Re: Re: consequences of shift to ebooks

On Sun, 6 Jan 2008, auwg wrote:

> Just guarantee me (and my heirs) a percentage of every sale and 
> keep the company books open for sales audits.

Why not ask for a set amount for each sale? I realize the 
percentage is so common it's hardly worth calling it a standard. 
It's more like suggesting an alternative marks you as weird or 
insane.

But the majority of other items produced in quantity have a 
price, not a percentage. I send 100 items to a business and I 
expect one dollar for each. The business can sell them for $10 
and make $900 - risking that nobody will buy. Or they can sell 
for $2 and make $100, being fairly certain to go through them 
all. Wise customers sell out the latter, later customers may have 
to take the former. Or - they can give away 10 free to the first 
few customers on a Saturday to drive business. They can have a 
50% off sale on Sunday, so its not $10, but only $5.

And for every one, I get my $1. Or more to the point, I get $100 
for the bunch, and I don't care which copy earns how much.

It works for every other thing in stores. WHY does nobody try it?

Is the value of the work so uncertain that authors can't fix a 
price above zero? Do publishers simply hold all the power, and 
simply don't want to change established business practices? Or 
are authors unwilling to lose the chance of being a millionare in 
the event their work is far more popular than they dreamed?

There's a key tie-in to ebooks. I can see the outlines of a pure 
ebook business model that says "pay what you think it's worth". 
Some people will pay nothing. Some will pay lots. The two key 
measures are 'number of copies' and 'total money'. If someone 
wants to read first and pay later, its easy. (It does mean no 
more windfall sales or profits from incorrect readers.)

In such a model, the amount per copy - either a percentage or a 
dollar value - is less important than the total value. Ebooks are 
key here, because they have an low per-copy reproduction and 
distribution cost - especially when paired with a non-monetary 
transaction, which lowers the transaction costs. But the 
percentage model - either as seen for authors or as residuals - 
enforces a system that sets a price per copy, yet impedes the 
development of different and potentially more lucrative business 
models.

:: chris smith ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecuna possit - cicero ::


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