Op 30-4-2013 0:23, Raymond Feist schreef:
On Apr 29, 2013, at 2:27 PM, Paddyjack <[email protected]> wrote:
Ray,
I was wondering about something..... in the printing world, there is of course
a limited amount of books that are printed, and once you get to the end of that
for one particular book, then it's done and final unless you get to get a
second edition, a third etc. It means that some books can no longer be found in
bookstores except second hand stores.
Now, with the ebooks era, how does that work? Is there a limited "copies" that
has to be sold, or are these books going to be in e-stores forever? Is there something
about this in contracts with publishers?
Curious about this.
PJ
it's a different paradigm. If you look at the US paperbacks for Silverthorn,
for example, it's in it's (I think) 37th printing. Magician got a do-over when
the '92 revised text hit, because that was a new ISBN. Anyway, as my books
never go out of print so far, its academic unless you're a 1st edition
collector.
E-books will have out of print, I expect, if there comes a time when it's just
not downloading, which I can imagine for several reasons. Even though e-books
have different fixed overhead, server space costs money. Yes, you can put a
bazillion books on servers if you're design is scaleable enough and you have
the money to buy blade servers, but at what point do you keep a book on that
hasn't been downloaded in five years? And there's a question of a reader
finding a book. Say we were talking and I mentioned some old Science Fiction
author from the 1960s I loved, and you decided to go look for him/her. That's
one way, but if nobody's talking about that writer, the book just sits there,
because the publisher is not spending a dime on attracting an audience.
It's a different retail channel and we don't know yet exactly how it plays out,
so I guess my answer is books will linger far longer, but probably like print
not forever.
Best, R.E.F.
----
www.crydee.com
Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by
stupidity.
I always thought e-books were sold only for a limited time to create a
certain sale (demand) and to make room for other books.
'Limited time' can be a month, year or years. Depending on your
estimated sale goals.
It already happens in iTunes with music, so why not with e-books?
Despite it being a 'new' channel, I doubt the sale tactics behind it are
that different.
Best John-M
