MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - eBooks and second-hand sales

pdurrant · 09-30-2008, 05:51 PM

An article on second-hand sales of video games

http://techdirt.com/article.php?sid=...&threaded=true

made me understand another reason when eBooks are worth less than paper books.

There's no second-hand market for eBooks. Not even for non-DRMed eBooks. Why not? Because I can't get rid of my copy of the eBook. Even if I copy it onto a CD-R and wipe all copies from my computers, I still have the eBook -- sitting in my bookshelf at fictionwise.com or webscriptions.net.

So - if I buy a paperback or hardback, the book retains some resale value. This makes it more valuable that the equivalent eBook.

eBooks should* always cost less than the paper edition.

Paul

*OK "should" is problematical. Things cost what people are willing to pay. I think that in the long term, people won't be willingto pay as much for an eBook as for a paperbook. If publishers keep trying to sell eBooks for as much or more than the paper editions, they won't make significant eBook sales.

09-30-2008, 05:51 PM	#1
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 74,051 Karma: 315160596 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	eBooks and second-hand sales An article on second-hand sales of video games http://techdirt.com/article.php?sid=...&threaded=true made me understand another reason when eBooks are worth less than paper books. There's no second-hand market for eBooks. Not even for non-DRMed eBooks. Why not? Because I can't get rid of my copy of the eBook. Even if I copy it onto a CD-R and wipe all copies from my computers, I still have the eBook -- sitting in my bookshelf at fictionwise.com or webscriptions.net. So - if I buy a paperback or hardback, the book retains some resale value. This makes it more valuable that the equivalent eBook. eBooks should* always cost less than the paper edition. Paul *OK "should" is problematical. Things cost what people are willing to pay. I think that in the long term, people won't be willingto pay as much for an eBook as for a paperbook. If publishers keep trying to sell eBooks for as much or more than the paper editions, they won't make significant eBook sales.