[JumpingShip]

What I want to know are sellers of used digital books going to be allowed to link to our book pages? You know how it is now with paperbacks where there is a list of sellers of the used paperbacks? I won't be happy that all my work, effort and in some cases, money, has been spent to get people to my Amazon page, and someone can spend a few bucks buying my books, and undercut my pricing right there on my page. With paperbacks, people at least have to worry about condition or if the books will actually arrive. Not so with digital. What is to stop someone from creating a hundred different accounts and getting hundreds of free books, then when they go back to paid, selling them for half the price that we sell our books?

What if they get to re-sell that book six times? It may not sound like much, but if you have a thousand sales, and then people re-sell, that's now six thousand books probably cheaper than yours and in the exact same digital condition.

Now, if they could make the digital degrade with each subsequent purchase. Lighten the text or make it less crisp, install a few days delay in receiving it, then it could compete with paperbacks resale.

Am I just thinking too hard on this or could these things really happen?

 

[JumpingShip]

Oh boy....

Reality? Only 3 out of every 100 readers currently pay me. I've sold about 1500 copies of Cancelled, digitally or otherwise. I've had 50,000 downloads. 97% of my readers do not pay a dime to read Cancelled.

Now before anyone goes ballistic, if I was a NYT Best-seller with my book in libraries across the country, as a mass market paperback readers could sell, give, or loan, I don't know that my percentage would really be MUCH higher. When I was buying paperbacks, I ALWAYS gave mine away that I was done reading and had no desire to re-read.

Most traditionally published writers don't make a "living" on their writing. If people truly want to "make a living" you need to diversify, do a bunch of different things. Some writers "diversify" by writing multiple genres, always be releasing etc. Others use their skills in other arenas. Me? I make the lion's share of my paycheck each month on my tech work, though I do have months where book royalties are an outlier and make up the lion's share (as in for April I am due about $1500 in royalties and lending from my Jan free run, which will be slightly more than my monthly paycheck from my other work).

I bet if other authors here did a ratio of their free downloads to paid purchases, they'll see equally disturbing ratios of readers who pay vs. those who don't. A system of every 2nd reader pays is great!

The difference is you have a choice to make your book free or not and can use it as a marketing tool. I've done the same thing with my books. The thing is, I don't do it with all my books. I have never made Deeds of Mercy free and I doubt I ever will, but I've sold thousands and would hate for those sold ones to come back on my page as available as used books. I don't even compare this to a used bookstore.

It would be more like if Barnes and Noble had your hardcover on the front table of the store and you, as the author and publisher, paid a premium for that spot. Then along comes some guy with a bag full of your books he got for free from all the ARC you gave out but were never read. This guy stands in Barnes and Noble and every time someone comes up to the table with your books, he hands the reader one from his bag instead and says, 'I can sell it to you for half price. Perfect condition.'

That's my issue. If they just want to set up shop on a webpage and sell used ebooks, fine. They will have to do all the marketing. I don't think I should have to market my book for someone else to get all the profit.