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Originally Posted by Kiwiscott
This Guy seems like he has a better grasp on the situation than most. There may be hope for the future if more publishers start thinking like this.
On another track, is downloading an ebook torrent much different from buying a second hand book, or borrowing it from a friend? Second hand sales generates no additional income for the Author or Publisher, only for the person selling it at the yard sale or second hand shop. Like wise borrowing from a friend, you have the one initial sale and thats it.
My point is, publishers have faced challenges maximising their revenue for a long time, learning from the current trends of eReaders, eBooks, demand for such, and associated 'piracy' is key to moving the publishing industry into the 21st century.
The music industry did it, and there are still companies making lots of money from digital product, publishers just need to move with the times.
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Secondhand sales benefit primary sales to some degree. There's been studies on this for used videogames. People buy new games, then trade in and sell their video games and use the money to buy more new games. There's a beneficial effect to the industry. I personally think PC game sales are struggling to some extent because you can no pretty much no longer sell games. I can't prove this gut feeling though. I've become very, very cautious about buying any computer games now because once that plastic is open, I'm out the full price.
In the same, but perhaps different way, copyright infringement , like torrent downloads, of media may lead to increased sales - there is some data to suggest this - but it's certainly a more tenuous connection.