plunging in

[gfish]

I know I should stay clear of Amazonfail, but I just want to say that a publisher which can't make a profit selling $9 etexts (or $5, or $2) deserves to go bankrupt. If amortized editing and design costs are really the lion's share of a physical book, the system is deeply, deeply broken.

(Even applying design costs to the etext version is largely ridiculous. How much design work does an etext need? I'd prefer it as a raw text file anyway, but a LaTeX-generated PDF would also be just fine as well. The only reason for fancy design in the first place is to catch people's attention in a store. Etext selection and browsing is nothing like that, so why bother with it in the first place? Tradition? Snob factor? Anything that can't be seen in the scaled down image of the book cover in an Amazon listing is a complete waste of money.)

I remain unconvinced of the long-term viability of selling data as a business model. But if you want to find a way for authors to make money, don't make it even harder by trying to defend these dinosaurs at the same time.

Comments

[satyrblade.livejournal.com]

I have been "thinking about these things" - and living them in a day-to-day manner - for most of my adult life. It might help your understanding of that fact - among others - if you "desperately tried to understand" what is actually involved in the process instead of asserting - in the face of people who know more about the subject than you do - that your supposition is correct.

Fishie, when I read posts like the one above, I feel like a biologist confronted with a creationist:

"Here are the facts."

"But my facts trump your facts."

"My facts come from observation, experience and reproducible results."

"My facts are correct."

"I can prove otherwise."

"I disbelieve in your proof because I'm right."

And so it goes...

Does that analogy successfully communicate the essential (and emotional) dilemma at hand? :)