Quote:
Originally Posted by Dulin's Books
how? lets say the publisher prints 1000 paperbacks. thats all of those that will ever be in circulation. if you give your copy to your brother you dont have it to give to another person. if you digitize it yourself and stick it online for downloading by others there are now a limitless supply available. now if the author/publisher gets around to selling the E version thousands of people already have it. they wont be paying for it. you've devalued it with your actions.
|
Are you under the impression the Harry Potter ebooks won't sell any copies because everyone that wants them, already has them? That the Lord of the Rings ebooks sold poorly because digital copies had already been floating around the internet for at least 10 years?
While some people won't buy the official version if they've already read the bootleg, others will, especially if the official version is well-formatted and reasonably priced. ("Reasonably priced" starts with "costs less than the 14th reprint of the paperback." Dune, 40th anniv edition, is right now $10 in new mmpb, $.01+shipping for used, and $15 for the Kindle. Pirate versions have been around for at least 15 years, probably longer... if the K-version's not selling well, those aren't the reason.)
I've bought books I first acquired by download, because if the books are in the right price range, I don't feel I was cheated by buying them. Just like I've bought secondhand paperbacks I already owned, and sometimes slapped my forehead afterward (d'oh! I shoulda got the *other* one!), but don't feel like I need to take careful inventory before I go shopping. I don't think I've bought anything from both Fictionwise and AllRomanceEbooks, but it's probably just a matter of time.
I wouldn't say unauthorized downloads never cut into sales. I would say that they bring a wider awareness of the author, and that the impact on the industry as a whole has likely been positive--because the bootleg ebooks both get people interested in ebooks and expose them to new authors.
The most active uploaders are also the most active buyers. People who care about distributing digital media are people who *love* the creative industries, and support them with their dollars, and encourage others to love those industries.
I'm not saying uploading should all be legal, or that crackdowns shouldn't happen (although I'm rather ambivalent on both of those), but that the uploading & downloading that has already happened, has had some benefits--and authors & publishers should both be trying to figure out how to use those and expand on them, along with figuring out how to make more money. And they should really take a sharp look at the concept of "1 buyer = 1 user" and note what other industries that does and does not work for.