Re: RARA-AVIS: E-Publication and "Never Going Out of Print"

From: gsp.schoo@MOT.com
Date: 19 Mar 2010

  • Next message: Debbi Mack: "RARA-AVIS: printing and distributing books"

    That's fine Patrick and if you're satisfied taking one little pig to market, or rather all your piggies to one market, I've no beef with you.

    But some might argue that a marketplace with one million customers is actually quite small, relative to the number of people or products being offered there, especially when there are millions more customers who purchase digitally published books in other markets close to hand. There are other forms of e-books, print-on-demand texts etcetera, most of them originating from PDF files. A little extra administration, as you say, might allow you to reach even more readers.

    In a marketplace increasingly fragmented by varied forms of media and media output devices the probabilities of deriving significant economic reward from any single medium decline. The odds improve by offering narratives not only in a number of different formats but through adapting narratives to additional forms of output, such as scripts for movies, plays and video games. Video gaming has grown to a size that, in terms of overall sales, rivals movies while, the percentage of narratives presented as text has been in decline since television became a serious medium. The upside is that the marketing in one format often supports sales in other formats as well, further enhancing the odds of ovrall success. Whether that's enough to make the entire enterprise profitable relative to effort is still long odds, however.

    And it is a pain in the butt for a writer, no question. I would not be so presumptuous as to suggest you do this, Patrick. Not writers' area of expertise as you point out, but it is a challenge we all face nevertheless. Historically this problem has been overcome through collaboration and by hiring the services of agents and publishers but we all know what annoying, grasping people they can be. They're almost as bad as those swine otherwise known as editors.

    Best, Kerry (snort snort)

      ----- Original Message -----
      From: Patrick King
      To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
      Sent: Friday, March 19, 2010 1:06 AM
      Subject: RE: RARA-AVIS: E-Publication and "Never Going Out of Print"

        
      I don't believe he said "any format"...rather, he said "...restrict yourselfto Kindle" -- the keyword being restrict. Any restriction of distribution is going to restrict the type and number of readers one has. If one's trying to make a dollar or two, that type of restriction is going to be problematic for that goal since the number of Kindle readers (e-readers,period) is still a small segment of the reading/book- buying public.

      I assume that's what he meant.

      Ron C.

      *************************************

      Small segment of the reading public they may be, but there's well over a million of them. If I can get a mere hundred thousand readers, it'll be beyond my wildest dreams. On the other hand, it will require a $4,000 investment on my part to have 1,000 copies of the book published in paper. Smaller runs are a lot more expensive, and I have no guarantee I'll sell them out. I also have no desire to go mailing books all over the world. Electronic distribution of Kindle copies works just fine for me.

      Patrick King

      

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