Would it be worth the paper it was printed on?

[estaratshirai]

I mean this question literally.

This book, formatted for the appropriate size, is 600 pages. According to Lulu's estimates, Devourer on the cheap paper would cost $15 per unit to print. (This, friends, is what we get for not buying in bulk.) They recommend a retail price of $30. I myself would be perfectly happy at negligible profit margins, since I

Comments

[maythen_apple]

I don't read eBooks at this time, and reading on my laptop for long periods gives me headaches. But I like the idea of having an ebook option included with buying the paper version. That would bump up what I was willing to spend a bit.

I just can't let go of paper. i like to feel it, spill things on the pages, leave notes. i like to pet the spines of favorite books.

that and iTunes has eaten too much of my music not to feel deeply suspicious that my books would be gobbled up unexpectedly in a simmilar fashion

Several of my "paperback but worth it" pile (cost over 10 dollars) run in the price ranges you seem to be looking at. If it contained enough tidbits to rationalize it as both entertaining and metaphysically useful that would work for me as a consumer.

[estaratshirai]

I hear you on the music-eating. Bastards. (eMusic's been better behaved, fwiw.)

The nice thing about Lulu would be that it wouldn't cost me more to provide an option that not many people used, except for the extra time and effort involved in making a wrap-around version of the cover. I would basically end up handling it as if it were the "deluxe edition" of the ebook.

[shartasha]

I will fight for paper in my hands until my last breath! Reading for long times on the computer or ereaders kills my eyes and gives me horrible headaches. I also like to be able to go back to something I enjoy later if I want to look up something to refresh my memory, yes..even in fiction books. I have that kind of memory where I can't for the life of me remember the details but I can tell you exactly which book and nearly where it is in that book. I would buy the book, well..when we're not unemployed.

[boyastridgirl]

I'd read it in either format. I'd also loan it out as an e-book if it were Kindle because it's what I have. Though, I do have the B&N e-reader app on a tablet I use as a routing machine so all my email is on it and basic browser stuff, so not much experience with the e-reader on that...

That being said, I think if you offered both paper and ebook that your audience would work well with it.

I would also look at Paxson's stuff and see how that all worked out, she's definitely done stuff along this same vein (fantasy [we'll just agree to call it that, butweknowbetter] with enough practical stuff to be interesting).

If you go ebook format only, email the editor at FF and let them know that I sent ya.

[pjvj]

I would love to have the paper + ebook as a combo. I also am financially able to do so at $30 and think for both the cost is exactly right keeping the current market in mind and the fact that Sel can ebook you up at no charge.

If you decide to go ebook only then offer a .pdf version for people to print from their PC so they can read it on paper if they need that.

[estaratshirai]

Oh, a pdf version is a given - I don't want to trap people into a particular reader. Since there are no-cost-to-me paper routes, I think what I will probably do is set up with the least expensive one that still looks decently like a book, and sell an e-only version and a combo version.