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Jane, check out what Misty Lackey has to say about e-books and how they extend the life of a series or catagory. Hmm, I was going to quote her but I can’t find the site. However, loosely paraphrasing it as I remember it it goes something along these lines. Once she started having some of her books released in e-format she found that her backlist recieved a boost and her older series started selling again.

Time, it takes time for readers to find a book sometimes. Often more than the month that’s available for a romance. Or as often happens to me I’ll find a book by an author, enjoy it and then want to read more by that author but can’t find the older books. The benefits, to the authors, of having their books available in e-book are enormous, but the benefits to the reader are just as great. Now if we can only confince the *Publishers*!

A little off topic. it’s been noted that the baby boomers are flocking to the HC and TPB format, which is why the mass market paperback has suffered, and younger readers aren’t replacing those baby boomers. Which is funny because most teen fiction is published in TPB and HC–why is the romance genre one of the few genres where everyone (but mega bestsellers) is given MMPBs ad along with that, the chance to break-out?

I agree wholeheartedly with the poster who said it was ridiculous that ebooks are often sold for the same price as print. When you read that an author receives $0.36 per book, you have to assume that much of the rest is printing, shipping, storage, destruction. Yes, promotion and editing costs would be static. But the difference must be pure profit for publishers! So frustrating!

Especially when you consider my ebook will never show up in a UBS or library tag sale. It will only be swapped with a friend if I’m willing to loan my ebook reader! (And since the DRM format I purchase requires the entry of my credit card number to first open the book, there’s no way I’m going to let a pirated version float around in the ethernet, even if I wanted to!)

Most of the brick and mortar UBS that I know have had to develop a website just to stay in business. I know some of gone out of business.

I don’t have any issue with UBS, period. Back when I was 19 and broke, that was the only place I could afford to buy a book. People who consider them bottomfeeders probably need to take a hard look at reality.

While yes, I’d love it if all of my readers bought only new, and right on the day of release, it’s a fact of life that isn’t going to happen. People have to prioritize and if that means they are going to buy some of their books used because they have to buy shoes for their kids, I’m fine with that. I know what it’s like to be tight on money.

And UBS store owners have to make a living just like anybody else. They aren’t doing anything illegal and like I said before, a UBS can be an author’s best friend. That is how a LOT of readers find new faves. And most readers, when they have a fave, they want the books nice and shiny and new. People who consider the UBS owners bottomfeeders need to step back and take a long, hard look at reality.

Ebooks are a whole different subject, in my opinion. An ebook is a file… one that can be copied, shared, indescrimately, forever. You don’t have just ONE copy~you can sell the file and keep your copy. That’s piracy and that IS illegal. I know of one ebayer who kept selling ebooks, the same titles repeatedly, until Ebay finally stepped in. Before they made her stop, she’d sold those files enough to have made hundreds of dollars. No work on her part, and she was stealing. A used book can’t be multiplied and sold to fifty or sixty people, who can then go on and try to sell THEIR copy to fifty or sixty people. Ebook files can.

2) Ebooks that cost more than the print version or is the same price is ridiculous. I hate that.

3) I do think that widespread ebook popularity can create profits where there weren’t any in the past. I wrote an article a while back called the Long Tail based on Chris Anderson’s theory that the internet and digital downloads can create profits from the misses.

Karen – I believe that some authors view Used bookstore owners as bottom feeders who earn money off some one else’s labor.

What does tick me off is seeing new print titles sold as e-books for essentially the same price (although I guess I’m not spending any gas money to buy it). E-books cost a publisher less to produce and I’d like to see publishers encourage us to buy these with discounts and volume buying promotions. New and mid-list authors might really benefit, especially as the e-book market grows.

Phyl, who buys it all–new, used, and electronic.