Re: "The Elusive E-book"

On Sat, May 10, 2008 at 1:12 AM, Aaron Walker <[email protected]> wrote:

> But Kent, continually giving them away will get them used to the idea of
> e-books being free. It is very hard to start charging anyone for anything if
> they are used to getting it for free.


I tend to agree with Eric Flint on these issues:

http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/The_Economics_of_Writing - Books are
not perfectly substitutable goods. Consumers will be willing to pay more for
works they actually want to read, in preference over all the free books in
the world.

http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/Paper_books_are_not_going_to_be_joining_the_dodo_a-
Electronic books will not "replace" paper books for a long time, if
ever.

http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/A_Matter_of_Symbiosis - They are more
likely to become a supplement to (rather than a replacement for) printed
works, in the same way a food processor is a supplement to (rather than a
replacement for) kitchen knives.

http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/The_Nature_of_Transitions - Even if
ebooks did become the dominant form of publication, the availability of free
ebooks (pirated or otherwise) would not mean the end of the road for authors
getting paid.

He makes the arguments a lot more eloquently than I can.
-- 
Chris Meadows aka | WWW: http://www.terrania.us | Somebody help,
Robotech_Master | ICQ: 5477383 AIM: RoboMastr | I'm trapped in
[email protected] | Skype, Gizmo: Robotech_Master | a sig file!
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