Re: Ebook aimed at college students

On Friday 15 October 2010 08:16:09 you wrote:
> I have considered publishing an ebook aimed primarily at college students
> and their mothers. My research revealed that college students would prefer
> this particular book to be in a format they could read on their laptops.
> The problem I see with this is that there would be few enough sales to
> cover the development costs due to widespread copying. Have I been
> misinformed that college students have little respect for intellectual
> property rights?
> 
> Tom Benjey
> www.Tuxedo-Press.com

Please. Have you never been a college student?

Let me phrase it that way. Cash-strapped college students have to purchase 
several manuals each session. By 'have to' I indeed mean compulsory purchases, 
because no one in their right minds would purchase these in any other context. 
More often than not they're outrageously expensive and not worth the paper 
they're printed on. The only comfort that provides is the prospect of selling 
it to the next batch of students to follow that course, if they can, and then 
only for a fraction of the purchase price.

This is already bad as it is. Now make these manuals ebooks instead. Students 
now need to buy a reader of some sort, also expensive, just to be able to read 
the books, and these readers, for the moment at least, have severe limitations 
over their paper counterparts, especially in the classroom. The ebooks 
themselves are often just as expensive as the said ebook counterparts, if not 
more so. And of course they can't be sold afterward, because they're not 
transferable.

Now tell me with a straight face you wouldn't be at least tempted to work your 
way around that racket if you could. This has nothing to do with "respect for 
intellectual property rights" and everything with common sense.

Respectfully yours,
Muriel

-- 
Visit Muriel Lede's Official Blog! 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
-------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    [email protected] 
    ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/