{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:43:29Z","timestamp":1760143409686,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,18]],"date-time":"2024-01-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1705536000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences","award":["22YJC630203","HBSKJJ20233291"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22YJC630203","HBSKJJ20233291"]}]},{"name":"Social Science Foundation of Hubei Province of China","award":["22YJC630203","HBSKJJ20233291"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22YJC630203","HBSKJJ20233291"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The e-books industry is mature, and audiobooks are becoming increasingly popular. More and more publishers are coming to realize that audiobooks could be a potential revenue driver and intend to release audiobooks. Considering that there is a certain substitutability between e-books and audiobooks, publishers need to decide how to release a book in its audible version and its e-book version into the market. In this paper, we incorporate the discount factor and the consumers\u2019 acceptance level for audiobooks into the consumer utility by dividing consumers into two types, high-value type and low-value type, and construct two different release models: releasing the audiobook and the e-book simultaneously and releasing the audiobook after the e-book. Using an optimization tool, we investigate pricing strategies of a monopolistic publisher under two different release models. By comparing the theoretical results of the two models, we find that when the consumers\u2019 patience exceeds a certain threshold, releasing a book in its audible version after its e-book version is better for the publisher, and the publisher should adopt a skimming (refers to decreasing markups over time) pricing strategy for the e-book in this case. Further, the publisher should set a higher price for the audiobook than the e-book, whether or not they release the audiobook after the e-book. In addition, we conduct a numerical analysis to investigate how the discount factor, the percentage of high-value consumers, and the high-value consumers\u2019 acceptance level for audiobooks affect the consumer surplus and the social welfare. This study offers publishers some managerial insights into the complex issues involving pricing and release strategies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems12010033","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,18]],"date-time":"2024-01-18T11:28:46Z","timestamp":1705577326000},"page":"33","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Is It Better for a Publisher to Release an Audiobook after Its E-Book Version?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2900-0904","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Linlan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Audio Publishers Association (2024, January 16). Audiobook Publishers Report Tenth Straight Year of Double-Digit Growth. Available online: https:\/\/www.audiopub.org\/uploads\/pdf\/Sales-and-Consumer-Surveys-Press-Release-2022.pdf."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"IBISWorld (2024, January 16). E-Book Publishing Industry in the US -Market Research Report. Available online: https:\/\/www.ibisworld.com\/united-states\/market-research-reports\/e-book-publishing-industry\/."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.14.1.107.14762","article-title":"Information Goods Pricing and Copyright Enforcement: Welfare Analysis","volume":"14","author":"Chen","year":"2003","journal-title":"Inf. Syst. Res."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.1040.0030","article-title":"Managing Digital Piracy: Pricing and Protection","volume":"15","author":"Sundararajan","year":"2004","journal-title":"Inf. Syst. Res."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"610","DOI":"10.1287\/mksc.1070.0313","article-title":"Digital Piracy: A Competitive Analysis","volume":"27","author":"Jain","year":"2008","journal-title":"Mark. Sci."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"372","DOI":"10.1057\/palgrave.jors.2602552","article-title":"Can Piracy Lead to Higher Prices in the Music and Motion Picture Industries?","volume":"60","author":"Khouja","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Oper. Res. Soc."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"468","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpe.2013.03.018","article-title":"Containing Piracy with Product Pricing, Updating and Protection Investments","volume":"144","author":"Kogan","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. J. Prod. Econ."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.1016\/j.elerap.2018.02.004","article-title":"Optimal Software Upgrade Strategy: Should We Sell Products or Premium Services in the Presence of Piracy?","volume":"28","author":"Wu","year":"2018","journal-title":"Electron. Commer. Res. Appl."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.1177\/0008125618818841","article-title":"Business Model Responses to Digital Piracy","volume":"61","author":"Aversa","year":"2019","journal-title":"Calif. Manag. Rev."},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"1","article-title":"Optimal Piracy Control and Pricing Strategies Considering Quality Degradation: The Effects of Policy Instruments","volume":"48","author":"Zhang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Commer. Res. Appl."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3587","DOI":"10.3934\/jimo.2021127","article-title":"The Impacts of Digital Content Piracy and Copyright Protection Policies when Consumers are Loss Averse","volume":"18","author":"Chai","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Ind. Manag. Optim."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"906","DOI":"10.1080\/07421222.2022.2096543","article-title":"Piracy and Bundling of Information Goods","volume":"39","author":"Jin","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Manag. Inf. Syst."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"784","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.2021.1094","article-title":"Pay-What-You-Want Pricing in the Digital Product Marketplace: A Feasible Alternative to Piracy Prevention?","volume":"33","author":"Kim","year":"2022","journal-title":"Inf. Syst. Res."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.im.2021.103559","article-title":"Antecedents and Consequences of Explicit and Implicit Attitudes toward Digital Piracy","volume":"59","author":"Serenko","year":"2022","journal-title":"Inf. Manag."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1660","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.1040.0291","article-title":"Nonlinear Pricing of Information Goods","volume":"50","author":"Sundararajan","year":"2004","journal-title":"Manag. Sci."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"405","DOI":"10.1016\/j.dss.2011.01.006","article-title":"Pricing Strategies for Tied Digital Contents and Devices","volume":"51","author":"Yu","year":"2011","journal-title":"Decis. Support Syst."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cie.2012.02.014","article-title":"Optimal Versioning and Pricing of Information Products with Considering or not Common Valuation of Customers","volume":"63","author":"Li","year":"2012","journal-title":"Comput. Ind. Eng."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"260","DOI":"10.1080\/07421222.2016.1172457","article-title":"Duopoly Pricing Strategy for Information Products with Premium Service: Free Product or Bundling?","volume":"33","author":"Zhang","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Manag. Inf. Syst."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"582","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.2017.0698","article-title":"Selling or Leasing? Pricing Information Goods with Depreciation of Consumer Valuation","volume":"28","author":"Dou","year":"2017","journal-title":"Inf. Syst. Res."},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"356","article-title":"Protection in DRM and Pricing Strategies in a Two-echelon Digital Product Supply Chain","volume":"6","author":"Zhang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int. J. Syst. Sci. Oper. Logist."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"504","DOI":"10.1111\/poms.12248","article-title":"Optimal Software Free Trial Strategy: Limited Version, Time-locked, or Hybrid?","volume":"24","author":"Cheng","year":"2015","journal-title":"Prod. Oper. Manag."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4243","DOI":"10.1080\/00207543.2018.1425558","article-title":"Pricing Strategies for Information Products with Network Effects and Complementary Services in a Duopolistic Market","volume":"56","author":"Xu","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Prod. Res."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"353","DOI":"10.1177\/00222437211065020","article-title":"Preference Reversals Between Digital and Physical Goods","volume":"59","author":"Catapano","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Mark. Res."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1046","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sbspro.2012.09.178","article-title":"The Role of E-books in Reshaping the Publishing Industry","volume":"62","author":"Maxim","year":"2012","journal-title":"Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"52","DOI":"10.1016\/j.elerap.2012.11.004","article-title":"Superstars and Outsiders in Online Markets: An Empirical Analysis of Books","volume":"12","author":"Bounie","year":"2013","journal-title":"Electron. Commer. Res. Appl."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1257\/jep.29.3.165","article-title":"E-books: A Tale of Digital Disruption","volume":"29","author":"Gilbert","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Econ. Perspect."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"791","DOI":"10.1007\/s10257-017-0346-y","article-title":"Pricing Strategies in Online Book Industry: A Comparative Study","volume":"16","author":"Luo","year":"2018","journal-title":"Inf. Syst. E-Bus. Manag."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2017.2940","article-title":"The Impact of E-book Distribution on Print Sales: Analysis of a Natural Experiment","volume":"65","author":"Chen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Manag. Sci."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2665","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2018.3083","article-title":"Intertemporal Price Discrimination with Complementary Products: E-Books and E-Readers","volume":"65","author":"Li","year":"2019","journal-title":"Manag. Sci."},{"key":"ref_30","first-page":"1","article-title":"Investigating Antecedents of Adoption Intention for Audiobook Applications","volume":"62","author":"Srivastava","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Comput. Inf. Syst."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1017","DOI":"10.25300\/MISQ\/2014\/38.4.04","article-title":"An Analysis of Pricing Models in the Electronic Book Market","volume":"38","author":"Hao","year":"2014","journal-title":"MIS Q."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"724","DOI":"10.1111\/poms.12595","article-title":"Strategic Analysis of the Agency Model for Digital Goods","volume":"26","author":"Tan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Prod. Oper. Manag."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1093\/restud\/rdx007","article-title":"The Agency Model and MFN Clauses","volume":"84","author":"Johnson","year":"2017","journal-title":"Rev. Econ. Stud."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1074","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejor.2017.07.002","article-title":"Who Benefit from Agency Model: A Strategic Analysis of Pricing Models in Distribution Channels of Physical Books and E-books","volume":"264","author":"Lu","year":"2018","journal-title":"Eur. J. Oper. Res."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1504\/EJIM.2024.135214","article-title":"Strategic Analysis of E-book Pricing Models in the Presence of Network Externalities","volume":"22","author":"Zhang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Eur. J. Int. Manag."},{"key":"ref_36","unstructured":"Zhang, W. (2006). Game Theory and Information Economics, Shanghai People\u2019s Publishing House."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"466","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jet.2014.07.011","article-title":"Cournot Competition and the Social Value of Information","volume":"158","author":"Myatt","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Econ. Theory"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"51","DOI":"10.2469\/faj.v55.n2.2260","article-title":"The Effects of Blending Primary and Diluted Eps Data","volume":"55","author":"Goldsticker","year":"1999","journal-title":"Financ. Anal. J."}],"container-title":["Systems"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-8954\/12\/1\/33\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T13:50:00Z","timestamp":1760104200000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-8954\/12\/1\/33"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,18]]},"references-count":38,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1]]}},"alternative-id":["systems12010033"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/systems12010033","relation":{},"ISSN":["2079-8954"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2079-8954"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,18]]}}}