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twowheels · 10-21-2011, 01:18 PM

They could even work out a deal where the used ebook sale gives a small chunk of the money to the publisher... say $.50... so, when a book first comes out, the MUST HAVE NOW pre-order people order a bunch of copies... then over time the used market price could go down... so...

eBook released for $20 when new to maximize the profit on the MUST HAVE NOW crowd. After 2-6 months the new price drops to a more reasonable $10 to reflect the paperback price, and the used market is opened up and the used price could be $5. Amazon keeps $.50 for their trouble (keeping track of licensing), and the publisher gets $.50. People who must have it and can't find a used copy online could get it for $10.

Each used copy could foreseeably be resold 100 times, meaning that the publisher gets the original sale, plus $50, whereas with paper books now they only get the original sale. This should help account for the fact that an easier to use used market would impact new sales.

Moreover, the new buyer is out $14 at most, more likely $6. The used buyer is only out $1 and has sufficient budget to buy more books than they already do! At this price point most downloaders would probably say that it wasn't worth the trouble to torrent the book and worry about quality/legal issues. Even if they implemented a "wear and tear, 25 resells" this would be better for everybody, but it seems that the last buyer should get an even better price since they can't resell it.

10-21-2011, 01:18 PM	#143
twowheels Wizard Posts: 1,854 Karma: 13432974 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kobo Clara HD, iPad Pro 10", iPhone 15 Pro, Boox Note Max	They could even work out a deal where the used ebook sale gives a small chunk of the money to the publisher... say $.50... so, when a book first comes out, the MUST HAVE NOW pre-order people order a bunch of copies... then over time the used market price could go down... so... eBook released for $20 when new to maximize the profit on the MUST HAVE NOW crowd. After 2-6 months the new price drops to a more reasonable $10 to reflect the paperback price, and the used market is opened up and the used price could be $5. Amazon keeps $.50 for their trouble (keeping track of licensing), and the publisher gets $.50. People who must have it and can't find a used copy online could get it for $10. Each used copy could foreseeably be resold 100 times, meaning that the publisher gets the original sale, plus $50, whereas with paper books now they only get the original sale. This should help account for the fact that an easier to use used market would impact new sales. Moreover, the new buyer is out $14 at most, more likely $6. The used buyer is only out $1 and has sufficient budget to buy more books than they already do! At this price point most downloaders would probably say that it wasn't worth the trouble to torrent the book and worry about quality/legal issues. Even if they implemented a "wear and tear, 25 resells" this would be better for everybody, but it seems that the last buyer should get an even better price since they can't resell it. Last edited by twowheels; 10-21-2011 at 01:23 PM.