Quote:
Originally Posted by mcl
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.
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Hmm-act of writing has no cost, is your time available for free? I have a *huge* number of projects for which I'd like to hire you then. Since you don't charge for your time.
Also, you're correct about the paper book having already paid for most of the costs-*if* you're willing to wait for the ebook until pbook sales reach the point where those costs have been recouped. (BTW, most books don't ever reach this point.) See other threads for protests over publishers delaying their release of ebooks.
If you desire, as I assume you do, that publishers release both ebooks & pbooks at the same time then you should understand that sales of both releases will be used to recoup the costs-in which case the prep, etc. *are* costs relating to the release of the ebook.