, so they can provide services at much cheaper prices, which could have been an opportunity for publishers to sell e-books.

It’s a disappointing situation if we consider that we are missing out on people. To conclude, the high prices of e-books are largely the result of the existing publishing market, which is based on printed books, and the previous systems that existed before the advent of digital books. The prices need to drop significantly for the market to expand, which in turn would help improve the quality of e-books and the performance of platforms more quickly. However, it still seems like we have a long way to go. If you would like to request coverage, please leave a comment. Currently, there’s a request to find out the recent situation of Jeon Hong-yong, who is famous as a nutria hunter. If you subscribe and set notifications, the results of the coverage will be posted soon.

왜 전자책은 싸게 팔지 않을까?

의뢰하세요, 취재합니다. 취재대행소 왱

광고/제휴 문의 wngproject2017@gmail.com

취재대행소 왱

많은 소비자들이 전자책 가격이 종이책보다 훨씬 저렴할 것으로 기대하면서 전자책 가격에 불만을 품고 있습니다.

한 설문조사에 따르면 소비자들은 전자책 가격이 종이책 가격의 39.

2% 정도는 되어야 한다고 생각하지만, 베스트셀러의 경우 종이책 가격의 70~80%에 전자책을 판매하고 있는 것으로 나타났습니다.

출판사는 인쇄 도서 판매에 부정적인 영향을 미칠 수 있기 때문에 전자책 가격을 대폭 낮추기 어려워 전자책과 인쇄 도서 가격 사이에 연결 고리를 만들고 있습니다.

종이책 시장에 대한 계속되는 의존도

종이책 시장은 2021년 매출의 58.

2%를 차지하며 여전히 출판 산업을 지배하고 있습니다.

출판사는 높은 가격과 부족한 수요로 인해 전자책으로의 전환을 주저하고 있으며, 이는 악순환을 낳고 있습니다.

아마존에서 베스트셀러 종이책과 전자책을 비교한 결과 전자책 가격이 크게 낮지 않으며, 경우에 따라서는 종이책보다 더 비싼 경우도 있는 것으로 나타났습니다.

도서정가제는 도서의 최대 할인폭을 제한하여 전자책을 정가보다 10%만 낮게 판매할 수 있도록 하고 있습니다.

이 규정은 웹소설에도 영향을 미쳐 한 작가가 헌법소원을 제기했지만 기각되었습니다.

이 법의 의도치 않은 결과는 규제의 적용을 받지 않고 더 저렴한 가격을 제공할 수 있는 전자책 구독 서비스로 수요가 이동하는 것입니다.

전자책의 높은 가격은 전통적인 출판 시장과 낙후된 시스템에서 기인합니다.

시장을 확대하고 전자책과 플랫폼의 품질을 개선하기 위해서는 가격을 대폭 낮춰야 합니다.

이러한 변화가 일어나기까지는 아직 갈 길이 멀고, 뉴트리아 사냥꾼으로 유명한 전홍용 씨에 대한 취재 요청도 들어왔습니다.