I remember my first ereader. It was a Sony with a carmel leather case gifted to me by my now husband. I remember purchasing my first ebooks and not blinking at the price because, at the time each book I purchased was MINE...

I could move them from device to device. And YES, if I talked up a book to a friend, I would give them a copy, b/c to me it was no different from me lending someone my copy of a physical book...

These book files weren't proprietary to a particular device or to a particular company. Then along came Kindle... Now books we're dependent on a company and a device in order for me to access them. And this is when I started paying attention to the price of an ebook...

As a reader, it's difficult for me to justify the cost of an ebook above a certain price when on the whims of a company, my library doesn't truly belong to me. And all the books I purchas I am unable to lend, and share as I would a physical book...

As an author, I understand that publishing is a business, that my creativity shouldn't be discounted due to the avenue it is distributed. But, I think a lot of times we lose sight of what it means to readers to own a book, to build a library, to build a community around books...

For me the conversation around the cost of e-books versus print is heavily influenced by my idea of what makes a book tangible versus intangible.

If I could hang a digital copy of my favorite paintings in my house, but I know I can't show it to friends when they visit or that the screen may go to static at any given time why would I want to pay the same price as the actual canvas where those restrictions don't apply?...

Obviously this is just my opinion. Have I paid more than $9.99 for an ebook (non textbooks)? Yes. Is it my norm? Not usually. It has to be for an author I truly want to support during a debut week. Otherwise, I purchase later or make sure I purchase directly from the publisher.