Am now just a little bit wound up by the bullshit being posted there about e-books. There are reasonable complaints to be made about the agency model, but you can’t tell from most posts whether they’re written be morons who think they’re being stolen from if books aren’t on sale at a price so low only a handful of writers will ever earn a half-decent wage, or by the Amazon marketing department intentionally posting outright lies.
It’s astonishing to note that some of them have decided publishers are like bankers and squeezing huge profits out the innocent poor. This is the same industry where, when you get business consultants to come in and look at the figures, they end up astonished that anyone would choose to work in an industry where there’s so little money to be made.
Right, more coffee, then back to writing. No good will come from joining in a debate with the ignorant… and you can’t kill them all, it would take too long.
Publishers
I have just finished reading book 4 ragged man and although I thought it was absolutely brilliant I have to say I was very dissapointed by the quality of the grammer. Who are your proof readers? I would be very honoured to proof read book 5 because i just cant wait until July 2011 fot it to be published. But really the flow became quite stilted in places where the grammer was not correct and i had to re-read parts to ensure i ubderstood your intention. Quite upset when Tila died, but good to know you are prepared that not all the heroines get to live to the end of the book. Anyway I have read many fab=ntasy books over the years and you are nearly up there with Tom eddings :-) The offer is still there
Re: Publishers
Well I’m sorry to hear that (apart from the enjoying it part!) – could you pull out some examples so I can highlight them to the publisher? I think I rather overwhelm the proofreader they use as there are a lot of continuity errors that are allowed through to proof stage.
As for Tom Eddings? Is that David’s less successful brother? ;0)
Publishers
I have just finished reading book 4 ragged man and although I thought it was absolutely brilliant I have to say I was very dissapointed by the quality of the grammer. Who are your proof readers? I would be very honoured to proof read book 5 because i just cant wait until July 2011 fot it to be published. But really the flow became quite stilted in places where the grammer was not correct and i had to re-read parts to ensure i ubderstood your intention. Quite upset when Tila died, but good to know you are prepared that not all the heroines get to live to the end of the book. Anyway I have read many fab=ntasy books over the years and you are nearly up there with Tom eddings :-) The offer is still there
Re: Publishers
Well I’m sorry to hear that (apart from the enjoying it part!) – could you pull out some examples so I can highlight them to the publisher? I think I rather overwhelm the proofreader they use as there are a lot of continuity errors that are allowed through to proof stage.
As for Tom Eddings? Is that David’s less successful brother? ;0)
Hmmm, I have no idea what the agency model is so can only comment in ignorance.
Though I lack a kindle or Nook, it does surprise me when an electronic version is cheaper than a hard copy [book], simply because i would have thought that the overheads were significantly lower.
Pricing on books is a weird one and even i’m not entirely sure on how i view the subject. [books give me more and longer pleasure than a DVD and even some games yet often cost significantly less vs I have little money and read a lot.] For some reason i’d never pirate a book but with TV and even film i’m not sure I’d have the same reservations.
Anyways, I also remember back in the day when the publishers price was what you paid and there was zero discounting on books ever [we’re talking a long while ago] and as a teenager this often meant that books were a very expensive luxury and I often had to use the public library [no idea the model there but how much would an author get from that? Were libraries like Video Rental places and had to pay a much higher cost per book?]
TL;DR, Whether a book is worth it’s cost is subjective I feel, based on how much you enjoy the work [steering clear of hardback v paperback here.] Not sure I could put a firm price limit on such a thing.
For debut novels I can’t help thinking a deep discount may be helpful in getting people to read it though.
From what I can tell, the overheads are certainly lower, but much of that is wiped out by the VAT added on. Most of the RRP of a physical book is the expected discount, because people don’t care what they’re spending as long as they’re getting a discount…
As far as I’m aware, I think you do sometimes get library editions but the author’s money mainly comes in the form of PLR, which here is 6p per loan roughly. Not a huge amount, but my first year i bought an xbox, my second a natural light thingy to help me wake up in the mornings – so you can’t live on it, but it is a nice annual cheque for me.
Hmmm, I have no idea what the agency model is so can only comment in ignorance.
Though I lack a kindle or Nook, it does surprise me when an electronic version is cheaper than a hard copy [book], simply because i would have thought that the overheads were significantly lower.
Pricing on books is a weird one and even i’m not entirely sure on how i view the subject. [books give me more and longer pleasure than a DVD and even some games yet often cost significantly less vs I have little money and read a lot.] For some reason i’d never pirate a book but with TV and even film i’m not sure I’d have the same reservations.
Anyways, I also remember back in the day when the publishers price was what you paid and there was zero discounting on books ever [we’re talking a long while ago] and as a teenager this often meant that books were a very expensive luxury and I often had to use the public library [no idea the model there but how much would an author get from that? Were libraries like Video Rental places and had to pay a much higher cost per book?]
TL;DR, Whether a book is worth it’s cost is subjective I feel, based on how much you enjoy the work [steering clear of hardback v paperback here.] Not sure I could put a firm price limit on such a thing.
For debut novels I can’t help thinking a deep discount may be helpful in getting people to read it though.
From what I can tell, the overheads are certainly lower, but much of that is wiped out by the VAT added on. Most of the RRP of a physical book is the expected discount, because people don’t care what they’re spending as long as they’re getting a discount…
As far as I’m aware, I think you do sometimes get library editions but the author’s money mainly comes in the form of PLR, which here is 6p per loan roughly. Not a huge amount, but my first year i bought an xbox, my second a natural light thingy to help me wake up in the mornings – so you can’t live on it, but it is a nice annual cheque for me.