Okay, I decided to write about this!
So, you bought yourself an ereader, and you are about to buy some books, or use a public library to check out an ebook what you want to read,–right before you go to sleep. Or if you were going non-digital… you checked out a physical book to read.
Although; people have these choices, but these choices do have drawbacks. Well, I chose to check out ebooks over buying digital copies because, that enable publishers to have a repeat earning stream that is reliable, and sustainable. Choosing to either purchase a digital copy, or relying on a public library can be a tricky choice.
Round 1: Library Card vs. Credit Card
Okay, imagine you as a publisher who independently publish books with quality and style in mind. Well, you possess a library card yourself, and you rely on a public library as your preferred source of consuming entertainment. Well, you are just wondering what happens if you choose a public library, or you use your debic/credit card to purchase a digital copy of a book, or a physical copy to reduce the burden of possessing a digital copy for a long haul. However; relying on a digital copy of a book doesn’t always mean better. Technically, physical books are reliable and they do appreciate in value overtime. There’s a showdown between both of these publishers and consumers,–or even both of them equally!
So, vote with your wallets, and you can write a book to, and don’t forget to brew some tea, and get ready for a showdown!
Welcome To The Duel Between Authors/Publishers
Here comes our combatants!
Distributors have their payments set for licensing.
Prepared for receiving information from these publishers.
Each author/publisher confirm they have rights with their works. This is necessary to ensure they use common sense. However; one of these authors has confirmed they own their intellectual property by 100%. Wow!! This author has really took it to the next level. Everything taken care of earlier.
We start off with lane 1.
Then, the another lane.
We have 2 combatants so far!
Lane 1:
On a blue lane; there’s an author who chooses to publish books and distribute to public libraries via vendors what she chose, along with POD (print on demand) for physical books. She uses a Linux computer to write her books via LibreOffice via Debian, or Ubuntu,–or insome cases; she codes her games with her additional computer that runs FreeDOS as a way to port to PC gaming communities. She also supports Free Software Foundation because, she has an open-source lifestyle. That’s NOT all! She licenses her work under a Creative Commons License via BY-SA for ALL of her books. However; she needs to register her copyrighted materials to add more protection to prevent conflicts, and unnecessary copyright disputes that can go wrong down the road. She has a large record of her works what she registered ahead of time. What a correct setup to ensure your works are protected just in case!! Open-source is fun.
She has a blind partner, and he also write books and publish and distribute to public libraries. He uses these computers with same OSs. How about that. He is riding his beautiful yellow poodle what he dreamed riding as his first item on his wish list, and he planned it out. However; he chooses to keep these numbers down as he write books. However; our primary on lane 1 also keep costs down by NOT price gouging because, they want to use common sense when making digital copies available to check out via public libraries.
How about that! But they’re just getting started, before distribution of books begin. However; a publishing platform has taken care of business, and ensuring licensing costs are low, and reasonable. High prices for quality products only, but don’t price them too high!
They’re convincing their customers to ask a librarian to add these books to their collection. However; they do have a website for enabling librarians to leave suggestions, or comments.
Lane 2:
On a red lane; there’s an author who only publish his books to subscription platforms like Everand, and Kobo+. He uses Microsoft Windows as his daily driver, and he uses Microsoft Office to write his books, and he reserves ALL of his rights to his works, and he applies DRM to his works daily. He also registers his copyrights, but he just hesitated to do so. However; he is such an avid DRM-lover for some reason. And he is such an avid supporter of relying on paywalls as his source of revenue. Well, revenue has started just yet. Unfortunately, a majority of his books are NOT for general audiences because, he write stories about mermaids, and romance. However; he writes this kind of content to target adult audiences.
Take a look of him! He is not riding a dog,–just like our other opponent. He is riding via a sled because, he is not a fond of riding dogs because, he wanted to be a cowboy, but his parents has mentioned how expensive to own a horse.
He is only publishing 4 books because, he is trying to make ends meet,–after he was released from prison,–after serving a sentence for shoplifting at a store owned by an African-American business owner who has a White wife who defected from a hate group. Today, a hate group is currently in prison, but they’re not here via our arena.
I hope you learned from your mistakes since years ago, but you can’t find a suitable job because, you won’t make any friends. Well, your lawyer has managed to fight these charges, but your lawyer has been backfired.
Please, don’t get into serious trouble down the road sir!
He does have a partner, but she is his new girlfriend who wanted to start a family with him, but she doesn’t have a primary job just yet! She is just turning 31 years of age. She does own a computer, but she is sharing it with his boyfriend what we mentioned earlier. He does have a job, but he is wearing an ankle monitor to ensure he complies with his supervised release.
His girlfriend is also riding in a cart because, she goes sledding as a sport. However; we’re doing this via a steady pace at this time.
Lane 3:
This lane is empty, but we can see a coach getting ready to start the duel. The duel is going to be a fun one!
The Duel Begins
First, each author publish a set of books with quality, and take their time. There’s no rush! They take care of describing their books, and checking if their books need final edits. The blue lane is NOT putting in sexualized characters because, she oppose pornography. That is a right choice to choose. She is an anti-pornography advocate who wanted to live “porn-free” as her first entry of her wish list. She also has a goal to plant essential trees for our environment,–after she received royalty payments via her chosen platform.
The red lane is just doing the same, but they’re just want to impress themselves, but they’re doing this incorrectly. However; his girlfriend is a common fan of romance fiction. Well, you have to be extra careful because, one wrong move can lead to problems down the road.
The publish buttons are pushed.
They share their releases of their books via their websites/blogs.
Computers are collected to ensure our duel won’t leave damaged machines.
The gate opens.
Here comes our first opponent passing the start line!
The another opponent begins to pass the start line.
Each opponent takes a steady pace.
Typically, it take days for their books to be distributed to these vendors. They have to review everything. They must ensure their servers are doing their job, and they’re connected to a renewable source of energy. Acceptance to their platforms depend on content inside their books.
Looks like the red lane is passing the blue lane. And the author who is choosing a paid subscription platform as a way to gain revenue, and he is receiving an update for his books being distributed to these platforms. However; he is only writing 4 books, and that’s it… well, he needs to write more!
An author who chooses a public library is still slow, and using a steady pace. But her books are taking a long route to public library vendors. Well, library patrons must ask a librarian to include these books. However; public libraries do the right job to include these books,–depending on a public library with a desired theme. However; electronic books are being offered with a slow pace, but this author is relying on low prices, and keep it this way as a way to ensure her work is being consumed. Each reader has a decision to make.
The red lane is going further, and his books are ready to read via a subscription. And he just can’t wait for his customers to read his books.
The blue lane is not giving up! She is catching up, and she is going around these obstacles, and she is carefully taking her course. She is doing it like a gamer of some sort. Well, she does play arcade games at a local arcade. Well, this is a duel for now. However; she can wait for her books to be read, and all she has to do just wait, and write additional books down the road.
Looks like she is slowly catching up, but she is just taking her time. Her partner rides his poodle like being in a race, but this is a slower pace. She is riding her white poodle, and he is taking his time too!
You can see these paths what a sled left behind. However; the blue lane is just take some time.
The red lane is still in the lead. Looks like he got 3 of his readers for the first time! He is proud to receive his new audience, but he uses his pen name for his books to prevent him from being recognized as a real person.
The blue lane is slowly catching up, but she is receiving 5 readers who wanted to read her books. And her readers don’t need to pay. With a power of a library card; they can save some money for the future! An author has knocked down the walls, and enabling people to consume her books. And patrons are pouring in like a hurricane, or blizzard,–after trees are planted. The power of low prices has also prevented libraries from breaking their budgets daily.
Look how they jump and run, similar to Super Mario Bros,–inspired by this classic game what I used to play since years ago! Well, what I am thinking of… Super Tux!! And this author is going to use her money to donate to the makers of an open-source game to play on your Linux computer.
Wait a minute! The red lane is still having readers, but 2 more readers are just getting started to read his books. But 2 readers won’t be valid,–until they reached a percentage of a book. Well, he priced his books high,–trying to rake in more money to generate more revenue. He is more of an avid paywall fan.
Although; reading takes time, and even days, but reading a physical book is more fun than you thought. You can really take in more information from a physical book than an electronic version on your computer, phone, or tablet. The blue lane loves this feature, reducing screen time on computers, and enabling children and adults to read books without needing to consume energy, but they need to use lights for reading books at night. Physical books can be purchased many times. Your books damaged by storms? No problem! Just buy new copies like usual. And this author will make sustainable amount of money. Even CPC (cost per checkout) can be sustainable,–if an author uses common sense like usual. Keeping these prices low is very important because, anyone can purchase your products. Only high prices are for high-quality works. However; her electronic viewing of her books may vary from any part of a world.
Somehow; her reader count went down, but her physical books are sold successfully! She retained 5 readers via physical books,–after electronic books. Fortunately, her customers don’t have to keep a digital copy of her works. What a checkout, and what a return.
The red lane only has 3 readers retained, and they have valid subscriptions via payments with a credit card. However; his expensive books is causing a strain to a subscription platform. Well, he priced it with a reasonable price. He has his favorite price of $4.99 as his official price ceiling. He also has other books via his series what he wrote. Well, he is going to wait for his earnings to arrive on the next month.
The blue lane is still receiving earnings via CPC for her electronic books, but she always ensure her books are kosher as possible. Excellent with your work without sexual content pornography madam!
The red lane is just hard with DRM, except for the blue lane!! The blue lane has DRM-free books, ensuring public libraries don’t have to rely on Adobe Digital Editions, or any other copy-protection mechanisms that can be flawed overtime. What a duel everyone, but the duel is not over. We just got started.
The red lane is extremely hard with DRM! And he is such a strict writer who don’t want his work to be copied, and he is really raking up cash right now.
The blue lane is raking up less cash, but she just use her earned money for the purpose of saving up for taxes, sustainable source of food to eat, and even save up for her future children,–if she plans to have children.
The blue lane is taking the lead! Passing the red lane. And the duel is warming up with more heat, but the blue lane is cooling things down with the power of going “DRM-Free” as a way to keep waste levels down. The red lane is more of a DRM king of some sort. However; he chose DRM because, he want to keep his books protected with copy-protection that is extremely strict.
Wow! The blue lane has pass the finish line, and they’re steady as a train carrying windmill blades to the construction site where windmills are built.
The red lane has pass the finish line, but this is only just round 1 for this duel.
Score Chart:
Money Earned:
Now, only the blue lane has few dollars, but she is still making money like normal. Thanks to CPC via public library vendors. However; she has over 100 books published via a schedule, keeping her publishing career consistent. Well, She set her payment amount to only $46.00 because, she only relies on an amount like this for keeping her VPS server active. However; she plugged in her extra money for offsetting her other essentials. However; she spent $170.00 for her typical expenses, and take home only $46.00.
The red lane earned more dollars, but he only has 4 books for anyone to read. Unfortunately, his earnings are destined for paying fines, and other costs during his supervised release. However; he only has $80.00 to spend. Well, do you remember how the blue lane relies on public libraries? These patrons don’t have to pay for digital copies, they just check them out. However; the red lane has no physical books sold because, he want to choose to go paperless. However; he must publish at least 1 paperback book in order for his books to be valid.
The blue lane has patrons reading her books with a slow pace; they can borrow books again, and continue where they left off. This endless cycle of CPC has enabled this author to have a sustainable source of earnings. And unlike buying digital copies to keep for life of your account, less licenses are sold, and less server loads are used up. However; If ALL of her books are listed via public libraries by 100%; how much money she will make?
The red lane has to deal with piracy each day. TorrentFreak has daily news articles about piracy trends, and news about piracy that happens around the world. Unfortunately, the red lane has discovered his books being copied without his permission. He must’ve registered his copyrighted works as a safeguard with a help of his attorney earlier. He reports piracy to his plantform account support team. He has to deal with pirates. His ebooks are pirated,–resulted to many dollars in damages to his career.
The blue lane didn’t get her books pirated because, prices are low, and she used a public library as a primary resource. She didn’t see 1 single copy of her work pirated. How about that! Keeping these prices low has really caused her writing career to be paid off. But she is still writing to keep it going.
The Winner Of This Round
The library card is a clear winner,–thanks to the blue lane who is an author who chose low prices, and ONLY choose to raise prices to sell quality books to read.
This author is also a clear winner of this duel because, she choose a public library. Despite a low amount of money earned… she decided to experiment with low amount of dollars.
The red lane lost the duel because, there are some people who don’t have the money to read his books. Also, he is targeting an adult audience.
The red lane has prices too high!
Round 2: Cash Retention
Cash retention is key for these opponents. However; with trips to a public library daily; that is one way to save up lots of money and offset your cost of having books to read.
For the blue lane; both an author and her customers has retained more cash than they used to have earlier. However; poor communities are proud to see her works being available to check out via a public library.
How about that! Prices are kept as low as possible for public libraries to try out material as a way to ensure if these books may be suitable in their local areas around the world.
The red lane also retains cash, but other things need to be spent on. And he has to watch his spending. However; his patrons are spending more money, and buying digital copies like a storm. Well, they subscribed to a service to read his books, but they are retaining less money than they used to have earlier. The poor can’t afford his books to read. This is a sign of missing out on his content what he creates for now.
The blue lane is a clear winner of this round!
Final Round: Sustainability
Only the blue lane chose public libraries because, this channel is sustainable, and patrons don’t need to pay for her work. They have more cash for paying bills, and other essentials.
With less churning of digital copies to readers, and less cherning of paperback books, less material is used, and less digital copies are sold. Also, that caused some empty servers to be reused for other purposes. However; 1 server with books from these authors (DRM-Free) remain as bandwith usage falls down, and costs begin to go down. This endless choice of public libraries for non-erotic titles has result to public libraries being more welcoming than you thought. However; other books written by authors continue to pour in like a flood.
Trips to book stores are less frequent, but physical books are often purchased to ensure they have enough books to read for their own home libraries.
Subscription reading platforms require more paying customers to consume content. However; this author via the red lane has managed to get paying readers who are financially stable.