Comments on: Divided we stand, united we fall http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/divided-we-stand-united-we-fall/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:36:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Paula B. http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/divided-we-stand-united-we-fall/comment-page-1/#comment-1156424 Paula B. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:14:16 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/?p=37824#comment-1156424 Just as an observation, the "one thing subsidizes another" model is pretty pervasive in commerce of all kinds: insurance, movies, various consumer goods, computers, etc. I'm not sure it's possible to eliminate it completely, but it's interesting to think about how it could be done and what the results might be. Just as an observation, the “one thing subsidizes another” model is pretty pervasive in commerce of all kinds: insurance, movies, various consumer goods, computers, etc. I’m not sure it’s possible to eliminate it completely, but it’s interesting to think about how it could be done and what the results might be.

]]> By: Rob Preece, Publisher http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/divided-we-stand-united-we-fall/comment-page-1/#comment-1156150 Rob Preece, Publisher Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:04:38 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/?p=37824#comment-1156150 Let's get rid of the idea that fiction will or should subsidize non-fiction. Publishers aren't in business to subsidize anything (and believe me, there aren't enough profits to subsidize much). History books have to pull their own weight. Are they more expensive? In paper, you've got expensive color plates, detailed drawings, that sort of stuff. On the other hand, in paper, history books do cost more. Fair enough. Some of those costs go away in eBook format (no need for expensive glossy paper). Others remain. But no publisher is going to publish a line of history books it knows will lose money. (How could a publisher stay in business if it lost money on one line and had to compete with companies who don't subsidize that line)? If we can't make money at history books, maybe there won't be so many. Guess what...there are always Ph.D. dissertations if you need to do research and they are, increasingly, available on-line. Or you can always download The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire from Gutenberg. As a side note, it's Nora Roberts who also writes as J. D. Robb. Rob Preece Publisher Let’s get rid of the idea that fiction will or should subsidize non-fiction. Publishers aren’t in business to subsidize anything (and believe me, there aren’t enough profits to subsidize much). History books have to pull their own weight. Are they more expensive? In paper, you’ve got expensive color plates, detailed drawings, that sort of stuff. On the other hand, in paper, history books do cost more. Fair enough. Some of those costs go away in eBook format (no need for expensive glossy paper). Others remain. But no publisher is going to publish a line of history books it knows will lose money. (How could a publisher stay in business if it lost money on one line and had to compete with companies who don’t subsidize that line)?

If we can’t make money at history books, maybe there won’t be so many. Guess what…there are always Ph.D. dissertations if you need to do research and they are, increasingly, available on-line. Or you can always download The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire from Gutenberg.

As a side note, it’s Nora Roberts who also writes as J. D. Robb.

Rob Preece
Publisher

]]> By: Richard Askenase http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/divided-we-stand-united-we-fall/comment-page-1/#comment-1156144 Richard Askenase Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:24:07 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/?p=37824#comment-1156144 I have long supported the idea that new fiction is properly priced at $9.99, but non-fiction (especially research works like history and biography) should be priced higher. For example, the new Teddy Roosevelt biography (years of work and 900+ pages) should cost more than Nora Robb's most recent novel. As for best-sellers funding other books, those days are quickly ending, if not already past. If a book cannot pay back its investment (in time, and research expenses), then it probably shouldn't be published, or it will need other sources of funding (like research grants). That's life in the real world. Many historians/biographers are faculty members at universities, so the issue of funding can be met that way. If not, it is UNREALISTIC to expect the public to pay an unnecessarily high price for popular fiction to fund it. Besides, if that happens, and the popular author is getting less royalties than he should, they will self-publish at Amazon and get the 70% royalty. So, ALL parties must work in this new financial world. I have long supported the idea that new fiction is properly priced at $9.99, but non-fiction (especially research works like history and biography) should be priced higher. For example, the new Teddy Roosevelt biography (years of work and 900+ pages) should cost more than Nora Robb’s most recent novel.

As for best-sellers funding other books, those days are quickly ending, if not already past. If a book cannot pay back its investment (in time, and research expenses), then it probably shouldn’t be published, or it will need other sources of funding (like research grants).

That’s life in the real world. Many historians/biographers are faculty members at universities, so the issue of funding can be met that way. If not, it is UNREALISTIC to expect the public to pay an unnecessarily high price for popular fiction to fund it. Besides, if that happens, and the popular author is getting less royalties than he should, they will self-publish at Amazon and get the 70% royalty.

So, ALL parties must work in this new financial world.

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