Quote:
Originally Posted by dadioflex
Anyway. If books were cheaper, would you read more? Do you read according to what you can afford? Just playing Devil's Advocate. I'm all for cheaper ebooks, but I think a two dollar ebook might sell better than a fifteen dollar one, but over all there are going to be winners and losers.
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I think if books were cheaper, many people would
buy more books. It wouldn't necessarily change how much they read, but how they acquire what they read. In the pbook world, new books compete with used books, the library and your friends' bookshelves: cheaper but less convenient. This is why the price goes down over time. They extract the high margin from people who want it badly enough that they will pay a premium price. Those that can't pay that price and those that are willing to wait will have greater opportunity to read the book more cheaply or for free as time goes on. More copies show up used. The wait at the library for the title gets shorter. One of their friends who bought the book is done with it, etc. When the cheaper paperback comes out, they can bring in some of these folks who didn't want to pay so much but are still willing to buy a new copy whether for convenience or collecting.
In the ebook world, they compete with the illegal download. This is available quickly and conveniently from the time of release or shortly thereafter if the book has any popularity. This makes price much more important because convenience is no longer in the mix. Sure, some of us won't download illegal copies because it's against our ethics. I don't think that's a majority of people. They will need to offer a fair price and hopefully some other compelling benefits to keep people buying.