An in-depth Publisher’s Weekly piece on the new costs of distributing digital content on e-readers from Amazon and Barnes & Noble has revealed what’s probably the final nail in the coffin of this discussion. Amazon is now charging publishers a 15-cent per megabyte “digital delivery fee” to transfer files to Kindle devices via 3G, which adds up very quickly given comics’ hefty bandwidth and file sizes (Todd Allen writes that novels are unlikely to accrue delivery charges larger than two-cents per transfer). The cost to the publisher is also affected by Amazon’s payment system, which is split into two plans. If the list price of the digital product is between $2.99 and $9.99, the publisher earns 70% of every sale (minus the 15-cent delivery fee). If the list price of a digital product is less than $2.99 or over $9.99, the publisher earns only 35% of the sale (but they don’t have to pay the 15 cents!). Barnes & Noble employs a similar scheme for its Nook reader.
