[LINK] The once and future e-book: on reading in the digital age

[Jan Whitaker]

At 10:13 AM 5/02/2009, Michael Skeggs mike at bystander.net wrote:
>Interesting blog post from an author comparing the economics of self
>publishing real books versus e-books.
>Not sure I agree with the assumptions or conclusions, but interesting none
>the less. Note, contains some profanity.
>http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/the-cost-of-self-publication-ebook-vs-print-one-persons-story/ 
>

Yeah, read this with a grain of salt. 2/3 of the cost for the POD, 
85% [roughly] of the ebook, is for editing. Not sure what that's 
based on. AND this book [really an encyclopedia] was equivalent of 4 
books, 283,000 words [books being around 70,000 words nowadays]. Good 
luck getting readers at all because of size. Consider this a bizarre 
example, but an example none the less.

So given those parameters, the $55/book for POD is about $14/book in 
normal circumstances, even with all that overhead of $3500. And the 
cost of the ebook format version is negligible if you take out the 
editing cost, and three of those costs are one off software costs 
that will amortize over several books.

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
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Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

Writing Lesson #54:
Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for 
guests. - JW, May, 2007
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