Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
For even more decades novels were serialized in magazines that had ads in them.Most great SF novels published before 1950 were serialized in magazines. Again , people tend to have this rosy-colored view of the past that doesn't stand up to historical analysis.
Novels aren't the only type of ebook there can be, either. There are also short story or essay collections.
I'm quoting the KSO example because many of the same arguments were used in attacking the KSO concept before it came out and it was a big success. I think that the type of model and the way it is executed will play the biggest part in whether ads in ebooks will work. It might also depend, as you have pointed out, , on the content of the book. Short story or essay collections may be more suitable for ads than a novel.
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Magazines have always been ad supported. Novels have not - notwithstanding the brief experiment with ads in paperbacks in the 60's, which apparently was not successful.
But regardless of the history, people will not accept ads in novels that interrupt their reading experience. They haven't historically, and I see no reason to assume that they will now.
I also don't think that there is a way to significantly defray the expenses of a book with advertising unless you use a *lot* of ads. Magazines have hundreds of ads in them, for example. I don't think a 4c discount on a book is going to encourage anyone to buy the one with ads, and I don't think that anyone will buy a book with dozens or 100+ ads.