Netflix type plan for ebooks?

[Forster]

How does one start a business like this? We should do it!!!

Lots of money and technical know how.  Maybe Jeff Bezos will provide that and give us a cut for putting out the idea and doing the market research, lol.

I also love netflix, I have the 2 out with the unlimited watch it now plan.  IMO dirt cheap for what you get.  As more titles, including TV shows get added to watch it now, I see myself eventually dropping my cable subscription.

On a similar note I just purchased my 1st MP3 player a refurbished Zune, I may ultimately go that route with my music "purchases" as well with the Zune Pass.

[pidgeon92]

I used to prefer owning stuff, but as I get older I want less and less stuff in my house... Now I have less than 100 physical books, zero audio CDs and probably a few hundred DVDs. Once I find an inexpensive and efficient way to do away with the DVDs, they will be gone as well. I don't want anybody to have to sort through a mountain of my stuff after I keel over.

I am definitely a fan of a book subscription model.

[danfan]

I think most people are going to want to own the books

Maybe, but the idea of a Netflix type of plan is rather like a library loan - not everyone wants to have a permanent copy of a book, just as not everyone wants to keep a DVD of every movie they watch. I only ever want to keep copies of my favorites that I might re-read. I don't re-read the vast majority of books as there are way too many books out there that I haven't read yet. I'd be quite happy to subscribe and borrow. I'd love to, in fact!

[Ann in Arlington]

I want to own, not borrow or rent, physical books. . . . .I can't decide about e-books.

A NetFlix type system might work.  I admit I don't use libraries much because, while I'm not paranoid about germs at all, library books are not always 'clean' and I've gotten ones that smelled distinctly dodgy -- I know what pot smells like, for instance.   So I'd just rather buy my own and give 'em away if I decide it's not something I'll read again.

But a rental system could be attractive for e-books.  With a physical book, the more it's read the worse the condition of it.  But that doesn't happen with an e-book.  I think I might be interested for the sort of books I'm pretty sure I'll only read once.  And, hey, if I like it, and decide I want my own copy, I can still purchase it, right?

[marianneg]

I'd have agreed with you 6 months ago.  At least for me I'm seeing less and less value of "owning" an ebook.

I'm not quite there, yet, but I do understand how you got there, Forster.  Although I dislike monthly bills and prefer to pay once for something I want, I also get the appeal of Netflix.  Like you, I find that with so many books available at my fingertips on the Kindle, I am doing much less re-reading than I used to.

[LindaW]

I used to prefer owning stuff, but as I get older I want less and less stuff in my house...

I find myself getting more and more de-cluttered as I get older.  It's just a hassle keeping a house clean with all that stuff. I'm getting too old to lift boxes and boxes of books - my Kindle with a subscription service, now for me that would be heaven!

[Selcien]

I'd hate a subscription.

First, my interest level is sporadic at best, which is the reason why I cancelled Netflix (it was nice when I first got it but I lost interest in watching DVD's and found that I was forcing myself to watch the DVD's that I was renting so I wouldn't waste my money. Sod that!) Not to mention that it makes me feel rushed, when I buy something I can take as long as I want with it without worry that it's taking up a precious slot in my subscription.

Second, I tend to be much pickier when I have to buy something than I am when I rent, the free books that are on my Kindle are a testament to that.

Third, even if they don't get re-read I will still like to keep my e-books in the chance that I should decide to read them again without having to pay out more money.

[suicidepact]

I've been a long time subscriber with Netflix and have been very happy. I was lucky enough to sign up for $20 for 4 movies well before they changed the package to $20 for 3 movies, but they never changed my plan. Then they lowered the price to $18 a month but kept me at 4 dvds, so my price has actually dropped. If I could get a service like Netflix for my Kindle, especially their recommendation service, I would definitely be interested.

[Jammie]

Bring it on.  This type of service would be perfect for me.  Read it and return it, don't have to worry about organizing and storing it (especially since I can't loan it to my friends anyway).  I'd be first in line to sign up.

[cheshirenc]

I would love it.

For those hardback, paperback & textbook readers there is already something similar out there.

http://www.bookswim.com/

[thesocialfrog]

I find it to be an interesting idea, although personally I prefer to own the books I read wether digital format or not.

[Greg Banks]

How does one start a business like this? We should do it!!!

You can't just start such a business until you find a way to get the rights to the books in question.

Just because you read a book once, does not mean you might not want to read it over and over at some point.  If you rent it, good luck on that.  Pay over and over or pay once?

Exactly. For example, I certainly didn't buy the Lord of the Rings for my Kindle as soon as it was available because it had no or temporary value to me. I LOVE those books, I love reading them over and over again, and having them on my Kindle invaluable to me, just as are my print copies. Having said that, there are books we all read that we will likely only read once, so I suppose a rental model would be useful in that case. But we all buy books even though libraries exist that we may never read again, and many, if not most of us, either let those books gather dust on shelves or sell or give them away for little or nothing.

What I don't understand is this. We pay $10 for a movie ticket and the only thing you get to take home with you is the experience and the paper ticket. We go to music concerts and pay 5 times that or more, with the same intangible result. You eat a meal and unless you take home a doggie bag, which itself will be consumed later, you don't ultimately have anything tangible to preserve from the experience. So why is it that all of a sudden, paying $9.99 or less for an ebook requires the content to be treated as if it should have more tangibility than those other things I named? Instead of paying $25 for a hardcover book that takes up room in my home, which even if I sell will only be worth a portion of what I paid for it, I pay $9.99 for an ebook that I can read once, delete from my Kindle, and never have to touch again, no clutter, no dust, no more money lost than I'd have lost on the hardcover, and yet I will always have access the book if I decide I do want to read it again. The Kindle Store IS Netflix for ebooks, except with this model you pay a fee per "rental," and the fee is for lifetime access.

As an author, it just seems to me that this isn't about ebooks "not" having value, but about the lack of value in the consumer's mind so that they can justify wanting to pay me as an author or publisher little or nothing for my content. I thought people bought books for the content on the pages, not for the physical aspects of the pages themselves? If true, then ebooks are no less valuable than their paper counterparts. People are just less concerned with compensating the authors for their work because they don't get the nice, shiny paper to go along with it.

Authors don't make the paper, they write the words on the paper. So why should we get less because we found a different, cheaper means to get the content to you? We're already charging substantially less than we do for printed books (and thank goodness for that!). And yet still people want them even cheaper? How many people are going to write the kind of books you want to read if they have to live under bridges in cardboard boxes in order to do it?

All I'm saying is don't forget that there is a flesh and blood human being on the other end of the equation with the same financial needs as you. Would you want you own income cut just because the digital revolution made your job easier, or because instead of using paper forms you now did everything via computer?

[ak rain]

good questions that need to be thought out. I also reread LOTR over and over. I had to replace worn out books over 3 times. That is the first connection I had with my now husband. l like having a library available in my kindle. Author's need to make a life and pay for it too.
oh the tangled web we weave.
sylvia

[Meemo]

Exactly. For example, I certainly didn't buy the Lord of the Rings for my Kindle as soon as it was available because it had no or temporary value to me. I LOVE those books, I love reading them over and over again, and having them on my Kindle invaluable to me, just as are my print copies. Having said that, there are books we all read that we will likely only read once, so I suppose a rental model would be useful in that case. But we all buy books even though libraries exist that we may never read again, and many, if not most of us, either let those books gather dust on shelves or sell or give them away for little or nothing.

What I don't understand is this. We pay $10 for a movie ticket and the only thing you get to take home with you is the experience and the paper ticket. We go to music concerts and pay 5 times that or more, with the same intangible result. You eat a meal and unless you take home a doggie bag, which itself will be consumed later, you don't ultimately have anything tangible to preserve from the experience. So why is it that all of a sudden, paying $9.99 or less for an ebook requires the content to be treated as if it should have more tangibility than those other things I named? Instead of paying $25 for a hardcover book that takes up room in my home, which even if I sell will only be worth a portion of what I paid for it, I pay $9.99 for an ebook that I can read once, delete from my Kindle, and never have to touch again, no clutter, no dust, no more money lost than I'd have lost on the hardcover, and yet I will always have access the book if I decide I do want to read it again. The Kindle Store IS Netflix for ebooks, except with this model you pay a fee per "rental," and the fee is for lifetime access.

As an author, it just seems to me that this isn't about ebooks "not" having value, but about the lack of value in the consumer's mind so that they can justify wanting to pay me as an author or publisher little or nothing for my content. I thought people bought books for the content on the pages, not for the physical aspects of the pages themselves? If true, then ebooks are no less valuable than their paper counterparts. People are just less concerned with compensating the authors for their work because they don't get the nice, shiny paper to go along with it.

Authors don't make the paper, they write the words on the paper. So why should we get less because we found a different, cheaper means to get the content to you? We're already charging substantially less than we do for printed books (and thank goodness for that!). And yet still people want them even cheaper? How many people are going to write the kind of books you want to read if they have to live under bridges in cardboard boxes in order to do it?

All I'm saying is don't forget that there is a flesh and blood human being on the other end of the equation with the same financial needs as you. Would you want you own income cut just because the digital revolution made your job easier, or because instead of using paper forms you now did everything via computer?

Well said Greg!  And I'm not even an author.

[Greg Banks]

Just to clarify a couple of things. I do understand what people are saying, and to be quite frank, from an independent author standpoint alone, this sort of thing could be a boon if were were included in such programs, considering how difficult it is to earn anything right now. However, I also hope to be a traditionally published author one day, and considering how small a piece of the pie authors get now (remember, authors who can live off their writing income is still a relative rarity even with traditional publishing), I can't imagine how badly they would be hurt by anything that cuts profits even more, especially when people are practically saying ebooks have no monetary value whatsoever. And if traditional publishers have to start selling their books for pennies, what are we independent authors supposed to do, pay people to read our books?

[vg]

Has anyone seen this site?

http://www.booksfree.com/

I wonder if they would consider adding ebooks to their list.....

[Luvmy4brats]

Has anyone seen this site?

http://www.booksfree.com/

I wonder if they would consider adding ebooks to their list.....

I used them for both audio and paperback books for years. when I got my Kindle, I cancelled the paperback books, but I still get audiobooks from them.

ebook rentals would be nice, but I don't mind buying them. I share my account with my mom and daughter. Most of the books I buy get read several times. We definitely get our money's worth.v