Re: Jump start topic

I can agree with some but not with others. I agree that Eric Flint's vision
is ONLY useful if you are relying on your bulk sales from paper books. For
those of us that don't, his attitude is a hindrance.

I disagree that all the current PDA models are expensive and fragile.
Sorry... My daughter and I haven't managed to kill either of ours yet, and I
managed to kill my first PDA in a matter of weeks. This one is going on 4
years. Neither do they use expensive DRM types/proprietary types. Mine reads
DOC and PDF. How simple and UN-DRM can you get? Don't get me wrong...I'm all
for no DRM and a few, universal file types.

At the same time, I'm all for the government giving e-books the same sort of
protection and support the music industry gets for digital music. It's not
that we need NEW laws. It's that we need them to get off their arses and
take the complaints we send at them about OUR industry seriously.

I do agree that eInk is going to bring more people in, people who don't like
the type of screens I read on. That's good. Choices are good. I also think
we need an even more affordable ($30-40...and we CAN sell them for that),
durable reader.

I don't see publishers going away, though they aren't necessary now, if
you're not concerned with stigma of self-publishing. Then again, I don't see
paper books going away for centuries...or ever, even if they stop printing
them new. At the same time, I fully agree that the publishing industry, as
it NOW stands, is in major trouble. The first logical change is moving to a
more POD system and driving the price of POD down.

The ultimate change would be to have book stores with browsing space and
with computers containing a searchable database of all possible items. If
something is on the shelf, you could grab it from there. If it's not, you
could order at the terminal. Browse a few more minutes. By the time you
reach the check-out, your book order could be printed or nearly so, right in
the store. Any books scanned out for sale that were taken from the shelf
would have a new copy printed and returned to the shelf by the bookstore
employees. You could still order books from home and have them delivered, as
we do now, but this would eliminate shipping and waste for the entire
bookstore arm of publishing. It's a lovely thought...a hybrid, where we
still have bookstores and browsing, and we also have printed books, when we
want them. The very same bookstores could offer the option of a CD of
e-books to be burned and carried home with you (automatic backup of your
library, since they burn the copy for you, when you purchase).

Rolling eyes. The person who wrote this isn't taking simple economics into
account. 90%+ of ALL new businesses fold. All told, I'd have to say that
e-publishing is no worse than most. The only real difference is the amount
of press they get when they fold. I do agree that many people go into the
business without considering the very real aspects of running a publishing
business, but that doesn't mean there's more disaster in e-publishing than
any other business venture.

He also hasn't taken into account the snowball effect I've personally seen
in royalties. If you write more books, you sell more backlist. That's the
way it works. If he really thinks old books don't sell more than a few
dollars after the first year, he hasn't written series of them. EVERY time I
would sell a new book in a series, even 3 years down the line, book one
would get a new spate of sales...so would book two, three, four... That's
the way it runs. If you understand Eric Flint's comments about someone going
out and purchasing the rest of a series, after reading book one, you've got
to understand the domino effect of this.

The main way to earn money is with creating something new. I'll give him
that one. But, it's not the only way. He's completely disregarded expanding
your current reader base for more sales. If you're only focusing on writing
and not on marketing, you're not going to do the latter.

Brenna
-- 
http://www.brennalyons.com http://www.myspace.com/brennalyons
All dreams have a meaning, even those that cannot possibly be true. Mollie
hopes so, anyway.  Is she losing her mind or learning her destiny? FAIRY
DREAMS -Mundania Press, LLC.


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