But I think simply dismissing the idea is the wrong way to go, especially at this stage of its not having been tried yet (and considering a similar tack was already done with paper books, and did not freak anyone out). Like so many things, sometimes you have to experiment to find out what works. You can’t do that if everyone simply refuses to even try. I’m all for trying. Then, if no one can figure out a way to make it work, ditch the idea and try something else.

Actually as regards Kindle in particular, if the end of the book included a link to buy the next book in the series, that would be very convenient. And a link to a page of books by the same author would be fine.

But the hour I encounter ads infesting the middle of my e-book is the hour I’m on the phone with Amazon, returning the book and getting my money back.

And the problem is, I think the kind of ads I’m describing are not the kind of ads that people pay big bucks to get put in books (thus subsidizing the book for the reader.) How much is a company willing to pay for one ad in one copy of one book? That, times the number of ads in the book, is the top limit on how much cheaper the book will be for the reader. Suppose companies will pay five cents per ad per copy of a book (which seems kind of high to me). To drop the price of the book by five dollars, you’d have to have a hundred ads in it. How could the formatting and layout crew insert that many ads without making the book a horrific experience for the reader? I’m having trouble imagining it myself.

I don’t like DRM. I strongly dislike the “big brother” attitude of removing already purchased books from Kindles. But obtrusive ads in my books would be absolutely, totally, the last straw.

I can tolerate DRM. I can understand removing illegal ebooks. But if all ebooks had ads, it would be time to throw my Kindle in the trash.

Apps for the iPhone, the free or low-cost ones, are reporting revenues of $1000 or more per month for ads in their apps.

Kind of like radio, where you hear the same songs over and over, but the ads are new.

But we all hate ads in ‘books’ even though we accept them just fine in ‘magazines’ and ‘newspapers.’ Maybe in e-books too, I don’t know.

A lot depends on the obtrusiveness. I don’t want to have to negotiate past an ad at the end of every chapter of a Steven King thriller, for example. And I don’t want to see an ad pop up every time I open a book.