Comments on: A Future for Print in the Digital Age? http://www.teleread.com/pod/a-future-for-print-in-the-digital-age/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:04:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Ben http://www.teleread.com/pod/a-future-for-print-in-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-1229163 Ben Sun, 13 Jan 2013 19:49:58 +0000 http://www.teleread.com/?p=76543#comment-1229163 I work in prepress and I see a major flaw with this article on POD advantages over offset... higher cost aside, the print quality is also worst. Have you ever compare an offset book vs a POD? For text only books, POD can look identical but when you compare any 2-4C books side-by-side, then you'll noticed the difference, you get what you pay for. A good color offset book is far better than any good POD book. Assuming you care about paying for quality, which I do. Print is dying because consumer reading habits are shifting quicker than anyone can anticipate with ereaders and tablets. Think how iPod changes the music industry? It's similar here with books except there is no Steve Jobs to save the book industry from itself. I work in prepress and I see a major flaw with this article on POD advantages over offset… higher cost aside, the print quality is also worst. Have you ever compare an offset book vs a POD? For text only books, POD can look identical but when you compare any 2-4C books side-by-side, then you’ll noticed the difference, you get what you pay for.

A good color offset book is far better than any good POD book. Assuming you care about paying for quality, which I do. Print is dying because consumer reading habits are shifting quicker than anyone can anticipate with ereaders and tablets. Think how iPod changes the music industry? It’s similar here with books except there is no Steve Jobs to save the book industry from itself.

]]> By: Gary Frost http://www.teleread.com/pod/a-future-for-print-in-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-1228916 Gary Frost Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:57:59 +0000 http://www.teleread.com/?p=76543#comment-1228916 PediaPress is a good example of the return bridge from screen books to paper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Books The current photobook self publishing model is also instructive of the deeper complementary relation of print and screen book transmission. Its always important to note that publisher investment in screen distribution is based on print revenue. Another factor is the increasing economy of electrostatic book printing, both industrially and at the desktop or retail end. PediaPress is a good example of the return bridge from screen books to paper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Books The current photobook self publishing model is also instructive of the deeper complementary relation of print and screen book transmission.

Its always important to note that publisher investment in screen distribution is based on print revenue. Another factor is the increasing economy of electrostatic book printing, both industrially and at the desktop or retail end.

]]> By: Michael W. Perry http://www.teleread.com/pod/a-future-for-print-in-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-1228887 Michael W. Perry Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:01:37 +0000 http://www.teleread.com/?p=76543#comment-1228887 That's a great article with some excellent ideas. I particularly like the comment about printed books being better as gifts. Even a Amazon or iTunes gift card comes up lacking there. I'll add another suggestion. With CS6, InDesign has become a marvelous tool for publishing books in all formats, print and digital. For my latest, Hospital Gowns and Other Embarrassments, the very same ID document created: 1. A PDF print version for Ingram's Lightning Source and Amazon's CreateSpace. 2. An ePub 3.0 version for Apple's iBookstore (just turn off font embedding) 3. A MOBI version of Kindles using Amazon's ID plug-in. It finally does what I need done. The only hitch was that in December I had to move the text into Word and format it to create a .doc file for Smashwords to reach the other ebook retailers (B&N, Kobo, Sony, Diesel etc). With Smashwords now accepting ePub 2.0 files, which ID can also export, that same ID document can now drive Smashword publication. The result is that I now have a marvelous, two-step workflow for everything--something I've wanted for years. Scrivener for the outlining, drafting and editing, and InDesign for the publication. And once in ID, any final editing and proofing I do immediately appears in all the versions. No pesky editing here and remembering to also edit there. The major hitch with ID is its hefty first-time price, a mind-shattering $700. But check around on eBay and the like. You can sometimes pick up an older but upgradeable version for much less. Just make sure you get a licensable, upgradable copy. The only remaining author-as-publisher woe, which the author's Peecho website apparently partially addresses, is the web side of marketing and selling. I never seem to get around to updating my website. It'd be great if someone offered a service that'd give me what looks like my own website with complete freedom to describe my books as I want and to direct them to all the possible sources customers can use, Amazon, B&N etc Just like I love ID CS6 for freeing me from ePub and MOBI coding, authors need a site that frees them for fussing with HTML. That’s a great article with some excellent ideas. I particularly like the comment about printed books being better as gifts. Even a Amazon or iTunes gift card comes up lacking there.

I’ll add another suggestion. With CS6, InDesign has become a marvelous tool for publishing books in all formats, print and digital. For my latest, Hospital Gowns and Other Embarrassments, the very same ID document created:

1. A PDF print version for Ingram’s Lightning Source and Amazon’s CreateSpace.

2. An ePub 3.0 version for Apple’s iBookstore (just turn off font embedding)

3. A MOBI version of Kindles using Amazon’s ID plug-in. It finally does what I need done.

The only hitch was that in December I had to move the text into Word and format it to create a .doc file for Smashwords to reach the other ebook retailers (B&N, Kobo, Sony, Diesel etc). With Smashwords now accepting ePub 2.0 files, which ID can also export, that same ID document can now drive Smashword publication.

The result is that I now have a marvelous, two-step workflow for everything–something I’ve wanted for years. Scrivener for the outlining, drafting and editing, and InDesign for the publication. And once in ID, any final editing and proofing I do immediately appears in all the versions. No pesky editing here and remembering to also edit there.

The major hitch with ID is its hefty first-time price, a mind-shattering $700. But check around on eBay and the like. You can sometimes pick up an older but upgradeable version for much less. Just make sure you get a licensable, upgradable copy.

The only remaining author-as-publisher woe, which the author’s Peecho website apparently partially addresses, is the web side of marketing and selling. I never seem to get around to updating my website. It’d be great if someone offered a service that’d give me what looks like my own website with complete freedom to describe my books as I want and to direct them to all the possible sources customers can use, Amazon, B&N etc

Just like I love ID CS6 for freeing me from ePub and MOBI coding, authors need a site that frees them for fussing with HTML.

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