However, Glassbook’s most prominent feature was its ability to loan eBooks to others. Kawell explained, “If you buy an e-book produced with Glassbook software, you can download it to a friend’s computer so he can read it. You can even define a time for the loan…At the end of the loan period, the borrower’s digital copy expires, and the original buyer’s text is turned on again” (Hilts 14). Through this method of lending, Glassbook created the illusion of competition in the digital marketplace. Due to eBooks’ intangibility, digital commodities were viewed as goods with unlimited supply because they could easily be reproduced. There were no additional charges for the used resources, publishing, and distribution of eBook copies like there were
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However, as a victim of an almost-fatal car accident in 1999, his book was highly anticipated because thousands of people feared his creativity had vanished (Fischer 1). On March 14th 2000, under Simon & Schuster, King published his 66-page novel exclusively on the Internet and available to read on the Glassbook eBook reader for only $2.50 (Fischer 3). The anticipation for King’s novel was so immense that his readers crashed the server (Guthrie 15). In 48 hours, about half a million copies where downloaded (Striphas 36). In the first 24 hours, 4.62 copies were downloaded per second. Overall, about 600,000 copies were distributed. In publishing Riding the Bullet solely online, King earned $450,000 in net profits in comparison to the $10,000 that he would have earned through publication in a magazine (Guthrie 15; Fischer 4). This increase in King’s profit was due to the minimal production of the eBook. By publishing King’s novel online, Simon & Schuster’s financial burden was not as heavy because there was no physical production of the book. Raw resources were unnecessary, and the distribution charge became irrelevant. The only cost was, most likely, copyright; therefore, the fixed cost greatly decreased through online publication. Both King and Simon & Schuster earned a lot more than the traditional fixes chain would have allowed which became an incentive for others to
However, as a victim of an almost-fatal car accident in 1999, his book was highly anticipated because thousands of people feared his creativity had vanished (Fischer 1). On March 14th 2000, under Simon & Schuster, King published his 66-page novel exclusively on the Internet and available to read on the Glassbook eBook reader for only $2.50 (Fischer 3). The anticipation for King’s novel was so immense that his readers crashed the server (Guthrie 15). In 48 hours, about half a million copies where downloaded (Striphas 36). In the first 24 hours, 4.62 copies were downloaded per second. Overall, about 600,000 copies were distributed. In publishing Riding the Bullet solely online, King earned $450,000 in net profits in comparison to the $10,000 that he would have earned through publication in a magazine (Guthrie 15; Fischer 4). This increase in King’s profit was due to the minimal production of the eBook. By publishing King’s novel online, Simon & Schuster’s financial burden was not as heavy because there was no physical production of the book. Raw resources were unnecessary, and the distribution charge became irrelevant. The only cost was, most likely, copyright; therefore, the fixed cost greatly decreased through online publication. Both King and Simon & Schuster earned a lot more than the traditional fixes chain would have allowed which became an incentive for others to