07-01-2010, 05:31 AM | #76 | ||
Groupie
Posts: 155
Karma: 200000
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Britania
Device: Android
|
Quote:
Quote:
When I say the "I like this button", I mean a special widget you can get from facebook to put on your website - not just a link to the facebook page. The widget is actually rendered in your Facebook language (I noticed this due to having set my facebook language to "upside down" :-). I assume there's some reason for this special button, and so it might be worth looking at. |
||
07-01-2010, 06:42 AM | #77 | |
Banned
Posts: 5,100
Karma: 72193
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: South of the Border
Device: Coffin
|
Quote:
One thing is for sure, if you're in this for the mula and you're not hitting Amazon with at least 80% of your effort then you're shooting yourself in the foot. Although it pains me to say so, Amazon are for all purposes the winners in the format war. |
|
Advert | |
|
07-01-2010, 07:02 AM | #78 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 8,478
Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
|
"Kids today" hardly grow up with "free everything," and many of the "free" things they get are only due to the fact that someone else (their parents, their school, etc) is paying for them. They understand the value of money, and the need to use it. Sure, they'll take something that's free, but they also understand that things change.
Need I remind that Americans were used to "free" TV and radio for generations... yet, in less than 1 generation, we got used to paying for both, in exchange for more and better channels and quality (not always related to the programming itself). |
07-01-2010, 08:25 AM | #79 | |
Banned
Posts: 5,100
Karma: 72193
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: South of the Border
Device: Coffin
|
Quote:
and on. Every single Cory Doctorow book (free), public domain novels (free), creative commons products (free). Younger generations are growing up in a world where social status and activity is their entertainment, and it costs them nothing. Value is being measured in number of friends and becoming a fan, rather that in any monetary sense. All that is left is goodwill and the leftovers of our nostalgia for physical objects. When there is nothing to hold in your hand, when all is abundant, you have to shift your value system over, that's just a given. |
|
07-01-2010, 08:41 AM | #80 | |||
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 8,478
Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
The grownup world still costs. The grownups are still in control of what costs, and the kids aren't making any plans to become the rich CEOs that bribe the congresspeople to keep costs in place. They're too busy bragging about the number of Facebook friends they have. In any case, there's no use being worried about "those kids," since <tongue_planted_firmly_in_cheek> they don't read anything but specialty magazines devoted to whatever movies, cars, girls and surf hangouts they're really interested in. They're not reading our stuff... they don't even know it exists, beyond the pop stuff advertised in the specialty magazines. </tongue_planted_firmly_in_cheek> |
|||
Advert | |
|
07-01-2010, 08:57 AM | #81 | |
Banned
Posts: 5,100
Karma: 72193
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: South of the Border
Device: Coffin
|
Quote:
As it is I'll take the hundred or so people who've downloaded my latest story from places I've never visited and might never visit. Somewhere, in some corner of India, Denmark, Italy, the Korean Republic... in a bedroom or a living room in Holland, Malaysia and Turkey... maybe on some phone in the US or a Netbook in the UK....in all these places there's someone I don't know who might be reading what only a few days ago was an idea in my head. Some of them might enjoy that story. For some it might be just the right amount of escape to make their morning a little better, or maybe just enough to send them off to sleep. In my wildest dreams it's some young teenager who, having enjoyed what I wrote, writes something themselves and puts that out for others to read. Writing is payment. Last edited by Moejoe; 07-01-2010 at 10:48 AM. Reason: typo |
|
07-01-2010, 09:25 AM | #82 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 8,478
Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
|
Quote:
Today's younger generations may be aware of things they can get for free that would have cost their parents to get... but they are also aware of the significance of that fact, because they do understand value. IOW, they understand the significance of getting something of value for free. And most of them also know the significance of the phrase "make hay while the sun shines." Because of that, they are not going to overthrow the world when something of value that used to be free suddenly starts costing them. They'll gripe, they'll grumble, just like us old fogeys... and when they decide they still want that product, they'll pay for it. And life will go on. That's the way it has been ever since there has been society, and including the periods when movements specifically tried to change that... and failed miserably. I've seen nothing, not even in the web, to suggest that that will change. |
|
07-01-2010, 09:42 AM | #83 | |
Banned
Posts: 5,100
Karma: 72193
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: South of the Border
Device: Coffin
|
Quote:
So taking this into account and that 80% of e-book sales are made through Amazon, why are you not on Amazon now? And yes I know of your earlier annoyances with them, but it seems counter-productive to avoid that market as it continues to grow. They have the best deal for profit-centred authors at the moment, you'd be clearing $2 on each sale of a book at $2.99. Even without a marketing budget, you'd probably get casual sales that wouldn't have been there beforehand. For writers who want to make money, I can't see any downsides at all. |
|
07-01-2010, 11:29 AM | #84 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 8,478
Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
|
Quote:
Quote:
Biggest problem on Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, etc: Being found among the growing piles of ebooks, and more being submitted every day. |
||
07-01-2010, 12:05 PM | #85 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,256
Karma: 35000000
Join Date: Jan 2008
Device: Pocketbook
|
Steve, on the Over The Air/Cable switch, you miss the fact that you got something you couldn't get otherwise for your money. It was that extra that people were willing to pay for.
Better Reception. More channels. For pay movie channels which made movie watching cheaper than theaters. Some people weren't willing to pay for them, and some aren't willing today. |
07-01-2010, 12:12 PM | #86 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 8,478
Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
|
Quote:
|
|
07-01-2010, 12:24 PM | #87 | |
Reader
Posts: 519
Karma: 24612
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Utrecht, NL
Device: Kobo Aura 2, iPhone, iPad
|
Quote:
|
|
07-01-2010, 12:31 PM | #88 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,395
Karma: 1358132
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: UK
Device: Palm TX, CyBook Gen3
|
Steve, if there was a mechanism whereby the only people who could read your books were those who'd paid for them, what difference do you estimate it would make to your income from them?
|
07-01-2010, 12:35 PM | #89 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,256
Karma: 35000000
Join Date: Jan 2008
Device: Pocketbook
|
Quote:
For example, someone pay for internet access. They "pirate" some I.P. The fact they are paying for internet access is a different fee (like a cable fee) than for the I.P they are acquiring... |
|
07-01-2010, 12:49 PM | #90 | |
Addict
Posts: 270
Karma: 1041222
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: UK
Device: Kindle
|
Quote:
I get shouted down by some who cite that good books will always rise to the top because of reviews, recommendations and access to samples, no matter how many e-books there are out there...I'm really not so sure though... |
|
Tags |
fair use, security, the almighty dollar, writing and technology |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Oh My! Horrible review - Next 10" Tablet | kennyc | Android Devices | 16 | 10-20-2010 05:32 AM |
Dr. Horrible comic book now available | Nate the great | General Discussions | 1 | 03-31-2010 09:48 PM |
Horrible Sony Reader Software | Darryl_Gittins | Reading and Management | 1 | 01-05-2010 12:19 PM |
Topaz looks horrible... | AnemicOak | Amazon Kindle | 17 | 03-03-2009 10:18 PM |
E-Book looks horrible | Jules | Kindle Formats | 27 | 07-16-2008 09:09 PM |