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Originally Posted by robinoz
Why do these exist?
For many years the book publishers have carved up the world into various English speaking zones, chiefly the two of North America and the Commonwealth with India as an exceptional difference. Books in Australia for example cost about 2 - 3 times the cost in USA and for no very good reason that I can see. The GST in Australia is 10% so that can't explain it. A new hardback costs in the vicinity of A$50.
It does not cost much to transfer an ebook to anywhere in the world!
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ebooks, no. Paper volumes, yes.
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Why do we (and our governements) put up with this?
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What would you do instead?
I'm an author in the US. I write a book and sell it to a US publisher, who publishes a US edition. All very well, but what about elsewhere? If my book gets published in the British Commonwealth, who does it? My publisher may not have a UK operation. What about other European countries, like France, Germany, or Spain, or books published in other countries in a translated edition?
Publishers buy rights to publish books in their market areas, and part of what they buy is exclusive rights in their area. Governments in those areas may well be in favor because they want to
protect the local publisher.
Even if my publisher does have a subsidiary in Europe, is it in my best interest as an author to have my title handled by one publisher, or might I get a better deal if more than one house is involved, and a foreign publisher offers a better deal than the foreign subsidiary of my US publisher?
And even if I'm published by a major house with operations elsewhere in the world, relationships between corporate subsidiaries aren't simple, and don't mean you won't have the problems you encounter.
eBooks are bringing all of these relationships into question, but I don't see a simple answer. One thing I do see is less publishers when the dust settles. One thing the spread of the Internet has done is made geographical restrictions far less meaningful as well as harder to enforce.
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Dennis