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Adele Ward · 01-09-2012, 03:36 PM

There are no shortcuts to doing a good edit on a book. A good editor and publisher will work with an author in a way that may well not be cost effective. It makes no difference whether the end result is an ebook or a print book. This is the expensive part of the process. The lengthy time spent working with the author and working on the edit.

Publishers do take all of the financial risk by putting all these hours in when working with an author. They take the financial risk of the print run too, not knowing if it will be recuperated in sales. But the real cost is the amount of time spent working with the author while they're writing their books once their on the list, and working on the edit.

This is why there isn't really a big difference in cost betweeen ebooks and print books and why the prices are so similar.

People are mentioning costs they feel make a print book more expensive to the publisher, but they aren't really how publishing and bookselling work. It feels very similar to me to be selling a print book or an ebook. The fact is that the print book also goes straight from the printer to a wholesaler who warehouses it because bookshops and online sellers want to buy from a wholesaler. The books are registered on the Nielsen database and all online booksellers update from that from a feed.

Whether people buy a print book or an ebook, this is all automated - with an ebook it's downloaded, with a print books the order goes to the wholesaler and it's posted out. Either way the middle men take a commission - we don't pay for warehousing, they take a commission. It's very similar how Amazon and others take a commission for ebooks. In fact Amazon take a larger commission at times. They take 65% from the sale at times.

So from the publisher's point of view, the amount we get from the sale is very similar. And the real expense is in the amount of time we invest in work with each of our authors. You may find that not cost effective but you can't rush a good book, and authors want a good edit.

It's not cost effective that the publishers take all the financial risk, and invest in time. Even bookshops tend to buy on sale or return from the wholesalers. But this is how it's done. It's surprising to me that people want to criticise publishers so harshly for the cost of ebooks.

01-09-2012, 03:36 PM	#21
Adele Ward Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 490324 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London Device: Kindle	There are no shortcuts to doing a good edit on a book. A good editor and publisher will work with an author in a way that may well not be cost effective. It makes no difference whether the end result is an ebook or a print book. This is the expensive part of the process. The lengthy time spent working with the author and working on the edit. Publishers do take all of the financial risk by putting all these hours in when working with an author. They take the financial risk of the print run too, not knowing if it will be recuperated in sales. But the real cost is the amount of time spent working with the author while they're writing their books once their on the list, and working on the edit. This is why there isn't really a big difference in cost betweeen ebooks and print books and why the prices are so similar. People are mentioning costs they feel make a print book more expensive to the publisher, but they aren't really how publishing and bookselling work. It feels very similar to me to be selling a print book or an ebook. The fact is that the print book also goes straight from the printer to a wholesaler who warehouses it because bookshops and online sellers want to buy from a wholesaler. The books are registered on the Nielsen database and all online booksellers update from that from a feed. Whether people buy a print book or an ebook, this is all automated - with an ebook it's downloaded, with a print books the order goes to the wholesaler and it's posted out. Either way the middle men take a commission - we don't pay for warehousing, they take a commission. It's very similar how Amazon and others take a commission for ebooks. In fact Amazon take a larger commission at times. They take 65% from the sale at times. So from the publisher's point of view, the amount we get from the sale is very similar. And the real expense is in the amount of time we invest in work with each of our authors. You may find that not cost effective but you can't rush a good book, and authors want a good edit. It's not cost effective that the publishers take all the financial risk, and invest in time. Even bookshops tend to buy on sale or return from the wholesalers. But this is how it's done. It's surprising to me that people want to criticise publishers so harshly for the cost of ebooks.