10-23-2007, 12:07 PM | #1 |
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E-book competition
Two shops in my home town in the UK
Where will the e-book fit into this picture? Last edited by watcha; 10-23-2007 at 12:11 PM. |
10-23-2007, 02:43 PM | #2 |
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10-23-2007, 03:18 PM | #3 |
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If ebooks were sold on ROM chips that could be read in an SD slot, you could pretty well sell them the same way as pbooks. Imagine this, you choose your titles and the book shop attendant burns them to a chip right there before your eyes. Or a simple vending device connected to internet provides the same functions. I would be willing to buy my books that way. Of course that would set fire to internet shopping.
Some other related ideas were discussed here. |
10-23-2007, 03:44 PM | #4 |
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A brick-and-mortar store could lease in-store kiosks that would allow visitors to browse printed books, then download them onto their devices (or have them e-mailed to their accounts). This gives the store purpose, allowing people to physically examine the book, and speak to clerks for help and further info.
Of course, if the point of these particular stores was the "name your own price" and "return when done" aspects: All I can say is, e-books are going to change the old book-handling models, and some things may never be the same. Last edited by Steven Lyle Jordan; 10-23-2007 at 03:47 PM. |
10-23-2007, 04:02 PM | #5 |
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As I understand, the basic point that watcha is trying to make is that ebooks can't be resold.
Reselling books is what publishers and a great deal of authors have been crosseyeing for a long time; they get nothing from a resale. I can see them pretty happy about the new E-way approach that changes this. Eh! there is always an other side to a medal. |
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10-23-2007, 07:05 PM | #6 |
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Actually, even this is not necessarily so: Assuming there is no DRM on an e-book, it can be "resold." Of course, the question becomes: What are you reselling? The original file, or a copy?
E-books can be sold as many times as you choose to copy them, which makes sense. You don't "resell" them, because there's no need to bring one back. But if you're going to sell any number of copies, there must be a fair way to compensate the author/publisher for their book. A kiosk system, leased by the store, could handle that. It would be secured to prevent hacking, and it would keep track of purchases and automatically send payments back to the publisher on a one-to-one basis. An alternative would be to make a "bulk" agreement with the publisher, essentially paying a lump sum for a given number of books... and anything sold above that number would be pure profit for the store. This gives more incentive to the store to push titles and try creative sales, though it increases their possibility of losing money on the deal if a book doesn't sell. |
10-24-2007, 10:34 AM | #7 |
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Your comments, Steve, got me thinking along a slightly new line (for me, anyway). What do you get back when you sell a p-book? 1/4th the cover price at best? It's another argument for e-books being priced a bit lower than p-books.
Of course, that still goes absolutely nowhere in addressing the "lending it to my buddy" scenario, so it's not all that helpful, I suppose. |
10-24-2007, 11:13 AM | #8 |
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Perhaps I should have made my subject title E-book caption competition! My prize for the best one-liner could be the e-novel Atonement, by Ian McEwan. No one would know that it has been thumbed and well read (by myself ....on the Iliad). Shucks! I can't give away e-books can I? What am I going to put under the Christmas tree this year?
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10-24-2007, 11:13 AM | #9 |
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An ebook would have to be locked in a physical uncopyable form to be effectively resellable.
@watcha I'm afraid your neighbours will have to close up shop if ebooks get popular, unless they switch to selling readers. That might be for the next generation to see to since I feel there is always going to be a paper trade as archeology artefact. Last edited by yvanleterrible; 10-24-2007 at 11:44 AM. Reason: typo |
10-24-2007, 12:38 PM | #10 | |
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Quote:
This would mean that any transactions beyond the quota of sales would net 100% profit to the store, providing a market similar to the used book market. Additionally, trading once sold, for free or for profit, would also be tolerated with no money going back to the publisher. This system would most closely resemble the present new and used book market, allowing publishers to profit from initial sales, allowing bookstores to profit 100% from "out of quota" sales, and allowing individuals to trade freely. And incidentally, it would remove the issue of returns to the publishers, which are usually destroyed and are therefore wasted. Think of the latest "DVD kiosks," turning up in stores, allowing people to buy or rent DVDs "on the go;" there could be a considerable market for such kiosks, even outside of bookstores, and the out-of-quota sales profits would be the incentive for businesses to lease the kiosks. Last edited by Steven Lyle Jordan; 10-24-2007 at 12:47 PM. |
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10-24-2007, 12:40 PM | #11 |
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10-24-2007, 01:32 PM | #12 | |
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I have a suggestion for these shop owners, though. Buy a scanner and offer a service to turn paper books into ebooks for their owners ONLY. Scan, OCR, format. I'd be willing to pay a couple of dollars/euros per book for someone to do mine. Oh, wait, you're in the UK. I think you're not even allowed to make photocopies of your books... what if the original is destroyed in the process, though? (And responsibly recycled?) |
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10-24-2007, 02:11 PM | #13 |
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Back in the early part of the 20th century books were priced very low. People would often give them away or trash them rather than move them when they changed houses. Many people bought books by the foot to show their good/bad taste. In those days there was not a lot of worry about the secondary market for used books as the only used books that sold were first editions, etc. Paperbacks were envisioned to take the place of the secondary market as they were priced lower than a used hardback would sell for and the cheap low quality binding would seldom last more than one reading.
The practice of a secondary market developed only when prices climbed. |
10-25-2007, 10:10 AM | #14 |
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Nice idea, but I doubt the stores could make it cost-effective... the converting employee's wage alone would negate the profit from such an effort, especially on a one-to-one basis. They'd be throwing their money away on that one.
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10-25-2007, 10:18 AM | #15 |
fruminous edugeek
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Maybe not if they were allowed to save and reuse the files for other customers bringing in the same book... and possibly even exchange files with other shops in an affiliation group. I know this would be rather similar to what many of us do already on the darknet. The point is, the booksellers might be motivated to actually check for physical ownership of the book first, and require a trade-in before supplying the conversion.
I'd want to run it past a lawyer before trying it, but it might actually be legal in many countries. The shop would need to be careful about documenting physical books received. I think I'd want to keep the actual covers of each book converted, filed as evidence. |
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