Re: The (near) future of book publishing

On Apr 5, 9:33 am, "Beldin the Sorcerer" <beldin...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
"Will in New Haven" <bill.re...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in messagenews:320b3f23-9996-4548-bc76-479d8ae79c05@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Apr 4, 4:07 pm, Lute <lutelat...@xxxxxxx> wrote:



In 5 years or less, the entire publishing industry is going to be
turned upside down. Books will be written by authors into
wordprocessors, and will then be printed out by the reader, in any
format the customer wishes, be it typewriter paper, hardbound glossy,
or leather scroll (etc etc etc).

At first, the printing device will be at your bookseller, a highly
advanced manuscript printer. From home, you can find the written work
you desire, crossload it to the printing device, prepay online, and
pick it up in less than an hour. You will even shop online for this
print-on-demand format, and get next (or same!) day delivery to your
house.

Soon afterward, you may even buy the printing device yourself, when
the price comes down. Buy your own paper (or parchment, etc), load,
press a button or voice command--- you get the idea. Out comes your
bookstore quality published version in any appearance you prefer.

Publishing houses will exist only as legal or consulting entities, at
most. Otherwise, the writer and the reader will deal directly with
each other. Free market at its finest.

You heard it here, folks.

I predicted "local print on demand" years ago. It should _certainly_
replace the mass-market book, with all its inherant waste and lack of
aesthetic appeal. Whether it would make an impact on trade paperbacks
or hardcover books is another question. Since I predicted it first,
you owe me eleven dollars plus costs for copyright infringement.

***

They already have book on demand printers... they can make a book for less
than $3

It's a matter of getting people to go for it, and authors too.


Well, you can bypass the authors by doing books that are in the public
domain. Nineteenth Century novels, but far from all of them, often
have a Norton edition and a Cygnet edition and a (Random House
Imprint) division. They are usually available for ANYONE to print and
often in demand because they are assigned for school courses.

The problem with the customers is serious. Sure, you can put out a
version that sells for less than the ones put out by the various
publishers. However, their production values, while fairly minimal,
are going to be better. It would be tempting to set up to print a book
assigned at the local high-schools. Print copies on order and slap a
simple cover on it,
You could do it for two bucks. But it wouldn't look like much.

--
Will in New Haven
"Start giving away points in anything and you'll find out some day
that you've given away too many" John K. Kinnison
.

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