Quote:
Originally Posted by crossi
And I don't particularly care if your chinese history book never gets written. I'm not going to read it. And if having it means all the books I do read are higher priced I actively hope it doesn't get written. I'm not altruistic enough to support your tastes by paying higher prices on my stuff.
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The problem with that perspective is that I see no reason to support your tastes. I prefer nonfiction and rarely read popular fiction. I certainly never read romance or westerns or erotica or horror or zombies or comics or myriad other types/genres yet I am asked to support those books by paying a higher price for nonfiction.
The "genius" of the system in its current form is that a few major bestsellers -- the James Pattersons, Stephen Kings, Tom Clancys, and similar mega authors -- provide enough profit to allow the publishing of new authors and low-volume sellers, thereby making books that interest you and interest me available. Without the mutual support, none of us would have the books that we do want.
The other "genius" of the system is that enough variety is published to induce readers like me, who buy 4 or 5 hardcovers a month, along with a number of ebooks, to continue buying at that pace. If the book industry had to rely solely on the occasional reader or on libraries (or other tax-supported institutions), we'd be lucky if 5% of the books currently published were published.
And the answer is not self-publishing. Most self-published books go undiscovered by more than family and friends. They cannot make up for the books put out by the BPHs. The very successful self-published ebook is a rarity when compared to the number of self-published ebooks published.