4 ms·

But once they do realize that they have a year's worth (or more) on their reading list, why would they keep coming back to the store to buy 10 more books?

rmATinnovafy 14y ago
And that will lead to authors only publishing short books, or even sell individual chapters for $1. Not a good thing.
- josephcooney 14y ago
  Why would this not be a good thing?
- hdctambien 14y ago
  That's similar to how Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities[1]. "The 45-chapter novel was published in 31 weekly installments in Dickens' new literary periodical titled All the Year Round. From April 1859 to November 1859" Likely more people will read a book in short chunks because it looks less imposing. And it gives you an opportunity to "pivot" your story if it's not going well. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities
  - TylerE 14y ago
    Dickens' method had more do with economics. Most of his audience was not especially well off, and books were VERY expensive back then, as in over $100 in today's money.
theevocater 14y ago
personally? yes. Many times I'll buy a bunch of cheap (physical and digital) books, read them for a bit, get bored and then eventually sell the physical books. Most times if a book is expensive I'll put off buying it, but if its a dollar or two, no love lost if I only read a few chapters and don't like it.
fbuilesv 14y ago
Because this is how a lot (most?) people work. They read about something interesting today, buy the book, send it to their Kindle and then forget about it. When they get to actually read a book they enjoy they might start looking for more titles from the same author/genre and at $2 you won't think too much about buying 2-3 at once.
Mz 14y ago
A) I once read that only about 17% of the books people buy actually get read. People seem to get some satisfaction out of "owning" the info even without consuming it. B) When I was homeschooling my sons I frequently bought actual (dead tree) books for a dollar or so off the clearance tables. It was cheap enough that I was willing to gamble on their usefulness. Some panned out. Some didn't. Enough panned out for me to feel it was still well worth it.
russell_h 14y ago
I'll go on Amazon and buy several cheap Kindle books before I travel. Invariably I don't finish them all, and set the Kindle aside for a few weeks. Then I pick it up, see the unread books and read them before buying more I've always wondered how much more money Amazon would make if they didn't highlight unread books, and how much people would care about the lack of that feature.

rmATinnovafy 14y ago

And that will lead to authors only publishing short books, or even sell individual chapters for $1. Not a good thing.

josephcooney 14y ago
Why would this not be a good thing?
hdctambien 14y ago
That's similar to how Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities[1]. "The 45-chapter novel was published in 31 weekly installments in Dickens' new literary periodical titled All the Year Round. From April 1859 to November 1859" Likely more people will read a book in short chunks because it looks less imposing. And it gives you an opportunity to "pivot" your story if it's not going well. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities
- TylerE 14y ago
  Dickens' method had more do with economics. Most of his audience was not especially well off, and books were VERY expensive back then, as in over $100 in today's money.

theevocater 14y ago

personally? yes. Many times I'll buy a bunch of cheap (physical and digital) books, read them for a bit, get bored and then eventually sell the physical books. Most times if a book is expensive I'll put off buying it, but if its a dollar or two, no love lost if I only read a few chapters and don't like it.

fbuilesv 14y ago

Because this is how a lot (most?) people work. They read about something interesting today, buy the book, send it to their Kindle and then forget about it. When they get to actually read a book they enjoy they might start looking for more titles from the same author/genre and at $2 you won't think too much about buying 2-3 at once.

Mz 14y ago

A) I once read that only about 17% of the books people buy actually get read. People seem to get some satisfaction out of "owning" the info even without consuming it. B) When I was homeschooling my sons I frequently bought actual (dead tree) books for a dollar or so off the clearance tables. It was cheap enough that I was willing to gamble on their usefulness. Some panned out. Some didn't. Enough panned out for me to feel it was still well worth it.

russell_h 14y ago

I'll go on Amazon and buy several cheap Kindle books before I travel. Invariably I don't finish them all, and set the Kindle aside for a few weeks. Then I pick it up, see the unread books and read them before buying more I've always wondered how much more money Amazon would make if they didn't highlight unread books, and how much people would care about the lack of that feature.