Why the Sony Reader will be successful

[MelancholyTea]

Originally Posted by rlauzon

Author writes book (probably on a word processor). Provides file to publisher. Publisher clicks twice and - viola - eBook.

Let me know what that two-click method is when you get a chance...I'm sure a lot of us here would pay money for that

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by BuddyBoy

I don't wish to belittle you, but your concept of "publishing" an ebook is ...um... a little simplistic.

Then enlighten us.

Originally Posted by BuddyBoy

But I think you know that, and at this point your are arguing for argument's sake.

Partially. I am not that intimate with what goes on in the Publishing industry. Just what I hear people from Baen and other say.

Yes, I am keeping things simplistic but that's because, as a customer, the only thing that a Publisher does is make getting a book cost effective (as compared to the monks who used to hand-copy books).

Any other function of a publisher brings me, a customer, no value.

Originally Posted by BuddyBoy

What I was trying to point out is that since that issue doesn't pertain to ebooks

Sorry. That's what I get for posting before the coffee kicks in. 8-)

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by MelancholyTea

Let me know what that two-click method is when you get a chance...I'm sure a lot of us here would pay money for that

Fire up OpenOffice. Load in eBook. Click on SaveAs PDF. Then OK.

Done.

[MelancholyTea]

Originally Posted by rlauzon

Fire up OpenOffice. Load in eBook. Click on SaveAs PDF. Then OK.

Done.

Is this an ideal world of eBooks we're talking about? Or why eBooks should be cheaper as it stands today?

[Rimbaud]

Originally Posted by rlauzon

Fire up OpenOffice. Load in eBook. Click on SaveAs PDF. Then OK.

Done.

And... you would end up with a pretty crummy eBook. Although you might not think there is any "value-added" by the publisher, I can think of several things. In your example the author submits the book in electronic form and a couple of buttons are pushed, and that's all there is to it.

What about editing? Or formatting? Spelling and grammar checking, etc. Surely you don't think an author is going to have a book anywhere near ready for publication when he submits it to the publisher, do you?

Transforming a book from the author's initial submittal into a professionally edited, formatted, and styled document ready for presentation to the public is some of the value added by the publisher (at least that which I can think of off the top of my head.)

[BuddyBoy]

Originally Posted by rlauzon

Yes, I am keeping things simplistic but that's because, as a customer, the only thing that a Publisher does is make getting a book cost effective (as compared to the monks who used to hand-copy books).

Any other function of a publisher brings me, a customer, no value.

Oh wow.

Ok, if you truly feel that publishers bring no value to the table, especially with ebooks, than you should be quite satisfied getting your fiction fix, if any, off of the internet newsgroups and other places where authors distribute their work directly.

Feel free to wade through the mass of tortured prose of such swell quality, and chuckle at my gullibility for spending cash to read something that has been filtered, edited, packaged and publicized. What, you think those functions only bring value to the writer, not the reader? Um, once again, feel free to spend your time wading through the unedited stuff.

[BuddyBoy]

Originally Posted by Rimbaud

Transforming a book from the author's initial submittal into a professionally edited, formatted, and styled document ready for presentation to the public is some of the value added by the publisher (at least that which I can think of off the top of my head.)

And don't forget things like packaging and publicity which raises the awareness of the mere existance of the title, and the fact that most successful ebooks need to be released in a number of formats. PDF is fine, but there's LIT, LRF, Mobipocket, eReader, etc, etc.

Goodness, just look at the number of people complaining about typos in books at the connect store! A good publisher and editor try to minimize these if they can. If there was no editing, proofreading et al, the quality wouldn't even rank up there with Fictionwise's multiformat books, which are, in my opinion, pretty bad already.