Comments | dr_memory: dear publishing industry

dr_memory

dear publishing industry

Aug 31, 2010 08:05

Today it finally happened: on my way out of the house this morning, I realized that I’d just finished the last book I was reading, and it was therefore time to pop the next one off the to-read stack. The next one being a luscious-looking hardcover volume. I looked at it, looked at my backpack, felt my shoulders a bit, took a deep breath…

…and ( Read more... )

the biz never sleeps

Comments 30

jered August 31 2010, 05:40:04 UTC

There's a nice cafe near my house. For some reason, they also devote a lot of their floor space to processed tree scraps with letters printed on them. I haven't quite figured out why yet.

lulu_girl August 31 2010, 06:22:49 UTC

i love physical books. LOVE.

whitebird August 31 2010, 06:24:27 UTC

No! Never suggest they use mini-CDs! They play hob to slot loading drives...

But in general, though not for myself, I agree with what you say here.

huaman August 31 2010, 12:43:21 UTC

Marginally caffeinated, I'm gonna take your bait anyway ( ... )

more... huaman August 31 2010, 12:43:43 UTC

7. People don't even buy books at all, as compared to buying other media like videos and music. How many copies does a book generally have to sell to break even? Let's say it's priced at trade paperback / cheap hardcover prices like around $20; to break even it needs to sell in the range of 5,000 to 7500 copies -- the typical size of a first print run for *most books.* In 2004, when book sales were stronger than they are now, Nielsen Bookscan estimated that of approximately 1.2 million books published in the US that year, about 2% of those titles sold more than 5000 copies ( ... )

(The comment has been removed)

Re: more... huaman August 31 2010, 17:10:08 UTC

I suppose ultimately the point is I don't see publishers as likely to try to sweeten the deal for buyers of print ( ... )

epilady August 31 2010, 13:17:15 UTC

This is a timely conversation. I've just spent the last several days(and will spend the next several days hence) hauling pile after pile of printed paper product up and down our teeny spiral stairs because as much as I've tried to read books on our iPad or iPhones or Kindles...it's not really the same user experience. I'll gladly Kindle the latest diet book or a trashy novel, but it really wasn't the same at ALL to read (and predictably weep over) Geoff Ryman's gorgeous, elliptically precise writing on an electronic screen. Because we're trying to limit our book hoarding, I probably won't buy the paper edition of The King's Last Song but I want to. I really want to ( ... )

awfief September 1 2010, 01:55:59 UTC

FWIW - Barnes and Noble's "nook" application (for many phones and I think for computers too) allows you to lend a book to a friend. They only have 2 weeks to read it, which is bunk, but at least they're thinking about that. (however they don't have a highlight/annotate system like ereader.com does).

epilady September 1 2010, 01:57:06 UTC

Well, that is nice. It's still not, you know...a book
But I'm glad they had me in mind!