Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Killing the “Pay First, Read Later” E-bookselling Model

Publishing Perspectives reporting:
Sometimes you encounter an idea that seems so obvious it’s amazing that nobody has thought of it before. That’s how Yoav Lorch feels about Total Boox, his intriguing new reading platform that is about to be unveiled this March. The idea is simple: instead of paying up front for a book you may never even look at, you download it for free and then only pay according to how much of the book you read....
Total Boox is currently set up for tablets using both the Ios and Android operating systems. Users will supply credit card information and their accounts will be charged according to how much of each book they read on or offline. The system is logical —if you read 10% then you pay for 10%, if you read 100% you pay for 100%. Publishers are free to set their own prices, and Lorch thinks that this system may enable them to ultimately charge higher prices. “I think that part of the downward trend on Amazon, of giving deep discounts is because of the uncertainty involved. Buyers want to minimize risk; but that risk is eliminated on Total Boox. And if people only pay for what they read, then ultimately they may be willing to pay more.”..
“The publishing community is frightened,” says Lorch. “There’s a lot of fear. But there’s more fear regarding what’s going to happen if they don’t change. Amazon will kill them. They understand this, and they know that the eBook will not remain similar to what it is now. Everybody knows this.” Libraries could also benefit, he adds: “This could help close the painful gap between publishers and libraries. If the publisher is going to be fully paid for every person reading the book, then they have nothing to lose.”
http://publishingperspectives.com/2013/02/killing-the-pay-first-read-later-e-bookselling-model/

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