Quote:
Originally Posted by banjomike
Not sure about that. Many of my friends and colleagues (and me) are more likely to buy a textbook in a printed format because 1) it is easier to use and 2) it DOES have a secondhand market. My local University bookshop has a mountain of used print books at the start of each new term which very quickly sell out while I only know a handful of people who have ever bought an ebook version of a tech manual. Many are a similar price to the print version but print is often easier to use (for one thing, the batteries don't run out). Something that might, possibly, tip people into buying new ebooks instead of a secondhand print book might be looked upon with kindly eyes.
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There's a market for it from the consumer, but not from the publisher. Even if they made money initially by being more popular because they "buy back" a book after the buyer was finished with it, there's not a lot of incentive for them to do this. The buyers must buy a book. It's a captive market. WIthout the book they suffer. I can see an upstart publisher trying it, but I don't see how it would catch on. They would just bump prices up to make up for the "return on your bottle."