Writing: Is it a Good or a Service?

Source: http://flatworldknowledge.lardbucket.org/books/small-business-management-in-the-21st-century/section_11_05.html

GOOD OR SERVICE?

I'm currently updating the curriculum for our marketing classes. The textbook our college use distinguishes between editing for goods and services. Then it hit me: what is writing?

If you'd asked me a few years ago I would have called it a good. After all, a good is anything tangible, something you can touch. We buy books so the product we offer must be a good.

Not anymore. With the growth of ebooks, many people purchase works from authors that is not tangible.

Still, to truly be considered a service it must meet 3 other tests:

Perishability 

Services cannot be stored for later sale. In many ways, ebooks are easier to store than physical books. They do not compete for shelf-life. They can easily be sold for years.

Inseparability

Services cannot be separated from their providers. You can't have a hair cut without the hairdresser but you can have the ebook when the author is not present.

Variability

You can easily alter the quality of a product for each individual customer. While it's possible to alter an ebook much easier than putting out a new edition of a physical book, you cannot easily re-edit the book for each reader.

VERDICT

Even if you sell primarily ebooks, when people buy your writing they are actually purchasing a good.

So what's the big deal?

Marketing experts will tell you there is a difference between marketing strategies for goods and services. I will go over those differences on my post tomorrow.



BOOKS BY M JOSEPH MURPHY:

Amazon: M Joseph Murphy on Amazon: Paperback and ebook
Smashwords: M Joseph Murphy Author Page on Smashwords
Kobo: M Joseph Murphy Books on Kobo