MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Publishers: look at the used book market when considering eBooks

Andurian · 11-24-2008, 08:50 PM

Liviu said something I'd like to comment on:

"Most likely it will take an outside factor (maybe cheap fast scanners) like it took for music (mp3's) and movies (broadband) to force publishers to do ebooks in a reasonable way."

There already is a sizeable book piracy movement out there, especially in genre fiction. You'd be hard pressed to find a science fiction novel that was ever a best seller that you can't find somewhere online for free. The reason publishers aren't being hit by it yet is that there just aren't that many people out there reading on gadgets yet, just as the recording industry wasn't hit until mp3 players hit a critical mass.

There is no difference in how you listen to an mp3 and a CD - through speakers or headphones, as you please. There's no difference in how you watch an .avi or a DVD - on your TV. There *is* a difference between how you read an ebook and how you read a regular book - one is paper, what people have been reading off of since their early childhood, the other is not. That difference is unimportant to me and would be, I think, unimportant to anyone who took the leap and tried reading e-ink, but it is a real difference.

Price is another consideration. Amazon and Baen are ahead of the curve here, but most places online selling ebooks seem to be selling them for more than I can buy the pbook for even excluding the used market. Legit music online really took off only after Apple started selling albums for less than they cost at Best Buy. Although I realize that the real value in books is in content not form, most people feel (and I think it *is* primarily an emotional response) that they are getting more when they get a chunk of dead wood in addition to the content.

There is something to be said for the pbook right now over the ebook. If I buy a pbook I know I'll be able to read it 20 years from now. The same can be said of MP3s - they are too ubiquitous to die as a format. But I'd bet my bottom dollar that my .LRF books aren't going to have a reader in 2028...

11-24-2008, 08:50 PM	#13
Andurian You really should try it! Posts: 57 Karma: 137 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: PRS-500	Liviu said something I'd like to comment on: "Most likely it will take an outside factor (maybe cheap fast scanners) like it took for music (mp3's) and movies (broadband) to force publishers to do ebooks in a reasonable way." There already is a sizeable book piracy movement out there, especially in genre fiction. You'd be hard pressed to find a science fiction novel that was ever a best seller that you can't find somewhere online for free. The reason publishers aren't being hit by it yet is that there just aren't that many people out there reading on gadgets yet, just as the recording industry wasn't hit until mp3 players hit a critical mass. There is no difference in how you listen to an mp3 and a CD - through speakers or headphones, as you please. There's no difference in how you watch an .avi or a DVD - on your TV. There is a difference between how you read an ebook and how you read a regular book - one is paper, what people have been reading off of since their early childhood, the other is not. That difference is unimportant to me and would be, I think, unimportant to anyone who took the leap and tried reading e-ink, but it is a real difference. Price is another consideration. Amazon and Baen are ahead of the curve here, but most places online selling ebooks seem to be selling them for more than I can buy the pbook for even excluding the used market. Legit music online really took off only after Apple started selling albums for less than they cost at Best Buy. Although I realize that the real value in books is in content not form, most people feel (and I think it is primarily an emotional response) that they are getting more when they get a chunk of dead wood in addition to the content. There is something to be said for the pbook right now over the ebook. If I buy a pbook I know I'll be able to read it 20 years from now. The same can be said of MP3s - they are too ubiquitous to die as a format. But I'd bet my bottom dollar that my .LRF books aren't going to have a reader in 2028...