Re: consequences of shift to ebooks

--- In [email protected], Mary E Tyler wrote:
> On Jan 6, 2008, at 10:59 PM, auwg wrote:
> > All in all, she'd have received the same amount either way,
> > with or without an advance.
> 
> Yes, but she would have had to wait six months to a year--or a year to  
> eighteen months to get it. The time value of money says that if you  
> are going to get the same amount it is ALWAYS better to have it today  
> than to wait months or a year for it. At least you're the one earning  
> interest on it.

And there you have an excellent point.
I don't know the current real or imagined rates of inflation, but I do
know that a nickel hasn't been able to liberate a Coke from a 
sidewalk vending machine since about 1967. :)

> I won't say that **no** author is going to go for no advance, but
> many simply will not. Why sell my novel on consignment, only
> getting paid when the publisher does? They should pay when they 
> buy like I have to when I buy something at the store.

Welllll... I question that.
If you, the author, were simply turning over your manuscript for cash
in a one-time payment -- actually selling it outright, like a work of
art -- that would be a valid comparison.
But... you aren't.
You are asking a publisher to invest fairly heavily in using your
design to construct a finished and marketable item, then make replicas
of that item and sell them.
Nobody knows at that point how successful sales efforts will be.

You - as the author - are essentially a *partner* in a highly
speculative effort to turn ideas into products and sell those products
on the street, and you are definitely *not* the 'partner' with the
most to lose if those efforts fail to generate a good return on
investments.
Ed Howdershelt - Abintra Press
Science Fiction & Semi-Fiction
http://www.AbintraPress.com
My Fictionwise Ratings: http://tinyurl.com/26v45



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