Ebook Trends: The Year of Living Digitally
The Resale Dilemma
Related to the price issue is the fact that ebooks cannot—many would say should not—be resold. At Tools of Change in February, analyst Bill Rosenblatt of GiantSteps Media noted that ebook transactions are fundamentally different from print, in that the latter is a true sale, with a buyer and a seller of a specific bundle of copyrighted content—over which the publisher has no control. Conversely, the latter is a limited software license, with a specified user agreement between the licensee (“buyer”) and licensor (“seller.”) The publisher and its channel partner retain full control. If the work is DRM-protected, that control restricts resale, and even lending, to the policies of the publisher/reseller.
- People:
- John Parsons
John Parsons (john@intuideas.com), former Editorial Director of The Seybold Report, is an independent writer, ghostwriter, and editor. He is the co-author of the interactive printed textbook, Introduction to Graphic Communication, on the art, science and business of print, which has been adopted by Ryerson, Arizona State, the University of Houston, and many other schools and vocational training centers. Custom editions of the book are under consideration by major printing companies and franchises for internal training purposes.