Quote:
Originally Posted by mldavis2
It should be fairly obvious that this forum is on a somewhat different level (up or down, your pick) than the general public at large, and as such is perhaps not as attuned to snatching up the latest pop author releases. There is money here, otherwise we wouldn't be seeing members with multiple eReaders and thousand-book libraries.
But many of us are also surprisingly cost-conscience. Perhaps that's due to the world economic instability, perhaps it's simply the sheer number of books read. Advertising by the big publishing houses is arguably less effective here than it is in the entry way at the brick and mortar stores. Personally, I seldom if ever buy the latest hardback release, and don't often buy first season releases at all. I am not an impulse buyer, so I'm less affected by the big, colorful ads than most readers, judging from the number and size of the ads I see. My last impulse buy was a paperback, Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes which I picked up by chance on the new arrival shelf, and it cost me about three eBooks.
Walk into any used pBook store and you'll find shelves full of used copies of yesterday's popular $15 paperbacks and $30 hardbacks for $3 each if that's your passion. Those books are almost always as relevant today as they were 5 years ago.
My point is that the money is available today for readers to pay high prices for tomorrow's used book bargain. The goal of big publishers is to take that money away from the impulse buyer. Advertising is often intentionally deceptive. Stop and think of the number of new releases you bought because of rave advertising, only to find the book worth a 2 or 3-star rating. It doesn't matter what the format might be, pBook or eBook. If they can sell it to enough people, the prices will remain as high as the market will allow. Only general market pressures will change it, not complaints from a sub-market of avid readers.
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If you view the majority of book purchases in the same light as other entertainment purchases, music, movies, etc. The pricing structure does not make sense. Does anyone pay full price for a dvd of starwars, probably one of the reasons new formats like blueray are promoted so hard. Given DRM, we could be making the case we are really renting and should be paying even less. I do agree that books age more slowly, encouraging more reasonable lending / transfer rights and resisting marketing pressure to buy latest releases is the best response.