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I live in an old house. It once had coal furnaces. Those were replaced with a central heating system - I feel no obligation towards the coal delivery companies, and I certainly will not give them any of my money. I have moved on and their business model has nothing to offer to me any more.
That, in a nutshell, is the dilemma of the content distribution business.
Trying to adapt to changing and evolving markets is a challenge. Not being able to meet the challenge they declare themselves "welfare mommies" - someone else should give them the framework to sustain their business model?
If you're not delivering the same amount of service as before - why should the asking price be the same? A book has, apart from the well deserved authors royalties, also the cost of fabrication, marketing and distribution factored in, as well as the cost for warehousing and last but not least the cost of up-fronting the capital for all of the before.
No printing, no binding, no transportation cost, diminished distro cost, no capital lockup in warehousing.
Sounds like a great way to get the same content out at much lower cost to the consumer, doesn't it?
Stephen King - "Der Anschlag" (Original title: 11/22/63: A Novel)
German Hardcover Ed. @ Amazon.de: € 26.99
German Kindle Editon @*Amazon.de € 21.99
Only 18.5% less - despite a vastly lesser cost base?
It gets worse:
Stephen King - "11/22/63: A Novel"
US Hardcover Ed. @ Amazon.de: $ 17.49
US Kindle Editon @*Amazon.de $ 16.17
Here the digital issue is only 7.5% below the print edition.
Who are they kidding. Lower cost, higher revenue and they eliminate the re-sale value to the buyer with the DRM nonsense?
I'm not convinced.
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