Re: ebook v POD (was re: piracy thread)

To be perfectly honest, there are several reasons I believe POD may
eventually replace mass market.

The indies, as you noted (Joseph) have a two-pronged approach that includes
POD and e-book, and it works fairly well, when it's not artificially hobbled
by the brick and mortars. Even with the hobbling, several indies have found
ways around it, which include comic and gaming distribution and selling
direct on Amazon.

Indies with in-house machines can produce POD trade at comparable sale
prices to mass market books of similar length. I have a 138,000 word book,
for instance, that sells for $10 on Amazon, since the publisher sells direct
via Amazon and has an in-house machine. My author cost for them is $5, which
means production price is higher than mass market, but the conglomerates
COULD adjust, given ample reason to compare the costs of shipping and
warehousing to the costs of no returns/stripping and only printing what you
need.

The conglomerates are embracing POD for backlist titles. They see the
benefit of it. It's not a big step to use it for all books. Will it happen
today? No. Will it happen eventually? I really believe it will eventually,
as the price of waste becomes too high. I never said it would happen this
decade...just that I believe it's where we are heading.

Finally...advancing technology. Which you covered well.

Brenna
On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 12:12 AM, joseph harris <[email protected]>wrote:

>
>
> ;-) Putting metaphors aside, I think this is a very interesting area
> because it will have effects on print and maybe on the attractiveness of
> writing at all.
>
> I have two qualifications to Marion's position here.
> First I think the future of POD rests on the new small publisher more than
> on the congolmerates. I base this on the growing self-assurance of these new
> entrepreneurs. But this is a time thing; just worth watching.
>
> The other is that the EBM is a first generation. If research funding is
> going in the prospects for advance are great. That should give a five year
> step to version two. Improvements are needed in print, collation and gluing!
>
>

-- 
http://www.brennalyons.com    http://www.facebook.com/brenna.lyons
2-time EPIC's e-Book Award WINNER! "Powers or no, the Kielan are their own
worst enemies, caught up in systematic, stagnated tradition, lost to the
hypocrisy of classism, and defenseless despite their psi powers. Time
Currents is a tale that I won’t soon forget." Patrice F. for Joyfully
Reviewed


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