Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirtel
I don't understand those who seem to think that wanting things to be cheaper is entitlement. People have always wanted things to be cheaper, wages to be bigger, living and working conditions to be better. It's natural. And they should want it. It's the driving force of the civilization. Otherwise it's likely we would be living in a world with a handful of super-rich and billions of dirt-poor, with no middle ground in between.
What's so wrong with wanting things to be more affordable? It's not the same as wanting the makers of those things to not get paid. The wish for cheaper, more affordable goods is one of the factors in keeping the invention going, finding new ways to make things, for lower costs. Does someone miss the times when only the very rich could afford books and other luxury goods? I bet one could hear a lot about the entitlement of the masses then too.
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The issue is expressed by the economic theory known as the race to the bottom. While you can find a lot of different explanations, in it's broadest sense, it basically says when you are focused on just the price, then you end of with cheap crap rather than inexpensive goods that are of the same quality of what you currently have. As has been pointed out many, many times, you can already buy cheap crap with regards to ebooks. Heck, there are tons of options if you don't want to pay a dime, be it PD books, fanflic or just basic stories that people post on the internet.
But people don't want that, they want the latest big name book for pennies. But, big name authors aren't going to waste their time writing books if they aren't going to get paid enough to support their lifestyle. That's the issue. Prices are the way they are because enough people are willing to pay for the latest from their favorite authors to in general allow their favorite author to make a living. A small handful make lots of money, a larger group make enough money to make ends meet just like most occupations, most try it for a while, can't sell enough books and give it up.