Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
FWIW, its not clear at all to me that non-readers are prevented by price or inconvenience from trying books. My experience is that people either like to read, or they don't-and if they like to read, they'll buy books .
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I used to think that. Since my husband got an ereader and showed it around to the guys in his model club, several of them have gotten ereaders and started reading. They'd been effectively non-readers for decades--but now that "book" didn't mean "carry around heavy block paper" or "carry one flimsy block of paper and hope that when you're in the mood to read, it's the right genre," they've rediscovered reading.
Most of them are happy with Gutenberg's collection; they each have a list of classics they'd always intended to read and never gotten around to, and are delighted to find that they're available for free and can be carried in their pockets.
Also, the notion that "if they like to read, they'll buy books" assumes that books are within their budget. The BPHs disdain any customers whose book budgets are less than $10/month--and miss out on the fact that there are millions of those people. (A lot of those are minors. Their transition into the ebook market is bumpy; they have a choice of "adult-controlled reading" or "random freebies" or "bootleg books." Those who like reading don't tend to settle for the adult-control requirements, and whichever of the other options they choose, the BPHs have lost a chance to build connections with a future customer.)