Quote:
Originally Posted by tnronin
I have not read the ENTIRE thread but this post is a good one IMHO. You sound like the type of author who understands the reality of the technology. I will not INTENTIONALLY download a pirated book. Nor I am a not going to buy a book for the same price of a paperback/hardback which is in electronic format. That is simple, no if ands, or buts. Until the publishers get it thru their thick skulls, just as you evidently have, there will be the piracy. Certainly there are people that will do it regardless of the price. Heck you could charge .99 and there will still be pirates. In my mind the issue is the cost of what you actually get. I read stories of people that have lost many books from Amazon when they decided to not carry the book anymore. I would be one angry person if that happened to me. Which is why I use the Sony ereader. If I pay a premium for a product I expect use from it. It would be nice if someone came up with a method of allowing someone to "loan" a book. And they may have done so, I'm still new to this stuff.
Anyway, good thread. The above is just my two cents, I hope I have not offended anyone, that was not my intent. It seems that there may be people reading this that will base some business decisions (pricing) based upon the responses here. I want to and will pay for the work of the authors, BUT I will not pay the same price for something that is not tangible.
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If you buy from indie authors from Amazon, or backlist authors or even some small publishers we have the option of turning off DRM--which means you aren't going to lose your copy. It can be readily converted to other forms. If you buy from Smashwords, you get all the forms. But yes, it won't stop pirating, no matter how well we try to give readers what they ask for.
It should be noted that I'm with Randolph LaLonde on this--the money I make and it is small--does matter. It means something that I do or don't buy. The number of sales does direct my future. Were there no sales, I would not have put out the second book. Or the third. I'm working on a second in the series of Executive Lunch. Why? It is selling the best by far. Pirated copies not only wouldn't tell me that, pirated copies hurt the feedback system and the monetary one.
As for pricing, I don't disagree. I only buy ebooks when they are priced in an affordable range that is less than the paperback copy. Not because it isn't tangible, but because I know it costs me less to produce. The reason I don't offer printed copies is the effort and return have not shown it would be worth it to me. So they are different beasts.