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Originally Posted by Elfwreck
It's a big problem that publishers aren't addressing, because they've never had to actively cultivate the used book dynamics. They've existed outside of publishers' attention ranges. Now, with publishers insisting that secondhand ebooks are not legal at all, we're in danger of setting up a weird double system, where an elite has purchased ebooks that they can discuss in public, and an underclass has bootleg downloads that they can't.
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That's a really interesting way of looking at it, elite vs underclass.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
Guess which category inner-city pre-teens are going to fall into. Guess which category will include college students living on loans & grants.
This can work fine for several years--but when those kids, and those college students, get stable jobs later and could afford to join "the elite"--the legit versions have to be at least as good as the bootlegs to make it worth their while.
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Not even that, it also has to be
as easy as pirating. And at the point where they finally become a paying customer, you're already battling the habits they've had for years. Why change that habit if it's going to cost me more and it's difficult to use and it's locked to one brand of device?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
At best, you get inner-city kids & poor college students growing up reading legit free & cheap books from Smashwords and free downloads from indie author sites, and the "elite" reading books by the Big 6 publishers. And those publishers' sales will plummet when those kids become the dominant buying group, because the now-adults don't know or care about Big 6 books, because they grew up without reading them.
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Another excellent point.
I also shudder to think of my child learning her grammar and spelling from the majority of stuff that's on Smashwords... I know I picked up most of my language skills from excessive reading.