Is piracy truly killing publishing?

[sabredog]

An article from bookbee

http://bookbee.net/how-is-9-per-cent...of-40-per-cent

I find the last paragraph the most telling and something I have never considered.

Perhaps. But remember, the publishing industry is perfectly happy with the print business model…which often sees 40-50% of its product unsold, returned or destroyed. That’s after the publisher has already incurred the costs of printing, shipping and warehousing those unsold books, too.

Maybe the pirates aren’t the industry’s biggest problem.

[JSWolf]

The Agency 6 are the industry's biggest problem.

[doreenjoy]

I can already see where this is headed...


So, another thread for the Ignore list.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

I can already see where this is headed...


So, another thread for the Ignore list.

Yep.. Give it a day or two, but probably ignored.

[Giggleton]

Not much of an article there. I would think publishers would like the fact that there is no inventory with ebooks. Maybe half the publishers like ebooks and the other half don't?

[sabredog]

It certainly seems that uttering "Piracy!" is the modern equivalent of the early church blaming the devil for maladies like leprosy, the plague and fevers.

Everyone runs around in circles waving their hands in the air.

[GA Russell]

My hunch, without factual basis, is that the pirates wouldn't have bought the books anyway.

[JeremyR]

Yeah, they probably would have gone to the library.

That's the thing about books - the whole concept of reading for free (not counting taxes that support the library anyway) has been built into society since well, whenever public libraries started. Which would be what, 18th century?

[mr ploppy]

Any potential loss from people who continue reading for free like they did with analogue books is more than offset by the one-buyer-one-reader model adopted for ebooks and the lack of any second hand market.

[BillSmithBooks]

Originally Posted by sabredog

It certainly seems that uttering "Piracy!" is the modern equivalent of the early church blaming the devil for maladies like leprosy, the plague and fevers.

Everyone runs around in circles waving their hands in the air.

BRILLIANT! Wish I'd thought of that.

"She's a witch, burn her!"

You see, if she floats then she's a witch and we burn her at the stake. If she drowns, she's not a witch and is innocent.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by sabredog

the modern equivalent of the early church blaming the devil for maladies like leprosy, the plague and fevers.

Yes. Nowadays we understand that those things are probably just caused by a small elf or pixie living in your stomach.

[BillSmithBooks]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

I can already see where this is headed...


So, another thread for the Ignore list.

I read dozens of threads on MobileRead and somehow manage to never comment on them, not even to publicly say to the world that "I'm ignoring this thread."

Why, it would seem as if the comment is designed to elicit a response, like "See how much I'm ignoring this thread...ignore, ignore, ignore...lah-lah-lah-lah I can't hear you."

I am just joking around, no harm meant.

[Kali Yuga]

Yep, yet more comparisons of apples and oranges.

I'm not sure the US publishers "prefer" paper books at this time, though they are certainly more used to it and realize that ebooks are a major disruption to their current business model.

However, what people constantly fail to realize is that the paper part of books -- including the costs of returns -- are a very small slice of a book's costs. Advances, royalties, marketing, editing and accounting make up the bulk of a book's costs.

Further, consumers essentially demand all the "unsold product" to sit in the store and wait for them to show up. That cost is already part and parcel of the business model. It's not like "40% of their revenues are chucked out the window," whereas digital piracy does mean at least some lost sales.

The proper comparison, then, is how much they lose from shoplifting compared to genuine lost sales from piracy.

[wvcherrybomb]

Originally Posted by BillSmithBooks

I read dozens of threads on MobileRead and somehow manage to never comment on them, not even to publicly say to the world that "I'm ignoring this thread."

Why, it would seem as if the comment is designed to elicit a response, like "See how much I'm ignoring this thread...ignore, ignore, ignore...lah-lah-lah-lah I can't hear you."

I was thinking the exact same thing ...

[FF2]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Yep, yet more comparisons of apples and oranges.

I'm not sure the US publishers "prefer" paper books at this time, though they are certainly more used to it and realize that ebooks are a major disruption to their current business model.

However, what people constantly fail to realize is that the paper part of books -- including the costs of returns -- are a very small slice of a book's costs. Advances, royalties, marketing, editing and accounting make up the bulk of a book's costs.

Further, consumers essentially demand all the "unsold product" to sit in the store and wait for them to show up. That cost is already part and parcel of the business model. It's not like "40% of their revenues are chucked out the window," whereas digital piracy does mean at least some lost sales.

The proper comparison, then, is how much they lose from shoplifting compared to genuine lost sales from piracy.

I would imagine that ultimately publishers will prefer ebooks (with an unbreakable drm). They cannot be loaned out to others. They cannot be donated to a library, church or homeless shelter or just plain given away. They cannot be resold. They can not be purchased second/third or 4th hand. And libraries can only lend them 26 times!!!