"Free" E-books aren't free...

[alfreda89]

A real, nuts and bolts post about how e-piracy can hurt writers -- can make the difference between selling another book, and no more books at all.

(We're using this icon because e-pirates are boobs, not because there is adult content connected to the post... ;^) )

AND -- Someone in publishing explains why E-books cost so #$%@ much. When it's cheaper than this? Basically, either free labor and glossing over some of the steps, or the author/publisher is losing money on the book.

Comments

[mouser.livejournal.com]

I'm not buying his reasoning - but that may be ignorance on my part.

"acquisitions, royalties" - two different columns for "paying for the book we're reselling"

"Digital preparation" and "Quality assurance" are different terms for "copyediting, cover and interior design, page composition"



The thing he undersells is "Digital distribution" costs, which is not from the PUBLISHER in most cases, it's from the reseller. Amazon/B&N, etc run the servers, not the publisher (except in the case of Baen, as far as I know.) Very few PUBLISHERS run digital distribution. Now if publishers are netting 70% then those that are distributing are already paying for it out of their 30%

I will agree that there are a LOT of fixed cost if you do print or not - I'm just very leery of his descriptions on costs.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I don't know for sure -- I can only hear editors, etc. talk on the subject. A big problem no one is talking about is, books have an extremely narrow profit margin. A lot of people like Time-Warner got into books thinking that there was money in it, only to sell the publishing houses years later. I guess getting the "book up front before the movie rights were auctioned" was not saving them any money.

There is a real risk that unlike music, books cannot adjust to digital, and quality books will become hard to find because publishers will stop publishing all but what they perceive as a bestseller. If they can't justify their profits, they'll fold that part of the business. Which mean the best promoters will sell on line -- not the best books.

There is a real risk that in a couple of years, writers will be "creators" who come up with ideas and get paid for them, while others build games, movies, TV etc. from them. Which really doesn't interest me -- I want to control the original story from beginning to end.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Books will adjust to the electronic market, just as music did. They're too important to have in some form. They might not all be linear text with interspersed pictures, but there will be something.

The book industry seems to be having the same issues as the music industry. Yes, there are lot of things that have to happen in both physical and virtual. There are also some things that have to happen only on one side or the other. Trying to make it sound like both versions are going to cost the same is like when the music industry was manufacturing CDs and charging more for them then for any other media form - even though they already cost less.

Yes, there will be a minimum low end price point, and it will depend on a variety of fixed costs. But it looks to me like the author of that article is BSing with some of that. However, until a famous author reveals their earning statements for both versions of a book, I don't think the book industry will be held accountable.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

It's hard to do this anonymously and not have people figure out who you are (at that level) but that might do it. Since the B-list was abandoned by most publishers, the B-list has been creating a new industry on the Internet and in POD people are selling at fairs.

Probably, this is asking the book industry to give up some of their profit margin. Only something like 6% of the population reads more than two books a year. This is not as big a market as music. Could it be? Quite possibly. But I don't see commercial publishing leading the way on it.

Look at the other link. In the comments, one person thought that writers were paid by publishers while they were writing! I imagine others will try for the gold ring, but many of us will simply give up trying to publish, and write only for ourselves. And not release the material to the public.

I think, if I continue healing, I will give NYC one more try and try to write the last Allie book and one other, new book idea. But if I cannot sell them, then I have to figure out a master's that will find me work for the next 20 years. I don't feel healthy enough to keep changing careers every ten years.

However, until a famous author reveals their earning statements for both versions of a book, I don't think the book industry will be held accountable.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

It's not surprising to me that publisher have dropped B-list authors; they seem to be following in the footsteps of the recording industry of about ten-twenty years ago. They might risk publishing a few unknowns, but they are focusing on "the names" that they know sell.

Thinking about it, the movie industry also went/is going through this. It's massive change to distribution and no one wanted to do it. So when it got to the point where "the little guy" could do it on their own and actually make enough of a living at it to make it worthwhile, "the industry" ignored it/dismissed it/tried to make it illegal/etc. (Oh, and comics/webcomics.)

I know a few people that have started to make a living as "independents" but it's work and still very risky. I don't know if POD and author e-distribution is viable as a sole source or income or not yet.