Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Tingle
No, but the flaw in your assumptions is that making a treebook and making an ebook are nearly identical processes, with a big cost saving if you skip some of the treebook steps. That's just not true. Omitting the printing steps saves (as best anyone can account for) about $1.
The camera-ready copy for a printing process, and a good ebook are not anywhere near identical. The ebook needs to be created from the copyeditor and proofreader's final output in a separate process than that which creates the camera ready copy. That costs $0.?? per book. The cost of servers and retail order processing (whoever does it) eats up another small part of that $1. It's no different than any other retail transaction fee. So the ebook has a unique production step, and unique distribution costs, that mostly eliminate its cost advantage.
The only unique advantage ebooks have is in inventory and returns costs. Those, as I understand it, are well understood and accounted for in the current process, and don't add much cost.
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Now if you want to get incensed when someone charges _MORE_ for an ebook than a MMPB, I'm right behind you on the barricades, brother. Death to the Aristos! Up the Revolution.
Viva la Revolucion,
Jack Tingle
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Thank you. I truly appreciate the clarification, and the detail of your explanation.
Now I won't feel I'm being ripped off if I pay as much for an ebook as I would have for the same pbook (which will STILL have to be less than the pbook retail price).
I had already concluded that $9.99 for a first printing is actually not so bad -- if I've been waiting for it to be published.