18 July 2009

How much is your e-book worth to you?

Amazon sells e-books at one price, but publishers want to charge more, says Jack Shafer who asks in Slate, "Does the Book Industry Want To Get Napstered?"

First, let's not use "Napstered" as a descriptor any more; as the kids say, that's so 2000-and-late.* I remember using Napster but let's not deny that piracy has made enormous strides since then.

Second, publishers and Amazon should look into the example set by Amie Street, a music site where the price of a song starts at a set low point and then rises to a capped price as more people buy it. The cost of entry into a new author's work is low, early adopters get rewarded, and all the Nora Roberts fans were going to buy that book anyway.

Third, piracy for e-books won't take off until the Kindle approaches the ubiquity of the iPod, and it is nowhere near close. Back in the day, if you downloaded an mp3 off of Napster, you didn't have to have an mp3 player to enjoy it; you could just listen to it on your computer and, if you got fancy, burn it to a CD. (Or so I have heard.) Here's my personal non-e-book-owning track record on free e-books: Downloaded BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN, didn't read it; downloaded WOMEN AND MONEY, read 2 chapters of it and eventually got it out of the library. And just a few weeks ago, I downloaded THE WOMAN CHASER but kept my Amazon purchase anyway, which was littered with typos, seriously, Black Mask, what is the matter with you?

And fourth, I don't own a Kindle so I can't speak to this, but if there are loopholes by which one might sneak on a pirated book, surely Amazon knows where they are and how to close them. Whether publishers will ask them to is another matter.

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* As God is my witness, the Black Eyed Peas will never appear on this blog again.

2 comments:

Wade Garrett said...

Books have been around for half of a millenium. Hopefully, they will be around for 500 more years. Portably stereo systems with headphones have been around since the 80's, and there is a real benefit to them getting smaller and having more capacity - having a clunky walkman is not essential to the enjoyment of the music. But having a book in your hands, even a clunky one, is a big part of reading. I fail to understand how anybody can enjoy a novel, or, god forbid, poetry on a Kindle. It just doesn't work. Google "Ode on a Grecian Urn" or "Lines Composed A Few Miles From Tintern Abbey" and read them. They're not the same when you read them off of a screen, and, I would argue, neither is well-written prose. Short articles may be one thing, but I can't imagine reading anything of any length off of a screen.

*Rant over

Elizabeth said...

Amazon can and has!