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What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

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Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#41

Post by MaKey »

paul7986 wrote: post #39
joe_mamba wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Cut out the middlemen. Torrent it and send the author some money. If this is the ideal model, why don't authors skip the middleman themselves and just put the .pdf/.epub on their website directly in exchange for donations? On the same note, why do game devs need to give Steam 30% of their money and not just sell to the public directly and pocket the 30%? Maybe because those middlemen platforms provide a combination…

or use Cloudflare's "Pay Per Use," tech so real humans and or more so AI sucking up your content for free is forced to pay you something to gain access.

Cloudflare is just another middleman.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#42

Post by the_af »

joe_mamba wrote: post #22
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #4

> Well, from now on the workflow will be: > - Find the book I want on Amazon. > - Buy it. > - Find the same book on a torrent site. > - Download it. > - Physically copy it onto the Kindle via a USB cable. Wait a second... you're rewarding Amazon and the publisher for their bad behavior by continuing to buy from Amazon? Nothing about this plan is discouraging the problem. Cut out the middlemen. Torrent it and send the…

>Cut out the middlemen. Torrent it and send the author some money. If this is the ideal model, why don't authors skip the middleman themselves and just put the .pdf/.epub on their website directly in exchange for donations? On the same note, why do game devs need to give Steam 30% of their money and not just sell to the public directly and pocket the 30%? Maybe because those middlemen platforms provide a combination…

This should be relatively easy to disrupt for ebooks. It doesn't seem necessary to have the infrastructure and pockets of Amazon to sell ebooks (and be fairer to authors and readers).

I'm not convinced about discoverability, I don't browse random books or look for recommendations on Amazon; to me Amazon is the final stop once I know the ebook I want to buy. Literally a search bar for the book I already want. I don't use Amazon as a shelf of books to peruse, and I never look for recommended products (especially not books).

I think it's mostly the integration with Kindle, and the reputation ("I trust Amazon so I'll enter my credit card"). This should be feasible to overcome by a better platform. And Amazon seem hell bent on ruining their reputation...

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#43

Post by shimman »

Cider9986 wrote: post #30
badgersnake wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just buy an actual book from and independent bookshop.

That doesn't cut out the publisher.

Publishers aren't as evil compared to big tech. Maybe a random lieutenant of hell versus Lucifer's advisor here.

You can also buy DRM free self-published books quite easily nowadays. Amazon doesn't have a monopoly on e-commerce, not yet at least.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#44

Post by shimman »

zbentley wrote: post #26
joe_mamba wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Cut out the middlemen. Torrent it and send the author some money. If this is the ideal model, why don't authors skip the middleman themselves and just put the .pdf/.epub on their website directly in exchange for donations? On the same note, why do game devs need to give Steam 30% of their money and not just sell to the public directly and pocket the 30%? Maybe because those middlemen platforms provide a combination…

> why don't authors skip the middleman themselves and just put the .pdf/.epub on their website directly in exchange for donations? Some do! https://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm

Read the Rifter's trilogy because of this, quite good IMO. Made buying Blindsight in hardcopy way easier once money wasn't a strain.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#45

Post by boznz »

joe_mamba wrote: post #22
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #4

> Well, from now on the workflow will be: > - Find the book I want on Amazon. > - Buy it. > - Find the same book on a torrent site. > - Download it. > - Physically copy it onto the Kindle via a USB cable. Wait a second... you're rewarding Amazon and the publisher for their bad behavior by continuing to buy from Amazon? Nothing about this plan is discouraging the problem. Cut out the middlemen. Torrent it and send the…

>Cut out the middlemen. Torrent it and send the author some money. If this is the ideal model, why don't authors skip the middleman themselves and just put the .pdf/.epub on their website directly in exchange for donations? On the same note, why do game devs need to give Steam 30% of their money and not just sell to the public directly and pocket the 30%? Maybe because those middlemen platforms provide a combination…

Many of us do. But the majority of ebook readers will: a)never find us and b)just want to click buy now not download epub (from a site they have never heard of) then transfer to kindle manually. So best to cover your bases and give them the Amazon option too.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#48

Post by ElevenLathe »

Aarostotle wrote: post #31
OsrsNeedsf2P wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right? I never understood why people think it's morally right to buy books/movies/music from predatory service providers

It’s very simple. They purchased the right to distribute the books on their terms. You don’t like the terms, so you call them predatory. You want the product, so you just take it on your own terms. Morally, that’s no different than your employer just deciding to pay you less than your contract states, because he decides he doesn’t like the terms of the agreement anymore. You don’t gain a right to take things just bec…

Your morality is pretty strange if it equates ignoring some of the more odious terms in a hundred-page click-through EULA to knowingly engaging in wage theft. I would honestly like to hear you explain that further.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#49

Post by jtbayly »

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #4

> Well, from now on the workflow will be: > - Find the book I want on Amazon. > - Buy it. > - Find the same book on a torrent site. > - Download it. > - Physically copy it onto the Kindle via a USB cable. Wait a second... you're rewarding Amazon and the publisher for their bad behavior by continuing to buy from Amazon? Nothing about this plan is discouraging the problem. Cut out the middlemen. Torrent it and send the…

Or buy it literally from anybody other than Amazon.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#50

Post by francisofascii »

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #4

> Well, from now on the workflow will be: > - Find the book I want on Amazon. > - Buy it. > - Find the same book on a torrent site. > - Download it. > - Physically copy it onto the Kindle via a USB cable. Wait a second... you're rewarding Amazon and the publisher for their bad behavior by continuing to buy from Amazon? Nothing about this plan is discouraging the problem. Cut out the middlemen. Torrent it and send the…

Assuming the author and publisher are not evil, you want to at least give them their legitamate cut.
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