Discussion: eBook Publishing Model proposals

[sanders]

The only reason I'm considering an e-book as an author/publisher is that I'd want one as a consumer. The main reason for me to buy an iLead (I've promised myself that the first 649 euros of proceeds from my book will go directly to iRex ) is not to read fiction/literature, but for my professional career as a software architect.

To me, having my entire professional library with me at all times, searchable even, is definitely worth the price of the iLiad.

Also, there is a lot of stuff you need only temporarily, like spec sheets, white papers, etc. I always hesitate to buy a pbook on a subject which I know will be obsolete in a few years, because it just feels like a waste to me. I'd gladly pay for an ebook version of such literature, so it won't take up shelf space. Throwing away pbooks hurts my soul (even if I'm certain I will never look up anything anymore in my "Complete ZX Spectrum ROM Disassembly" book). Keeping ebooks in a tiny corner of my hard disk would solve that issue.

As a publisher however, nothing convinces more than "You'll make more money offering ebooks."

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sanders

I am about to publish a non-fiction book (a computer programming manual) and I'm considering an ebook version of it as well.

A few things to note (which most of you probably alreay know): the printing/paper costs are not the bulk of the price you pay for a book in the store. The store usually gets books from the publisher at a "deep discount" of 55% (and can even return unsold books to the publisher for a refund). Out of the remaining 45%, the publisher pays the author, the editor, the printer, the cover designer, etc. A 300-page book in large numbers costs only a dollar or two to print.

Using print-on-demand and a short discount of, say, 30%, I incur higher printing fees (about $4 for a 300-page book) but no stocking costs; in the end, this leads to higher net per book (say, about $10 for a $22.99 book).

However, ebooks do not need to be stored in brick-and-mortar stores. I could publish the pbook and offer the ebook for download from my own site, at the same price I would get for the pbook; yet the consensus on this forum seems to be that an ebook should only cost a few dollars, tops. Include the risk that an entire class of students will buy one single copy of my ebook and put the pdf on their Iliads, and this makes me hesitant to go that route. Especially for technical/textbook material, the "share copies of the PDF" problem sounds like a real risk.

Can you say anything to convince me? :-)

If you do decide to use Adobe PDF as your ebook format, then you do deserve to get pirated all to heck. That is a very poor format for portable readers. However what you could do is publish the pbook with a companion CD that contains all the programming examples. That would make it a lot easier overall for the reader of the book.

The issue here is should you publish an ebook and the answer is no. The reason for that is because there are no decent portable readers that are yet good enough for text books. if I was using your book, I would want it in paper form so I could sit in front of the computer and use it while I was learning how to program from it. It's not all that nice to have to flip back and forth between the book and the editor. So while it is possible some might distribute the ebook, those really serious about learning from your book would want the paper edition. That that just collect to say they have it would steal the ebook, but would not really use it, so it would not matter that they have it.

[sanders]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you do decide to use Adobe PDF as your ebook format, then you do deserve to get pirated all to heck.

Why thank you. After all, the careful layouting, the mathematical formulas, the illustrations - these are all nonsense, right?

I'd say the only viable format for e-publishing of technical material is PDF.

Of course, I understand your reasoning: if you insist on a tiny ebook reader with 600x800 resolution or even less, you like the "reflow" which is possible with other formats.

It would be entirely possible to have a few "editions" of a technical ebook, each specifically tailored to a particular screen size of an ebook reader. I would go as far as spending time to properly layout a 768x1024 pixel version of my book (for iLiads), leaving away the margins and making sure everything properly fits, that the index and TOC are correct, etc.

[JSWolf]

One major problem with PDF as a format for your programming book is that if it's not DRM laden or gets cracked, it will be printed and then people will have a paper edition every bit the same as the pbook edition.

[sanders]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

One major problem with PDF as a format for your programming book is that if it's not DRM laden or gets cracked, it will be printed and then people will have a paper edition every bit the same as the pbook edition.

True. I am not so naive that I trust "password protection" as a means to completely lock a PDF. If people can read it, people can crack (and print) it.

On the other hand, if you buy my ebook and decide you'd rather print it out and read it from paper, I shouldn't care. After all, you've paid for the content.

I really don't think people would do this to save money. Printing out 280 pages on a laser printer isn't free either (unless they do it "at work" or something). But anyway - that would be less money going to my printer and/or to Amazon, not less money going to me.

So: the printing isn't the problem, it's the copying.

[JSWolf]

But the reason it would be copied is so it could be printed.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But the reason it would be copied is so it could be printed.

Don't forget, Jon, PDF does have a function. It is perfectly suited for people who read texts on computers and laptops... which is how many students do it. There may not be a dedicated reader good for textbooks yet, but laptops and PCs combined with PDF files work fine.

I think the "registered key" idea mentioned earlier would probably be your best bet for providing electronic files and making sure everyone paid for their copy (that method does work when you are limiting your output to smaller groups, and can issue a manual key... or, with larger groups, when your sales/distribution chain can issue keys that you can verify later).

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Don't forget, Jon, PDF does have a function. It is perfectly suited for people who read texts on computers and laptops... which is how many students do it. There may not be a dedicated reader good for textbooks yet, but laptops and PCs combined with PDF files work fine.

I think the "registered key" idea mentioned earlier would probably be your best bet for providing electronic files and making sure everyone paid for their copy (that method does work when you are limiting your output to smaller groups, and can issue a manual key... or, with larger groups, when your sales/distribution chain can issue keys that you can verify later).

PDF is an excellent format for anything I buy with the intention of printing. I buy game rules and even printable figures that way. I don't and won't buy fiction that way as PDF is just too hard to read on a screen. Double column PDFs are the worst as it's impossible to get a full page legible on my screen so I have to jog up when I go to the second column.

It's a superb format for printing. But that's about it.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by sanders

Why thank you. After all, the careful layouting, the mathematical formulas, the illustrations - these are all nonsense, right?

I'd say the only viable format for e-publishing of technical material is PDF.

I'd like to say that HTML would also be a viable format... but only if you accept the fact that some material, for instance complex formulas, have not yet been accommodated by the MathML updates yet, and would have to be converted to images. Nice thing about HTML is that, not only is it reflowable, but users can often use HTML to convert to other formats of choice. And obviously it's best on a device with a good browser.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by sanders

Why thank you. After all, the careful layouting, the mathematical formulas, the illustrations - these are all nonsense, right?

I'd say the only viable format for e-publishing of technical material is PDF.

Of course, I understand your reasoning: if you insist on a tiny ebook reader with 600x800 resolution or even less, you like the "reflow" which is possible with other formats.

It would be entirely possible to have a few "editions" of a technical ebook, each specifically tailored to a particular screen size of an ebook reader. I would go as far as spending time to properly layout a 768x1024 pixel version of my book (for iLiads), leaving away the margins and making sure everything properly fits, that the index and TOC are correct, etc.

I'm going to have to agree with you on this one. For non-fiction texts with lots of graphics and formulas, PDF works okay.

I'd love to see you have a success with your non-fiction work as I know what a thrill it can be to see something you've created make it into print.

However, as soon as it hits the PDF files, don't be surprised if it gets pirated. That's just what happens with expensive textbooks. And to be honest, MOST of the people who'll pirate it are probably not the people who'd have bought it - many may not even have a compelling reason beyond 'wanting' it.

Derek

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

However, as soon as it hits the PDF files, don't be surprised if it gets pirated. That's just what happens with expensive textbooks. And to be honest, MOST of the people who'll pirate it are probably not the people who'd have bought it - many may not even have a compelling reason beyond 'wanting' it.

Derek

I don't get that... who would "want" a textbook but would not have been likely to buy it otherwise? I can see a science major, say, who is told to get a certain text for class, but who balks at the price, so he takes a pirated copy. I can even see a science fan who would buy the text because it is their favorite subject, and taking a pirated copy to save the money. But if you weren't interested in science, or didn't have a science class, why the heck would you pirate a science text?

I don't believe the people who pirate HP books, say, do it just to spite JK Rowling and/or Scholastic. They do it because they have a legitimate interest in the book, as well as a desire to count coup, so to speak, on Rowling and/or Scholastic. If the e-books had been available (assuming at a perceived reasonable price), they would likely have just bought the e-book for themselves, and there would be no piracy issue. I assume the same thing for any text or subject... it is almost always pirated by someone who has a direct interest in it in the first place.

If anyone will pirate PDF textbooks, it's going to be people who would otherwise have bought the book for school or personal use... not a "random act of piracy," I think.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

If anyone will pirate PDF textbooks, it's going to be people who would otherwise have bought the book for school or personal use... not a "random act of piracy," I think.

People collect things. It is status to have many things that you can share. You do not collect because you need to use a book or a game or a computer program.

You also never know when you need a book. If you have 1000 text books in your collection and you need to look into two of them every ten year then it was rational to have the collection but not rational to buy 1000 text books.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by tompe

People collect things. It is status to have many things that you can share. You do not collect because you need to use a book or a game or a computer program.

I only collect things I like. So does every collector I know. I'm not going to collect DVDs of splatter flicks, "just because I can," because I don't like them. And I don't share everything I collect, because some of those things are only of interest to me. But I will revisit my collection as often as I can, to derive enjoyment out of it. If you're collecting things just to give them away... I'm not sure that's actually "collecting." More like... charity, or redistribution of wealth, or something.

Originally Posted by tompe

You also never know when you need a book. If you have 1000 text books in your collection and you need to look into two of them every ten year then it was rational to have the collection but not rational to buy 1000 text books.

Yeah, kind of. It's also rational to just go to a library every once or twice every ten years, if that's how seldom you need to reference them... or look on the web. But I see your point there.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I only collect things I like. So does every collector I know. I'm not going to collect DVDs of splatter flicks, "just because I can," because I don't like them. And I don't share everything I collect, because some of those things are only of interest to me. But I will revisit my collection as often as I can, to derive enjoyment out of it. If you're collecting things just to give them away... I'm not sure that's actually "collecting." More like... charity, or redistribution of wealth, or something.



Yeah, kind of. It's also rational to just go to a library every once or twice every ten years, if that's how seldom you need to reference them... or look on the web. But I see your point there.

My collection includes books on homemade explosives, gun-and-knife-making, survivalist techniques, cheesemaking, homesteading, woodworking, photography, optics, programming, weaving, knitting, wine-and-beer-making, drafting, residential construction, wealth-building, self-improvement... and the list goes on and on. Many of them I use solely as references for some bit of a story I'm working on. But writing, for me, is a long-drawn process and checkout times at the libraries are too short. So whereever I can, I scrounge textbooks.

Plus I have wide-ranging tastes in reading matter - Oh man, there's nothing like curling up with Progress in Optics Volume VI on a cold winter night!

Derek

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I only collect things I like. So does every collector I know.

Maybe hoarding is a better term then.

But I collect or hoard science fiction films. Not because I want to watch a particular film or because I like a particular film but just because science fiction as a genre interests me on many levels.