Could bad times be GOOD for the e-book biz in some cases, including Kindle sales?
“Sales of big-ticket electronics, like $1,000 flat-panel televisions and $300 video game systems, are on the rise, according to retailers and research firms,” reports the New York Times.
Among the reasons? The switch in the U.S. from analogue to digital TV.
But could there be another reason, justified or not—people’s avowed goal to save money during the current recession in the U.S. and other countries?
Movies at home—and $10 downloadable e-best-sellers?
“At least we can watch movies at home,” a Michigan man said. Might the same logic apply to e-books with some consumers? Could this be why Kindle sales might be far exceeding expectations? The Kindle costs $400, but bestsellers are typically $10, and public domain books are free.
Not the only one seeing value in E
As I was tweaking this post, I came across Why eBooks are a better entertainment value than almost anything else, in Josh Bancroft’s blog.
A new Kindle owner (see video of the Bancroft family’s K-unboxing), Josh essentially has the right idea except for a major detail: too much tolerance of DRM.
Maybe he doesn’t normally buy books to keep, but many other people do, and they want E to be permanent, not just something fleeting like a good time at the movies. With DRM, you don’t feel as if you’re saving as much. Many poorly paid English majors with a fondness for books, and for building personal libraries on the cheap, not to mention X-referencing, would vehemently disagree with him.
Factor to consider in pricing books?
I haven’t any idea of the extent to which the save-with-E factor would apply. But it’s something for e-book publishers to consider in pricing their wares, even those without value-reducers like DRM built in. While it’s true that expensive e-book gizmos will save money only for heavy readers, many a buyer could rationalize, “I’d like to become one.”
If publishers do want to sell $25 novels: Go hardback and bundle in download privileges to give people more for their money than they’re getting now. Just please avoid traditional DRM so customers will truly feel they’re buying something. Use social DRM and digital watermarking if need be.
April 27th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Thanks for the link and the thoughts. You make some very good points.
For the record, I’m anti-DRM, in any form. I’m just not hardcore enough about it to abstain from partaking in digital content that has DRM, as long as it’s not too restrictive (examples being Kindle books and iTunes music, though lately I buy all of my music from AmazonMP3, with no DRM, or just buy the CD).
I wrote a post a few months ago, that touched a little more deeply on how I feel about the Kindle’s DRM. Basically, it’s like this. Does DRM suck completely? Yes. Should it die a horrible death, and never infect another piece of digital media? Absolutely. Do I realistically expect the death of DRM to happen anytime soon? No.
But there’s hope. Look at what Apple managed to do to all 5 of the U.S. recording companies (you know, the companies that make up the RIAA). They introduced the iTunes Music Store with DRM years ago, in order to get the record companies to even consider digital music. There’s no way Apple would have become the #1 music retailer (not just digital music, but ALL music in the U.S.) without that DRM. But starting last year, Steve Jobs or whoever was able to get the record companies to accept the idea of DRM-free music, and now, all five record labels have at least said that they’ll release DRM free music. We’re still not all the way there yet, but we’re making progress. Baby steps, right?
I think the Kindle store and Amazon are going to have to do the same thing with ebooks and publishers. There’s no way that any of the publishers would make their content available right now without DRM. But hopefully, in the future, just like Apple and others showed that there ARE successful business models around digital content that don’t involve Draconian DRM, I look forward to the day where the same happens for books (and movies and TV shows, too, but that’s another rant).
DRM sucks, and should die. Period. But I believe that Amazon has a better chance of making that happen by getting ebooks out there any way they can, than the rest of us do by ranting and railing against DRM and voting with our wallets.
Just like the music companies, the “old school” analog folks in the publishing companies need to be shown that we are willing to pay a fair price for digital content. Get them into the game, help them relax and open up a bit, and THEN get them to dump DRM.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:25 am
You’re very welcome, Josh, and I’m happy to see that in the above note and elsewhere you’ve clarified your stand on DRM. As I see it, no discussion of the value of E is complete without mention of DRM as a value-subtracter. DRM hurts even publishers, by making e-purchases less attractive; that is why I think Amazon could make powers case to them for dropping “protection.” If nothing else, look at Amazon’s DRMless MP3 store. Furthermore, bear in mind that Amazon imposes DRM even on publishers who don’t want it. Thanks for your note, and I hope you’ll hang around TeleRead and perhaps even consider becoming a contributor to the main part of the site. David