Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
You're right. Anecdotal evidence IS like that. However ...
I don't think I'm going out on much of a limb to believe that not many reading adults will abandon favorite authors for any reason--especially not for something as trivial as happening to work for people who are charging them a similar price for their new books that they've always paid. Add new favorites?? You bet. Wholesale changeover? That's not common. Not for any reason, in my opinion. *shrug*
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From the most part, the average reader has no clue what publisher their favorite author uses and could care less about agency pricing.
There has long been a clientele for cheap generic books. That's the niche that the old used bookstore filled, where you took in a bag of books, got credit for them and took home a bag of books. My mother did that for years. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
The issue now is that ebooks don't really have the equivalent and that clientele really, really wants cheap generic ebooks. So there have been a couple of efforts to fill that niche, i.e. the indie movement and the subscription model (i.e. KU). There are likely others. Once again, nothing wrong with those business models. My only question is can the authors make enough to keep writing. We will see.
My issue is that some people who prefer this model seem to think that traditional publishers are evil for not selling them ebooks at their preferred price point. That makes as much sense to me as complaining that Apple won't sell iPhones at the same price point as the el cheapo Korean phones. It's not a moral issue. If you don't want to pay $15 for an ebook, then fine, don't. No skin off my nose. It's a personal choice, not a moral decision. I'm not willing to pay for a BMW when I can get from point A to point B with a much cheaper Honda. But that doesn't make BMW evil.