MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - STUDY SHOWS: Ditching DRM could reduce piracy, prices

frahse · 10-12-2011, 02:18 PM

And one last thing.

The book selling situation has changed.

For years there was a used book market. I used it a lot myself. Amazon and B&N and others made it easy to get a book (current minimum price 4.00USD.) I had no doubts that I would get the book or my money back. Amazon would guarantee it. I loved it.

Many authors hated it. It cut into book sales. In fact the publishers and authors wanted a cut of the used sales. I won't go into the arguments here though I know them.

Now what will happen as the eBooks take over. The used books market will die eventually. Actually it will do the asymptotic type thing and gradually approach 0 over time.

I might say as an author that is good. More sales. As a reader who buys used books because they are cheaper than eBooks I think it is bad. As an author that uses used paper books for writing purposes finding it better than trying to look things up in a reader, it is bad.

The world really doesn't get better or worse but it does get more complicated. Entropy I suppose!

10-12-2011, 02:18 PM	#116
frahse occasional author Posts: 2,315 Karma: 2064403292 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Wandering God's glorious hills, valleys and plains. Device: A Franklin BI (before Internet) was the first. I still have it.	And one last thing. The book selling situation has changed. For years there was a used book market. I used it a lot myself. Amazon and B&N and others made it easy to get a book (current minimum price 4.00USD.) I had no doubts that I would get the book or my money back. Amazon would guarantee it. I loved it. Many authors hated it. It cut into book sales. In fact the publishers and authors wanted a cut of the used sales. I won't go into the arguments here though I know them. Now what will happen as the eBooks take over. The used books market will die eventually. Actually it will do the asymptotic type thing and gradually approach 0 over time. I might say as an author that is good. More sales. As a reader who buys used books because they are cheaper than eBooks I think it is bad. As an author that uses used paper books for writing purposes finding it better than trying to look things up in a reader, it is bad. The world really doesn't get better or worse but it does get more complicated. Entropy I suppose!