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Old 09-08-2016, 11:46 PM   #16
nabsltd
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Hamden, CT
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8 View Post
I read one fairly popular SF author who called his backlist his 401K. To a great extent, that's how many authors say it. Their backlist books got released every 6 or 7 years, which generated a fairly steady stream of revenue.
Although ebooks do go out of print just like physical books, I assume the point the authors were making is that they get new buzz every time the book goes back in print.

But, my guess is that like the new release ebook vs. hardback, it will turn out that there won't be any negative affect on overall author revenue even if the ebook is permanently in print. Yes, an ebook is supposedly forever (although we have seen that DRM screws that up), but then so are my physical books. OK, they have some wear, but only the 40+ year old ones. Also, if all I care about is reading the book, I can get a physical copy of some printing for less than $10, and it's probably not going to be a first sale that gives money to the author.

On the other hand, if the ebook is always available, then people who want the book might buy it, which would give money to the author. Meanwhile, with that same book out of print in paper form, the author would have to wait until their publisher decided a re-release was worth the money.

About the only good thing for the author in the current reprint world is that hopefully the new printing will have some sort of proofreading/editing/etc., that will allow fixing old mistakes. With ebooks, the one thing that does seem to be "forever" is that you have to live with the crappy release that most catalog titles seem to get.
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