06-18-2004, 08:10 AM
<em>£95 is really too much!</em><br>
<br>
For what and by how much? The economics of the book trade are all smoke and mirrors, and the low prices which everybody expects are often subsidised by big print runs (thus low unit costs) via sweetheart deals with book clubs. No book club deal, no book (or one very expensive book – this is what stymied B&C2 for a long time but we have now got round it by going to a niche publisher). The bean-counters will almost always demand that a book like this is sold at a price that allows for all the overheads and only when the storage costs of the unsold copies begin to mount will it be thought reasonable to flog them off cheaply.<br>
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What would be a reasonable price for a 336-page hardback with 8 sides of full-colour printing? Before you answer that, look at any Ospreys you have on your shelves and work out what they cost! My advice is to turn publishing business practice and 'remainderism' to your advantage: either pay the Impatience Premium and get it now (whilst it's hot), or wait until it is reduced (if it ever is – aye, there's the rub – you have to take a risk that it will be).<br>
<br>
To take an example close to home, the costs of Lorica Segmentata 1 & 2 were 'subsidised' by the fact that virtually nothing was spent on marketing, design, or fees for authors; had the traditional formula of 5 times unit cost been used (which allows for all reasonable overheads) the books would have cost more than double their cover price; as it is, the alternative 3 times unit cost figure was undercut because I <em>wanted</em> to publish the books regardless. That is the nub: publishing minority-interest books is well-nigh vanity publishing, it is <em>not</em> a way to make a living unless you view it as a business (my weaknes is that I don't). I have just bought an aviation book (vol 1 of G.K. Merrill's history of Jasta 5) 56 pages long (including 8 sides of colour, double-sided colour soft cover, some 60 b&w photos) for £25 – that is nearly twice the bangs-per-buck price of the Dura volume, but it is being sold at a viable cost to a market which will snap it up. I could certainly have produced the physical volume for under £10 and probably under £7... but could not have paid the colour artist or any of the repro fees for the photos!<br>
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<em>For that price I was expecting full page and full color pics, with high-res details.</em><br>
<br>
In your dreams! This sort of thing is only possible through <em>huge</em> print runs farmed out to printers in the East. An alternative approach would be to eschew colour printing and have a tie-in website where colour is cheap (although you run the risk of every Tom, Dick, and Harry ripping-off your photos to put in their high school essays; not a concern to those of us who lean towards the Creative Commons approach, but a real danger to a commercial publisher, the key word being 'commercial' – they are not a charity).<br>
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<em>The greatest part of the relevant infos are already easily available on the web.</em><br>
<br>
Not on any part of the web to which I have access ;-)<br>
<br>
<em>No mail hoods and manicae.</em><br>
<br>
I agree - ban 'em completely!<br>
<br>
Mike Bishop <p></p><i></i>
<br>
For what and by how much? The economics of the book trade are all smoke and mirrors, and the low prices which everybody expects are often subsidised by big print runs (thus low unit costs) via sweetheart deals with book clubs. No book club deal, no book (or one very expensive book – this is what stymied B&C2 for a long time but we have now got round it by going to a niche publisher). The bean-counters will almost always demand that a book like this is sold at a price that allows for all the overheads and only when the storage costs of the unsold copies begin to mount will it be thought reasonable to flog them off cheaply.<br>
<br>
What would be a reasonable price for a 336-page hardback with 8 sides of full-colour printing? Before you answer that, look at any Ospreys you have on your shelves and work out what they cost! My advice is to turn publishing business practice and 'remainderism' to your advantage: either pay the Impatience Premium and get it now (whilst it's hot), or wait until it is reduced (if it ever is – aye, there's the rub – you have to take a risk that it will be).<br>
<br>
To take an example close to home, the costs of Lorica Segmentata 1 & 2 were 'subsidised' by the fact that virtually nothing was spent on marketing, design, or fees for authors; had the traditional formula of 5 times unit cost been used (which allows for all reasonable overheads) the books would have cost more than double their cover price; as it is, the alternative 3 times unit cost figure was undercut because I <em>wanted</em> to publish the books regardless. That is the nub: publishing minority-interest books is well-nigh vanity publishing, it is <em>not</em> a way to make a living unless you view it as a business (my weaknes is that I don't). I have just bought an aviation book (vol 1 of G.K. Merrill's history of Jasta 5) 56 pages long (including 8 sides of colour, double-sided colour soft cover, some 60 b&w photos) for £25 – that is nearly twice the bangs-per-buck price of the Dura volume, but it is being sold at a viable cost to a market which will snap it up. I could certainly have produced the physical volume for under £10 and probably under £7... but could not have paid the colour artist or any of the repro fees for the photos!<br>
<br>
<em>For that price I was expecting full page and full color pics, with high-res details.</em><br>
<br>
In your dreams! This sort of thing is only possible through <em>huge</em> print runs farmed out to printers in the East. An alternative approach would be to eschew colour printing and have a tie-in website where colour is cheap (although you run the risk of every Tom, Dick, and Harry ripping-off your photos to put in their high school essays; not a concern to those of us who lean towards the Creative Commons approach, but a real danger to a commercial publisher, the key word being 'commercial' – they are not a charity).<br>
<br>
<em>The greatest part of the relevant infos are already easily available on the web.</em><br>
<br>
Not on any part of the web to which I have access ;-)<br>
<br>
<em>No mail hoods and manicae.</em><br>
<br>
I agree - ban 'em completely!<br>
<br>
Mike Bishop <p></p><i></i>
