This is undoubtedly a hot topic for both sides of the argument: on the one hand, there is little to no cost in electronic distribution once the article is written, but on the other hand, work remains proprietary intellectual property. copyright!
Taken from an author's point of view, I think it is quite reasonable to expect payment for composite articles like e-books and I think it is essential that the general public is aware of the amount of effort put into writing an download ebook pdf.
Each will have its own level of difficulty in terms of knowledge base, research, editing, and collation, and the total number of hours required to prepare an article for publication.
In addition to having the ability to write a good article, the potential author must also have the right applications to achieve the end result on their PC. You need a good word processor and Desk-Top-Publishing package to get the best results - these are costs to consider when starting self-publishing.
The PDF format is widely used in the production of documents for the Internet, so it is another cost factor, unless you use "open source" applications? So of course you have to learn how to use the apps! All of this is time consuming and should represent an element of cost in deciding the selling price of your eBook.
The process becomes easier to manage when you have your own website; set up demo pages and create "buy it now" links to eBay, etc. However, pricing becomes an issue when plagiarism takes over and the eBook becomes a free download over the Internet. If this happens, how can you justify charging for your own work?
Of course, this is intellectual property fraud (i.e. copyright theft), although I don't have any statistics - I think that fraud is unfortunately a product of the system!
I have bought e-books on the internet for the past two years (about life drawing) and the price was very reasonable. However, I wonder if the royalties went to the copyright owner.
The concept of creating an open article for promotional purposes is a good idea and many authors provide substantial information in their free publications: I have taken advantage of them (I am only human).
I think it is this distribution model that can create a higher level of equity and understanding between author and reader!
When e-books are downloaded through a third party, perhaps it would be reasonable for the third party to receive a commission even if the e-book is a free publication from the author! However, added content for free download is a good way for sites to greatly improve traffic flow and will be the main motivation for having such content, so payment is probably not a problem?
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