MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Yet another thumb of the nose from publishers

brecklundin · 10-08-2010, 07:26 AM

in these discussions why does it never get mentioned that growth of ebooks combined with the dwindling DTB sales will all but kill off the favorite venue of avid and casual readers alike...the used book store that does not specialize in high quality & rare editions are going to die off. Sure it will take time but here in my small town we have lost 3 of the 4 used book stores we had for several decades or more. We no have ONE used store and the thrift shops have maybe 20% of the inventory they once would have.

All of this means higher sales for publishers as more and more content moved to ebook as the real goal of publishers is to eliminate the pbook for all but the best hard cover titles. Over the coming years this is their plan...and even now they are recovering sales they had long ago lost to the used book market here in the US. Where they never received revenue now they get a retail sale since there are less and less used options plus used books are increasing in price as well as their prices are usually, but not always, based on the the cover price.

So, there is a whole layer to this which seems to always go under appreciated at best and completely ignored at worst in these discussions. And yes this factors into the idea of a "fair" price of a used book.

Now, if publishers are too greedy here they will create a darknet demand which never existed to the degree it will once almost everyone has an ebook device or some sort.

10-08-2010, 07:26 AM	#46
brecklundin Banned Posts: 1,906 Karma: 15348 Join Date: Jun 2007 Device: mine	in these discussions why does it never get mentioned that growth of ebooks combined with the dwindling DTB sales will all but kill off the favorite venue of avid and casual readers alike...the used book store that does not specialize in high quality & rare editions are going to die off. Sure it will take time but here in my small town we have lost 3 of the 4 used book stores we had for several decades or more. We no have ONE used store and the thrift shops have maybe 20% of the inventory they once would have. All of this means higher sales for publishers as more and more content moved to ebook as the real goal of publishers is to eliminate the pbook for all but the best hard cover titles. Over the coming years this is their plan...and even now they are recovering sales they had long ago lost to the used book market here in the US. Where they never received revenue now they get a retail sale since there are less and less used options plus used books are increasing in price as well as their prices are usually, but not always, based on the the cover price. So, there is a whole layer to this which seems to always go under appreciated at best and completely ignored at worst in these discussions. And yes this factors into the idea of a "fair" price of a used book. Now, if publishers are too greedy here they will create a darknet demand which never existed to the degree it will once almost everyone has an ebook device or some sort.