Quote:
Originally Posted by Dopedangel
Its a matter of time only with Ipad and other tablet devices coming out the number of ebook buyers will soon out pace the regular book buyers. And if they won't be able to buy ebooks easily and cheaply they will use the darknet.
Its the history of mp3 and its repeating itself
|
you may be right but I do not think so for the following reason. The reason why the music industry went kaput is because the people buying the popular music (which is where the money is) are the young people. they did not want to buy a whole cd for the sake of one song that they heard on the radio. The young tend to be more technologically savvy and not hesitant to go to the darknet. The demographic for the book world is older and either they are not as quite as computer wise or more hesitant to break the law of the land. Also when they buy a book they buy the whole book not a chapter. I am 63+ and while I have learned how to break drm if I so desired or find my way around with torrents I nevertheless choose not to do so. If a book is not available I prefer to buy it in paper either new or used and not get it illegally..
Let me use another example from the music world-classical music. I would venture that there are not many people who prefer classical music who are using ipods. They prefer cd's as do I. And in the world of classical music there is still a thriving market(look at an on line company like Archive that sells classical cds. they do just fine. In the world of classical music it is the small companies that thrive- the big record companys sony emi etc are run by a bunch of corporate honchos who got some mba and they think they can run any company but dont know the difference between Bono and Beethoven. In the old days you had people like Goddard Lieberson at columbia who knew the value of classical music and used profits from pop to underwrite the classical market. In the world of classical music there are smaller companies like Naxos etc who do just fine. The big companies like Emi and decca are merely releasing and repackaging their backlists.
Now in the world of books a similar trend. The book world used to be run by people who knew books not the new wave of mbas who think they are jack of all trades but are truly master of none and care not a whit about literature of any type but just blockbusters and corporate bottom lines. The small publisher( with the ease of electronic publishing) will become prominent players in the book world. Oh so the big 6 will say but it is marketing that will make the books sell. Well think about how do people choose.... they browse they read book reviews either like the NY times or even online sites many of which are quite literate and valuable resources to help the public find the books they want to buy. I know that is what I do
The big 6 publishers are in a panic because they are afraid of any new model and prefer to bury their heads in the sand and don't know how to deal with it. My own view is that they should embrace the ebook technology, open up their backlist and they could make a fortune. 10000 sales of a penny a piece equals one sale of 1000 dollars. Will they be smart? Perhaps. If the people who run the book business decide they are in it because they love it and not because of corporate greed.
I am sure there are many who have differing views but this is just my personal take
By the way I have no involvement with either the music business or the book business... am just a rabid consumer of both
Elihu