Quote:
Originally Posted by NightGeometry
Why would anyone pay for books from Amazon (or any other ebook store), because often it is the best thing to do. However, if a book isn't made available, or is unreasonably priced, then a person may decided they will get it somewhere else.
|
iTunes has proven consumers will pay for stuff they could otherwise get for free. It's about honesty, convenience, and, vaguely, a sense of fair play.
But it is somewhat fragile as you note:
Quote:
Originally Posted by NightGeometry
That is all way off topic, so just to give some semblance of being on topic  for £5 I may buy the occasional Bond book. The ones I have read are pretty rubbish, in my opinion, but occasionally entertaining, mostly in a 'can it really have been acceptable to say that' way. They are in the strange category where i'd not bother downloading them, they just don't appeal enough, but I could imagine being on holiday, fancying reading one and just grabbing the Kindle copy. |
Which is why backlist titles need to be both commercially available and "reasonably" price for the copyright owner to prosper. If, on summer holiday, I read "Dr. No" on my Kindle, it's a no brainer to think I might be interested in buying "Moonraker" as an impulse follow-up. Click-click-click and a few dollars later its on my Kindle ... it's all good. But if I can't find it ... and Google says ... check this torrent here ... and while you're at it here's the complete Ian Fleming works attached ...
Danger, Will Robinson!
iTunes has been a huge success because it is reasonably priced for what you get and easy to use (once you know how and have the devices embedded to use it). It hasn't stopped piracy ... but
it has enabled ecommerce for the vast majority of consumer who would have been willing to pay for the product in the first place. That is what Amazon (and Kobo and others) aspire to do in the ebook space. For current material, it's a proven model. For backlist, still in "proof of concept" stage. I'm optimistic for the endgame outcome.