Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
But many customers - myself included - prefer to buy from traditional publishers because it's a reasonable assurance of reasonable quality standards (I'm sure there are exceptions to that). A traditional publisher isn't going to invest money in publishing a book unless they think it will show a profit. I'm sorry to say this but they few independently-published books I've looked at have not been up to professional standards.
Price is not a consideration in book buying for me; quality is.
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Many does not equal most. I think you may be generalizing from the particular. It is a mass market industry. Most book purchasers probably don't even know who the publisher is - certainly in my experience of generalizing from the particular.
Reasonable does not equal guaranteed (which many on the board have already attested).
There are numerous justifications for traditional publishing profit margins on this board on the grounds that the margins are necessary because publishers constantly publish books which don't make a profit.
The generators of "professional standards" are all BPH employees - editors, artists, proof readers, even marketroids. They can all be employed, as considered necessary, by authors - without incurring the overhead of CEOs, Manhattan offices and private dining rooms - resulting in a greater net return to the author.
Price does not necessarily equal quality.
There will undoubtedly be a shakeout period, we are experiencing it now, but change has come and will continue to come.