Quote:
Originally Posted by AJ Starr
Are you listening - - - PUBLISHERS. (how many steps can you cut out?)
AJ
|
Good question, but maybe not as many steps as we might initially think. I Googled the cost of printing and, for a run in the thousands rather than the hundreds, I'm seeing figures as low as a dollar per book quoted. Even if you allow closer to $2 that doesn't make or break a deal for me.
Publishers tell us that printing is only a small part of what they organise. They say that their business revolves around the wider job of developing the careers of their authors. That includes paying author advances (some of which never get recouped from sales) providing good editing (which is a very noticeable lack in many self published ebooks), doing a range of tasks with the design of the book (most of which don't disappear with an e-book - up to and including a cover design) , arranging the all important publicity, and generally being available to hold the author's hand and help them get through the long and often stressful business of getting through the writing. That doesn't sound unrealistic to me. Lumping everything under the blanket heading of "Publishers" also overlooks all the other steps in the chain. For instance, there's a substantial price jump from wholesaler to retailer.
My guess is that the savings are more likely to be made not so much in publishing, but in retailing. Online stores aren't cost free to set up and run, but they certainly should be able to provide a service for less than a traditional bookshop. But there will be up and down sides to that too. I certainly want to pay less for an e-book - because, apart from anything else I'm limited to how I can use it compared to a pbook - but I'm not going to get too upset if the saving isn't always as big as I might like. Ultimately, getting the content is usually more important to me than fretting about the price. Not everybody would agree of course.
Cheers,
Chris
OOPS...
P.S. Good chart Nate.