Pricing Considerations and
Content-driven Pricing Models for
Electronic Publications

Container demands

• Title Journal
• Static (time/material) Dynamic
• Fixed unit Restricted site license Access subscription

Content demands

• Linear Hypertext
• Read-once Occasional reference Frequent reference
• Light Dense (dimensionality)
• Long-lasting Quickly aging
• Video Sound Graphics Text
• Read in bed Read at desk

Production/humanpower demands

• Periodic Static
• New publication Recasting of existing publication
• Document delivery (unit) Online availability (access)
• Science Humanities
• Math Words
• B/W Color
• Storyboarding Presentation

Scope of services

• "framed"/confined content Interconnected and updated
• Single title Ever-enlarging group
• Time-sensitive content Archival content

Purpose of publication

• Disseminate Profit
• Image/market/list-building Sale
• Ensnare Provide
• Preëmpt/establish Add

Use of publication

• Pedagogical Individual enrichment
• Educate Entertain
• Research/reference/reuse Read-once

Audience breadth

• Broad Narrow
• Dispersed Concentrated
• Institutional Individual

Market readiness (= market appropriateness)

• Non-institutional individuals (modem slowness ca 2 yrs)
• Institutional/university individuals (ethernet speeds)
• Library/institutional purchases

Pricing Models

• Per K (essentially dead)
• Per view (being reborn)
• Per minute (AOL, Compuserve)
• Site license (straight-out purchase)
• Site license (yearly subscription)
• Subscription
• Per full-time enrollee (Encyclopedia Brittanica)
• Per campus (Muse, SCAN)
• Per institution
• Related proportionally to print purchases/subscriptions (Academic Press)
• Hybrid (buy print, get CD or get online access)
• Hybrid (buy online, get print sent free or cheaply)

Intangibles

• Erosion of print sales
• Replacement of print sales
• Encouragement of print sales
• Dual-purchase by institutions
• New markets
• International markets
• Time-based income
• Digital document delivery income
• Information decay
• Permissions & inclusions fees

Cost-recovery models

• CD-rom products with proprietary interfaces and licenses for single-CPU/user rights
• CD-rom products with proprietary interfaces and network licenses CD-rom delivery of projects for local servers under domain or subnet restrictions
• Internet publications on FTP sites
• Internet publications with Gopher interfaces
• Online (non-internet) projects with proprietary interfaces and time-based charges
• Online (non-internet) projects with proprietary interfaces and multiple tier-based charges (shopping cart model, with each abstract at x rate, each article at y rate, etc.)
• Internet projects with Web interfaces and multiple tier-based charges (shopping cart model, with each abstract at x rate, each article at y rate, etc.)
• Internet projects with Web interfaces under password-restricted access and simultaneous-user restrictions
• Internet projects with Web interfaces under domain-access models with price based on full-time enrollment of institution
• Internet projects with Web interfaces under domain-access models with site license restrictions on usage of materials
• Internet projects with Web interfaces under domain-access models with on-campus usage unrestricted

Michael Jensen, Electronic Publisher,
The Johns Hopkins University Press
last updated Oct 20, 1996
http://www.press.jhu.edu/~mjensen/costs.htm