Quote:
Originally Posted by dsvick
Is amazon also going to do the proofreading, editing, promoting, and all the other 1001 details that go into the production of a quality book. I'm not saying that they aren't or that they can't, it is is just a consideration that they need to address.
|
No, they don't.
Amazon is working on quantity-over-quality; if they make pennies on each of thousands of low-quality books, that's worth more to them than making dollars on high-quality books that they had to invest substantial effort in.
Right now, Amazon's effort is almost entirely automated. Cost-per-book production is negligible; it's part of overall server load. If they took on editing tasks, they'd need to give each book individual attention--cost per book jumps to astronomical levels when compared to the current immeasurably small amounts.
They're counting on reader reviews to sort out the good books and encourage other readers to buy them; they don't need to invest in an editorial staff to pre-identify those books.
It's a horrifically inefficient process... but the wasted time & effort is all on the buyer's end.