When we download an ebook we usually pay as much as if we had bought the good old fashioned pbook in a high-street store. The publishers and distributors are making a killing because it costs nothing to make and sell an ebook. The pbook, on the other hand, uses paper, printing resources, binding and costs a fortune in distribution.
So why can we give away or lend our pbooks when ebooks are ring-fenced with protection? It’s our book, we’ve bought it, so why can be not give it to friends or, even, sell it at a discount?
The publishers will come up with many arguments. Ebooks, they will say, are completely different animals and the potential for copying is so much greater. They will be adamant that you cannot apply the old rules that have governed publishing for centures.
In this article, Joe Wickert argues in favour of an ebook ecosystem. Eventually, I believe, ebooks will become much more portable.
by Mike Evans, 27 August 2012
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