[devtalk] What language?

[joseph]

On 08/10/2012 23:26, David Precious wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:28:53 +0100
> joseph<joseph-harris at topmail.co.uk>  wrote:
>
>    
>>   Anyone able to develop a non-DRM system that
>> demonstrably reduces piracy of digital files also has a big market
>> waiting.
>>      
> "Selling good content at a good price"?
>    

It is a good question too! But "good" doesn't just happen. If you really 
mean  'good content' it requires many professionals to put their input 
to it. And the idea that you can just offer content without serious 
consideration about its presentation doesn't fly in serious publishing, 
though it may satisfy some users. If those costs are going to be 
recovered you must have an adequate distribution system.

Then too, selling enough to cover those costs requires ways of being 
seen in the crowd. Theoretically the web and the digital have freed us 
of all those things. In practice the crowd is much bigger and the 
patience of potential buyers much much lessened. And in areas like 
romance the ebook is the main format currently and all the costs I 
mention below need to be recovered.

Operation of the implications of your questions has led to the creation 
of monopolist monsters - Amazon, Google, Apple and its i's. The 
operation of social media is similarly leading to monsters like 
Facebook, and MS hovers also. All of  them are developing into very 
similar operations, seeking to trap customers with DRM systems. The 
Kindle and the i's are most obviously DRM systems; even if nothing like 
early DRMs.

Which raises the question of good price. People usually focus *only* on 
the one thing I have not mentioned: format. 'Look,' they ususlly say, 
'it costs nothing to copy an ebook, so I should have it for free.' Like 
everything in publishing the answer is not simple, but it centres on the 
point that format production, whether print or ebook is only a small 
part of the price; producing, say, an epub is not easy, nor is it as 
adaptable as print - this is a big problem for many forms, poetry for 
example.

The actual costs of converting to an ebook can be serious, depending on 
the type of book ande the inclusion or absence of illustration.  And the 
inclusion of illustration can pose serious problems in  forming an 
ebook, as can tables, some types of quotation, footnotes/endnotes and a 
few other things. The development of interact raises issues among which 
cost is probably going to mean the potential will never be fully 
realised. [Part of the problems are the wide variations in reader 
capabilities and OS/interpreter, as well as the wide variety of screed 
sizes and colour abilities.]

Because a lot of ebook and PoD output is from micro, mini and small 
publishers they themselves have no concept of the time they spend, and 
the value of that time; that if they grow they will need contractors and 
then staff who need to put bread on their tables.

And so does the poor old, always forgotten, author.

:-) So, how good do you want it David. Stream of consciousness, 
unedited, uncorrected, and indigestible first draft written in a 
substance haze, slapped into Sigil without checking; or a damned good 
read, instruction book, history, or specialist book on gravestone 
rubbing [yes there is one form a micro publisher - and it is a steady if 
small seller] that has cost time, love care and money?

Final price is a balance and a calculation between total cost and likely 
sales. Not that many ebooks sell at all; many sell no more than 50 
copies. A minuscule number sell more than 10,000, and genuine best 
sellers are rarer than gold dust. Every book [+/- 2-3%] is pirated, and 
the actual effects on sales are unknown, and certainly unquantified. 
Even print books, where gatekeeping sifts out many, has many times more 
books that never recover costs than successful ones.

And lastly, I don't think of "good" price, but I'll certainly agree on a 
fair one.

Joseph