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Originally Posted by stonetools
But we're not assuming an "open-the -book, see-an-ad" interface, we are assuming a "open-book, see- lots-of-ads-on a web-page" interface.
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Maybe you were; I don't read my ebooks on anything that can access a web page. Any ads in the book would have to be established at time of sale, and wouldn't have clickable links. And I'm hardly rare in that.
Limiting ad-based ebooks to web-enabled readers means cutting down advertiser's ability to reach potential customers. Smaller audience = less willingness to pay to reach them.
So: you are proposing that Amazon will update the Kindle software to detect books that have ads, so that when those books are opened, there'll first be a splash page with an advert? (Is this *only* on the Kindle, or does it include people reading on the Kindle app on their iPhones? Do they see the same ad?) Would these ads only be for Amazon ebooks, or would they be in other ebook stores?
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Hey, we can sling around numbers too. If the reader sees 10 ads per opening the book and they open the book 7 times, that's (7*10)*7=490 or close to $5.
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If the reader has to wade through 10 ads every time he opens the book, ad-stripping software will be as common as Adblock Plus--or people just won't buy the ad-infected versions. Unless, of course, they're all on one page... but 10 ads on a Kindle screen are awfully cramped, and it's worse on an iPhone screen.
People will tolerate a small bit of nuisance for a lower price. If the nuisance is too high, they'll seek workarounds, or just not bother with the item. If it takes 5 clicks to get past the ads on every book opening, or every chapter break, most people won't buy a second ad-subsidized book. A lot of them, not understanding the whole ebook thing, won't buy a second ebook at all. It usually only takes one bad experience as one's first foray into new tech to give up on the tech entirely.
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That doesn't even include the fact that the buyer might want to keep accessing the SO page even after he finishes reading the book.
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Some fraction of users will love the ads. There are people who love google text ads. If they were in the majority, Adblock Plus would never have been developed.