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Originally Posted by leebase
Most all of the folks who post here have never been first run, hard back, book buyers. So just continue on using your library, buying books at yard sales, and borrowing your friends books. Pick up the occasional paper back as, gasp, they aren't $5 any more either.
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Yep, that's the category I'm in. The Oakland Museum's annual White Elephant Sale tends to send me home with 2-3 bags full of books at $5/bag. I have boxes full of used paperbacks. Favorite authors who've never seen a dime of royalties from me. I've had the luxury of growing up in a place & time when quality literature was cheap and plentiful, and I'm very grateful for that.
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Publishers don't care about you and your expectations about the price of a book now -- nor did they ever. You have never supported the art of writing before, and you aren't going to now.
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"Never supported the art?" That's a bit much, I think. I've bought signed first edition books from several companies, because I want the company to succeed and the authors to continue writing. That the majority of my purchases are used books doesn't mean I've never supported writing as an art and profession.
I have, in the past, convinced others to buy new books, hardcover and paperback. Bought them myself occasionally, but more often reference works & nonfic; I've paid very little for leisure reading materials. Less than 10 books a year, and most of that paperbacks.
Now I have a format I like for reading, and something like disposable income, and a willingness to buy books. But most publishers don't want to sell to me on my terms.
Shrug. I buy from Smashwords; I buy multiformat from Fictionwise; I buy from indie publishers. I don't buy much, but I've spent a lot more money at RPGNow, Smashwords & Samhain in the last year than I have on Macmillan books.
My kids don't buy Macmillan books either. My kids split their reading time about equally between screen and paper. They're learning that paper is bulky and easily damaged while pixels are portable. In ten years, they won't buy anything on paper that they don't intend to use as a reference or re-read on special occasions. (Hardcover Poe or Shakespeare? Maybe. Hardcover King? Not a chance.) They're not growing up with a library of physical books to look at that says "THESE ARE THE GOOD AUTHORS." They're growing up with the internet, which says "HERE ARE 10,000 THINGS YOU COULD READ TODAY."
Mainstream publishers will need to fight hard to catch their attention; they don't have several decades of prejudice that leads them to think that "released in hardcover = literary quality." They're growing up convinced that "released in hardcover = publisher probably thinks I'm a thief."
I'm sure the Big 6 don't care if I never buy another book from them. But I'm raising a pair of voracious readers who will, regardless of their income levels, likely never look at the New York Times bestseller lists to decide what to buy.
The next generation of readers in technophile homes are going to be the downfall of the big publishing houses if those publishers don't figure out what they're doing wrong.