Quote:
Originally Posted by calvin-c
Demonstrably false by checking past threads on this issue. What *is* true is that we fall into two camps-those who believe that most of the cost of a book is in printing & distribution & those who understand that most of the cost of a book is in the writing, editing, preparation, and advertising. (Slanted word choice was deliberate-if you can't figure out what I believe then you probably shouldn't be reading this thread.)
|
Last I checked, the act of writing has no cost. Please do not confuse this with someone saying it has no /value/. It certainly has value. But there is no real cost to the act of writing, except the sunk cost of the writing instrument, whether it be pen and paper, typewriter, or computer. (there are opportunity costs, but we won't go into those here).
As for editing, that editing would occur anyway, because it's done for the physical book. The ebook is, in essence, a freebie, because it costs nothing to produce (modulo some minimal formatting changes) over and above the production costs for the physical book.
The same goes for advertising: The advertising's already done for the physical book. Making an ebook equivalent available is again a freebie, as what's being advertised is the content, not the format.
You're conflating the costs of producing a physical book with the costs of producing an ebook version of an existing physical book. What is being discussed here is the price and value of said ebook.