Originally Posted by Joykins
OK, I'm one of the 1-4% of individuals you are targeting. I read 100-500 books per year. So let me give you my opinion:
I would probably not pay $30 (or even $25) to buy 6 books a month.
Keep in mind, I can buy backlist e-books or bargain-priced books for about $4 (or less) each. This would actually be a raise in price for some of the books I buy.
I can borrow books (nook/Kindle borrowing, Overdrive library) for free. Also, I "buy" any promotional freebie that looks interesting, plus I can get my classics for free. So you're competing with freeware.
If I'm going to commit to buying 6 books a month at $5 each, sight unseen, I'm going to want to know that you are going to provide 6 books that I REALLY WANT TO BUY per month. I need to know that your selections are such that I would want to buy 6 books a month from your catalog.
Now, will that be 6 books a month, or some other number, or an unlimited download? If it is unlimited, I join maybe once a year or so and download everything in your catalog that sounds interesting--hundreds of books, no doubt. You'll never make money at that and the publishers would never allow it. So you need some kind of limitation.
As a voracious reader (and you are *targeting* voracious readers, remember?) for the most part I would much rather rent than buy. I know maybe YOU want to keep everything you read, but are you this kind of reader? Much of what I read, I read only once, so I would not pay a premium to buy. But to get a good rental model going that is superior to Overdrive and nook/kindle borrowing, I think a model similar to Netflix would be what *I* would want:
1) a limited number of "check outs" AT A TIME (like, between 1 and 4). (keeps abuse from occurring)-- few people read more than 3 or 4 books at a time, anyway.
2) an unlimited borrowing period (I can keep the book until I finish it, even if it's months, but I can't get a new one until I check the old one back in--I'm pretty sure this is how Netflix makes its $, by the way, the people who hold onto a movie for months); of course, all borrowing periods expire when the membership ends.
3) No or minimal waiting lists. There are 47 people waiting to read Bill Bryson's _At Home_ at my library, for example. I want the book when I am in the mood to read it, but I don't want the guilt of blocking 47 other people from accessing it while I wait to read it because I already am reading something else....
4) An option to buy. If the book is really that wonderful, I'd buy it with a click from you--but only if you're underselling other booksellers like Sony or B&N or Amazon. (I know Agency pricing, blah blah).
The publishers aren't going to let you do this DRM-free, and you'll need some rights management software to manage the loans, probably more than one if you plan on lending out books for Kindle.
The reason I prefer rental to purchase? Let's assume I could pay $30/month and get 6 books to keep, or $30/month and check out 4 books AT A TIME. Easy, I get to read 6 books for $30 under the first model, which is a reasonable price, no doubt--but I read 40 or so books a month, let's say I get 15 of them from your rental service, that is 15 books to read for $30, a much better bargain. Again, remember I don't care about keeping most of these books, if I like one enough to think I'll read it again and again, I'll buy it in addition to the $30 I spend on rental.
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