Less than 25% of the world's population own computers, the rest of the people don't count!! ...LOL! Baron Max
Here in Calgary we live within walking distance of two excellent public libraries. Up to date books, DVDs, CDs, magazines, etc. There's on-line terminals for those who want to use them, etc. I use one or both of these libraries every week. Our closest library is full of users and in my neighborhood is housed in a facility offering public healthcare, drop in center for parents with children, etc. I'd give our library system an A plus. I never leave without a bag of 'stuff' from movie videos to science magazines.
For PEOPLE (plural) to buy copies (multiple copies because there are multiple people involved). Well you could start by actually looking at the link I provided earlier for Baen books, lots of SF novels there. Also check http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/ Take a look at the classic novels that are available copyright free online--they still sell extremely well even though anyone who wants to can read them for free. To take a random example, Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice (the Bantam edition--keep in mind there are literally 100's of editions for this book) is ranked 2,734 at Amazon, which is pretty damn good (for point of comparison another random selection--Steven King's The Shining is ranked 31,711). People who want to read books are going, for the most part, to buy or borrow the actual book--they're not going to spend their time sitting in front of a computer screen. Putting books online is mainly useful for giving people and opportunity to see if the book is of interest or to do research (for the people who don't want to read the whole damn book anyway). In the example I believe you're referring to, Stephen King started an online serial and then pulled the plug because people weren't paying for it. The problem was that a lot of those people weren't even reading it but would end up buying a copy of the actual book when it appeared. It may not make sense for King who's in the Fortune 500 category when it comes to novelists and expect to be making millions off any given book. To use another example, horror Douglas Clegg also did a free online premier for one of his books, Naomi, and it ended up being one of his best sellers to date after it appeared in print.
