Fear the Coming Used Ebook Market
"Changes aren't permanent - but change is" - Rush, "Tom Sawyer"
Did you know there is absolutely nothing preventing you from reselling ebooks? As the ebook movement gains steam, I can imagine someone knocking together a good used ebook retail site.
Think about it. It happens with books. How are ebooks different?
That's right. They're digital. Which means a single copy can be sold again and again. But I guess you already know that.
How would you feel if some site had an endless supply of your ebooks to sell, and you didn't get $.01 in royalties? There are ways to try and combat this, of course. DRM, for example. But no one likes DRM except pirates. Because they like to defeat it.
So a used ebook site is one thing. An honest used ebook site is quite another. Afterall, can you prove you bought this ebook you wish to resell?
I don't even want to think about this. I'll leave it to the lawyers. But, mark my words, this will happen. We didn't move from a static paper model to a static digital model. The shake-ups will keep coming for some time. You might want to send the kids to law school with all that book money you're making.
A GalleyCat article from six months ago kinda agrees with me. So there....
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/will-there-ever-be-a-used-ebook-market_b45131
Did you know there is absolutely nothing preventing you from reselling ebooks? As the ebook movement gains steam, I can imagine someone knocking together a good used ebook retail site.
Think about it. It happens with books. How are ebooks different?
That's right. They're digital. Which means a single copy can be sold again and again. But I guess you already know that.
How would you feel if some site had an endless supply of your ebooks to sell, and you didn't get $.01 in royalties? There are ways to try and combat this, of course. DRM, for example. But no one likes DRM except pirates. Because they like to defeat it.
So a used ebook site is one thing. An honest used ebook site is quite another. Afterall, can you prove you bought this ebook you wish to resell?
I don't even want to think about this. I'll leave it to the lawyers. But, mark my words, this will happen. We didn't move from a static paper model to a static digital model. The shake-ups will keep coming for some time. You might want to send the kids to law school with all that book money you're making.
A GalleyCat article from six months ago kinda agrees with me. So there....
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/will-there-ever-be-a-used-ebook-market_b45131
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