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#61 | |
Wizard
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I never said I find the publisher's claims credible, exactly the opposite in fact. Err, unless I'm completely misreading it, isn't HE the one who agrees with publishers that ebooks are just as expensive to produce as paperbooks? To quote Stonetools from upthread: Now I'm all confused. Last edited by carld; 12-01-2011 at 01:08 PM. Reason: typo |
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#62 | ||
Wizard
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I googled printing costs and found this: Quote:
If we assume that all the books are sold, and ignore shipping and storage costs, the only way for the ebook to cost more than the pbook is if the publisher pays someone for the format conversion of one file more than $1 per printed book. And if the printer has a 2000 books minimum like the one I linked to, that means more than $2000 for 1 format shift. While the author earns $5000 (if they receive 25%) for writing it. Does this sound right to you? |
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#63 | ||
Interested Bystander
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#64 | |
Wizard
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#65 | |
Wizard
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Some clarification on charles Stross's views on the costing of printing :
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#66 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
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Believing that the hour or so it takes to format-for-Smashwords is the complete production time misses a lot of the work that should be going on between "I have a finished story" and "this is ready to sell to strangers." Editing's top of the list, with bookcover a close second; there's a lot of rough drafts on Smashwords. Because of this, I don't buy anything there without sampling it, unless I know I love everything that author writes. (Which IMHO counts as sampling--I already know they write things I'm happy to read.) Formatting's also part of that. While an experienced desktop publisher can convert for Smashwords in an hour or two, the first time will probably take quite a bit longer--and any complicated book will also take longer. Converting for sales in other stores takes more time, and not everyone will be happy with Smashwords' feeds to other stores. Formatting for print, even print-on-demand, is a *lot* more work. For that, you have to start dealing with fonts, line heights, kerning, and problems with orphan words on pages. And high-resolution art for the cover; an 850x550 pixel image won't work. Quote:
But those costs don't mean that the other parts are minor; most of the time (which is paid time for *someone*) involved in mainstream publishing happens spread out over many months before it ever hits paper. |
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#67 | ||
Wizard
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#68 | |
Wizard
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At this point, I can't tell what you're actually disagreeing with. |
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#69 | ||
Wizard
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#70 | |
Wizard
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#71 | |
Wizard
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Anyway, this is veering into the personal insult territory, so I'm done with it. |
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#72 | |
Wizard
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And since it has become quite apparent that nobody - including me - has had anything new to say on this subject since some time yesterday, and nobody - including me - will willing to consider much of anything that disagrees with their preconceived notions, I've been done with this for some time, too. You seem to be arguing with me, but you keep saying you agree with me. I really can't figure out what your point is. Nor do I much care any more. Hell, I dont' much care what my point is any more. |
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#73 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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I've done others. Like I said, it ain't rocket science. Now show me the publisher willing to cough up $500-800 for a well-proofed novel/short story anthology and I'm in business. Funny, I don't see anybody.... |
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#74 |
Padawan Learner
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The relative cost of physical production, warehousing and distribution depends greatly to whom the publisher is speaking.
When they are speaking to authors, it is a HUGE cost for them. When they are defending their pricing on ebooks, it is a tiny, insignificant part of the cost. Publishers (and other big media companies) lie..."exaggerate" if you'd like to be charitable. We know that. Consider the scandal about discrepencies in ebook royalty sales reports that went whirling around writers' blogs a couple of months ago. There is no debating the point: ebooks do NOT cost as much to produce as ebooks, as evidenced by the original ebooks by established pro authors like Mike Stackpole, Konrath, Dean Wesley Smith and many, many others, But then again, none of the above authors has office space in the middle of Manhattan and huge teams of high-salaried executives to pay. None of them buy co-op space in stores or have sales reps pounding the pavement, and yes, none of them have to deal with printing, warehousing, distribution and returns... But I believe Charlie Stross is right -- one way for publishers to retain some control over their destiny is to go DRM free and sell direct to readers. Last edited by BillSmithBooks; 12-01-2011 at 08:11 PM. |
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#75 | |
Wizard
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