More Musing on First Edition Electronic Book Collecting

The publisher would have to gauge the demand and balance that against the willingness of the collectors to pay a premium for the "first" edition. Obviously, when a new writer's first novel is being published, there is usually limited demand for the first edition and fewer are published. The publisher would have to say, "First edition, digitally signed by the author, limited to 500 copies - premium $5.00." Then, later, when the first novel becomes a best seller, those who bought the first 500 copies and paid the premium would reap the benefit. 15 years later, those 500 could be worth a significant amount. Witness Patricia Cornwell's first novel, Post Mortem. Today on abebooks.com the signed first edition sells for $ 2,500 when it has a "contemporary" signature. See

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Patricia+Cornwell&sortby=1&x=0&y=0

Postmortem (SIGNED).
Cornwell, Patricia.
Quantity Available: 1
Book Description: Scribners: NY 1990 1st ed/1st printing, 1990. SIGNED with a rare contemporary signature "Patricia D. Cornwell Hardcover. Fine in fine jacket A truly stunning copy of this Edgar Winner. Bookseller Inventory # 14408 Price: US$ 2500.00


The collector/investor who was willing to buy the book early in its history and who got it signed at that time obtained a valuable collector’s item for probably $22.50.
Later, authors might sell their digital signatures in person via email executable program which would search out a legitimate purchased copy of their book on the collector’s iPad, attach itself to that electronic copy with a date and inscription, like “Thanks for reading my book, sincerely Patricia Cornwell” and that signature would be imbedded in the file. It might even contain a facsimile of the signature that goes on the first page of the electronic edition making that owner’s copy uniquely different from anyone else. The owner of the iPad could then proudly show off the signed copy. The interesting legal challenge then becomes whether “used” copies of the electronic edition can be sold in the aftermarket……….. Maybe only the first 500 are transferrable or there could be a premium paid by the original buyer for the book which would allow it to be transferred X times. Like loaning your wife your copy to read on her Kindle. Lots of interesting legal challenges. Sphere: Related Content