So, the publishers are very concerned that if they don’t lock down the e-books like Fort Knox, people will “share” them and this will cut into sales.
A recent experience with a friend suggests to me that this concern may be over-rated. There is one simple factor that limits the damage from sharing: even beloved people can have really bad tastes! The ultimate “DRM”!
In celebration of my friend’s new iPod Touch, I shared my Fictionwise history with her, thinking that if she really wanted any of the books, perhaps I would give her some. She in turn shared her list with me. Between us, we had maybe 500 books to deal with. And how many did we find that were actually of mutual interest? Maybe a handful from each list!
She favors frothy romance and hard-core erotica. One of her purchased books was actually about a resort where people go to hook up with vampires, werewolves and other supernatural beings. The hook-ups are described in detail. And it’s part 1 of a series.
For her part, she felt my list had far too much sci-fi on it, which surprised me as a I really perceive myself as more of a mystery person. She also made fun of me for the Star Trek books, but then again someone with her literary tastes is really not in any position to be throwing stones.
I’m sure that if we went for the good stuff, we could find any number of beloved classics on Project Gutenberg that we could mutually agree on. And certainly, I have borrowed her Sue Grafton hardbacks during my visits to her, and she has borrowed like novels from me. But when we go for the trash reading, she veers too Erotic Paranormal and I veer too Pulp Aliens.
Even if I gave her every book on my list, it would surprise me if she read even a quarter of it.
Image credit: CC-licensed photo from Platinumblondelife.
Even if your literary tastes were more similar, literary sharing happens on a much smaller scale. Unlike mp3s and videos (which people consume quickly), books are long-term commitments; I doubt that I have read more than 3 titles recommended by my most trusted friend….
It is nice to have a trail of breadcrumbs of my reading for other people to see. That said, if I were embarrassed about something I was reading, I probably would try to omit mention of it. But then again, that requires effort and time, and it is so easy to forget.
I pay a lot of attention when literary people compile “Best of” lists. People read trash for various reasons, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they would recommend it to others.
Publishers don’t see that reading requires a commitment of time as well as a commitment of money. For many people (most?) the commitment of time is far more important than the book’s price.
Consider the many free or almost free available ebooks. How many are downloaded and how many are actually read? In my case, I frequently download free books but actually read hardly any. The books I do read are almost exclusively books I’ve bought.
This is funny, and very true. I’ve actually picked books I loved and talked them up a great deal to a friend I was positive would love it, and despite having done this about a dozen times, I’ve yet to actually get anyone to read anything I’ve let them borrow. the time commitment is large and people don’t seem to want to read your leftovers, they tend to want to discover things on there own, especially true with books.