Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffC
and the 'obvious' way is to cut costs, in other words removing the vast expence of keeping a printing press and its drain on resources...removing the costs of transport and storage...
as a business model it makes more sense for publishers to ditch paper forms of most popular books and actively encourage by all means the electronic options...
their biggest problem is likely to be creating a large enough customer base, which should not be difficult if the will is really there...
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Printing costs are passed on to the consumer; the publisher doesn't carry the cost of printing. Nor do most publishers "keep" a printing press. Printing companies do. What "drain on resources" do you mean? Presses run on electricity and consume paper and ink. Paper is a renewable resource, and most inks these days are water-based. And the electricity consumed in producing a printed book is probably much less than that consumed in reading all the e-book editions.
I'm biased, as a 20-year veteran of the printing industry and author of many electronic workflow systems for printers, but I think I know enough about it to point out that the PRINTING of the books is not an expense the PUBLISHER worries about overmuch.