Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I'm afraid you've completely lost me there. Care to elaborate?
|
Well, Harry, for the reader of pbooks, what does it matter if the book is in PD or not? You have to buy one, anyway. (The other options, borrow from a friend or the library are available whether the book is in PD or not). For pbooks the only difference is that the publisher/printer doesn't have to pay any royalties and that everybody could publish it, which could depress prices. So, the length of copyright for books was basically of no importance to readers in the past.
But only with the advent of ebooks can the reader get PD books of free. So, coming back to your example, Charles Dickens, the question (as far as our discussion here is concerned) remains how much readers spent on ebooks of his works. My guess is not zero, but very little. And most of those buyers probably didn't know they could get free versions.
Yes, Penguin Classics just came out in ebook form, but that hardly will be a big money maker, definitely a lot less than what they would make if no free versions were available.