I was at one of the local Media Play shops (they sell CDs Videos, books and
DVDs) and the Science Fiction section continues to shrink smaller and
smaller. And, to add insult to injury, they have now combined the fantasy
books and that section is now "Sci-Fi & Fantasy". Not that there is
anything wrong with fantasy, but the combined sections are SMALLER that the
Science Fiction section was alone before they combined them.
Even at our local bookstore here in Delaware Ohio, a few years ago they had
two - fifteen foot long shelves packed with Science Fiction books, displayed
spine out, and now they have a single six foot section that has the books
displayed cover out, and a couple of inches between each title.
Is it that people are not interested in buying Science Fiction as much as
they used to be or is it that the publishers are not publishing as many? Or
both?
This morning I was on a website that sells ebooks and looking at the prices
of some of the books that they were offering in the Science Fiction section,
it is no wonder that they are not popular. Many of the ebooks were being
sold for $14.95 each! Granted, a majority of these expensive books were by
big authors like Edgar Rice Burroughs, but I can't believe that many people
will buy them at this price. This website has writers guidelines for
selling ebooks on their site and they even recommend that ebooks not be sold
for more than $9.95 because they become hard to sell. On the positive side,
they do offer to sell your ebook and split the price at 50/50, with the
author retaining full ownership and rights to the content.
http://www.ebookmall.com
Unless a much better user interface is created, I don't believe that ebooks
will become as popular as printed books.
My prediction for the future is that you will eventually be able to purchase
and have books printed on demand. You would either purchase them online and
have them ready for pickup or delivered or you would go to a bookstore or
library and purchase the book and have it printed while you wait.
That possibility would not be completely out of the question. With a series
of high speed printers, a single book could be printed and bound in a few
minutes, including a color cover to complete the book.
Just some Sunday morning thoughts....
Gary
_____________________________________________
Gary L. Nunn
Delaware Ohio
A good way to threaten somebody is to light a
stick of dynamite. Then you call the guy and
hold the burning fuse up to the phone.
"Hear that?" you say. "That's dynamite, baby."
