Can the book industry be saved?
Well the folks of Silicon Alley Insider think so and they believe it can be done without killing more trees. Which is always a good thing.
Their plan is simple:
• Hardcover books should cost $25 and should still be printed for people who want to buy them
• For everyone else the industry should publish cheap electronic copies 20% or less of the hardcover price.
• $4.99 for a first run best seller downloadable to your Kindle, iPod, or readable via the Internet. The retailer keeps $1, so does the author and the publisher takes about $3 some of which goes to marketing and overhead.
When this is done guess what happens: books sales go through the roof and why well you made buying a book the same as buying to magazines allowing you to buy them on the whim and read through them when you like.
At $25, buying a book is buying a two-pound guilt trip: Until you slog your way through it, you don’t deserve to by another one.
This strategy could actually work and it will allow books to be marketed in more innovative ways.
But there is a catch and that is the publishing industry itself which is obsessed with maintaining the status quo which is print units and revenue.
Their plan is simple:
• Hardcover books should cost $25 and should still be printed for people who want to buy them
• For everyone else the industry should publish cheap electronic copies 20% or less of the hardcover price.
• $4.99 for a first run best seller downloadable to your Kindle, iPod, or readable via the Internet. The retailer keeps $1, so does the author and the publisher takes about $3 some of which goes to marketing and overhead.
When this is done guess what happens: books sales go through the roof and why well you made buying a book the same as buying to magazines allowing you to buy them on the whim and read through them when you like.
At $25, buying a book is buying a two-pound guilt trip: Until you slog your way through it, you don’t deserve to by another one.
This strategy could actually work and it will allow books to be marketed in more innovative ways.
But there is a catch and that is the publishing industry itself which is obsessed with maintaining the status quo which is print units and revenue.
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