tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post114850073087785655..comments2024-03-29T11:20:37.238+00:00Comments on Grumpy Old Bookman: Predicting the future of the book tradeMichael Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11338398159818400930noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1149607485405803012006-06-06T16:24:00.000+01:002006-06-06T16:24:00.000+01:00to skintwriterAnastasia: How many of those books t...<B>to skintwriter</B><BR/><BR/><I>Anastasia: How many of those books that are bought are actually read? Don't forget that the big publishers are actually just middle-men/women, they get in the way of writers and their potential readers; content, to them, is virtually irrelevant, sales and profit are all that matter.<BR/><BR/>Self-publishing is relatively cheap now even if you go to a traditional printer. POD brings the costs down to a level where it is cheaper than most hobbies to publish your own books.</I><BR/><BR/>I'll put it to you another way. If Dan Brown created one web page and posted the Da Vinci Code on it, would it have 'sold' as many copies without the marketing machine of the publishing company?<BR/><BR/>yes or no? We're talking 40 million sales of the novel.<BR/>I don't think vanity presses can achieve the same thing.<BR/><BR/>I've noticed a few companies that are offering to print blogs as books and their prices are high, their word content per page is a rip off in terms of content (whereby more pages are required to be printed, at a higher price, naturally).<BR/><BR/>The fortunate writers who do have their work accepted by publishers don't have to fork out money for printing costs or whatever else (copyediting, advertising), all these costs, when added together are significant for a writer who is scraping by. Not all writers are well off, are supported by family, spouses etc.Dee Jourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03292268023897537647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1148764542150310312006-05-27T22:15:00.000+01:002006-05-27T22:15:00.000+01:00A friend of mine who's an author yesterday asked m...A friend of mine who's an author yesterday asked me how long it had taken me to write my (first) book. I told her "four years". She nodded, and said that the book she was just getting ready to send off to her editor had taken her four years so far. I routinely ask this question, when an author tells me, in my bookstore, that they've just had a book published. Usually people say: Six Years; Fifteen Years--etc. Which is to say that there's a gigantic difference between a "book" as we all commonly understand that word and all these instant-info systems now in place (like this blog). I think that's what's so funny about people who say that the internet will change everything where books are concerned. Because as long as each of us does understand that we've got to GET IT RIGHT sometimes, when we construct written texts to share with anybody who stumbles across our work, there will always be respect given by people LIKE US to the work of others who've understood this same principle. I respect a good book, because I have a feeling for what it took to create one. (I felt this way even before creating my first one. I knew it was brutally difficult. Nothing like writing a letter or email or journal entry.) And I think that deeply felt, polished written texts, created by committed writers, will always have a distinct "future history". The future history of books will remain all about "books". There will be no merger with some sort of free-flowing, all-networked "information" (there is no such thing, by the way, as "information" since all statements are tainted by the perspectives of those who create them. No objectivity, no neutrality. No pure "fact".)<BR/><BR/>Book have a future. (And critics DEFINITELY have a future!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1148633072535153972006-05-26T09:44:00.000+01:002006-05-26T09:44:00.000+01:00Good article GOB, it is amusing to read that even ...Good article GOB, it is amusing to read that even those who operate in the inner cabals haven't really got a clue about anything.<BR/><BR/>You're right not to draw any definite conclusions, the internet is changing our psychological environment as much as carbon emissions are changing our physical environment. Who knows how we will evolve/adapt.<BR/><BR/>Anastasia: How many of those books that are bought are actually read? Don't forget that the big publishers are actually just middle-men/women, they get in the way of writers and their potential readers; content, to them, is virtually irrelevant, sales and profit are all that matter.<BR/><BR/>Self-publishing is relatively cheap now even if you go to a traditional printer. POD brings the costs down to a level where it is cheaper than most hobbies to publish your own books.<BR/><BR/>A combination of a strong internet site and the availability of 'real' books on demand, looks like a fairly good model to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1148624985802064492006-05-26T07:29:00.000+01:002006-05-26T07:29:00.000+01:00To suggest that the booktrade is resisting technol...To suggest that the booktrade is resisting technological change is pure bollocks and would only be written by an outsider with no hands-on experience. <BR/><BR/>Printing techniques, and thus book distribution times have changed enormously in the past twenty years. How many luddities has anyone seen within the printing companies.<BR/><BR/>As an industry we have become becalmed in all the shite about price : culture is not price driven. Quality, rather than pretension, will be a dominant survival factor for the niche market authors, publishers, and retailers. <BR/><BR/>Trade colleagues with whom I regularly speak are very willing to accept e-book downloads : we, the independent terrestial bookshops, just want to be sure that the publishers are going to be prepared to offer us fairer "distribution" terms than those currently offered for hard print books. <BR/><BR/>A new deal for authors via on-line publishing : you've got to be drinking an unknown potion. What guarantee is there that the author will get any better deal than at the present ? <BR/><BR/>How many readers of this blog would wish to undertake the financial liabilities, as publisher, for most of the drivel written in the 21st century ?<BR/><BR/>So one book in ten thousand will be a good earner : better playing the horses or dogs. Rather apt that, as most unsellable dreck would be referred to as "dogs". <BR/><BR/>Bring on the e-books, bring on the Sony readers, bring on POD expresso machines !!! The quality hard-print books will still have a viable market : there are plenty of different ways to crack an egg.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1148599259394213462006-05-26T00:20:00.000+01:002006-05-26T00:20:00.000+01:00“Still, there is plenty to criticize about Fiorina...“Still, there is plenty to criticize about Fiorina's tenure at HP. At this point, the changes that Fiorina made didn't turn out so well for the thousands of Hewlett Packard and Compaq employees that were laid off and the millions of HP stockholders who lost equity since she took over. HP stock is worth less today than it was in 1999. Dell and IBM stock has increased in value.<BR/><BR/>I guess the changes didn't work out too well for Ms. Fiorina either. Though based on her $21 million severance package and her generous compensation while employed at HP, I doubt very much that she's worried about making ends meet.”<BR/><BR/>What was Fiorina's great vision for HP? A merger with Compaq that didn't help either company. Fiorina should write a book titled "How To Get A Great Job, Do It Poorly, And Walk Away Richer."<BR/><BR/>http://www.pcanswer.com/articles/carly.htmPeter L. Winklerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16005846686173676213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1148593794901248112006-05-25T22:49:00.001+01:002006-05-25T22:49:00.001+01:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Dee Jourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03292268023897537647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1148593774338168322006-05-25T22:49:00.000+01:002006-05-25T22:49:00.000+01:00I think the biggest scam (in regard to online publ...I think the biggest scam (in regard to online publishing) has to be self publishing, and/or being published via small 'sites' that never pay (not that the money matters) but publishing companies can (if they desire) ensure a larger reading audience, larger than what a webpage offers.<BR/><BR/>The web, in terms of publishing is deceptive. People may search for particular terms online, they are options and they land on sites that may not reflect what they are searching for. Thus, a 'hit', isn't always a hit.<BR/><BR/>Self publishing by way of printing, only works for those who have the time and money, for the ordinary writer who needs to maintain their life with a job (who doesn't have access to funds) it doesn't offer much.<BR/>Scanlan's predictions are pretty amusing and unrealistic.<BR/><BR/>My prediction:<BR/>Ebooks only make money for Epublishers and will bottom out (after writers get sick and tired of poorer royalties, realising they're being ripped off) and don't offer a sufficient readership.It's much like blogging really where stats mean nothing, whereas bought books mean something and if in thousands, mean even moreDee Jourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03292268023897537647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1148554295800601162006-05-25T11:51:00.000+01:002006-05-25T11:51:00.000+01:00And my own, also entirely useless, addendum to you...And my own, also entirely useless, addendum to your prediction: somebody will find a way to make money from it.Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.com