Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!panix!.POSTED.panix3.panix.com!ybmcu
From: Ben Yalow <ybmcu@panix.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom
Subject: Re: AKICIF: The Shape of Asterix
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2024 12:56:21 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC
Message-ID: <vc6lhl$al6$1@reader1.panix.com>
References: <8dj9ejhbmbrlh3a0np07kbi2ivdqm3ift3@4ax.com> <memo.20240914120439.22052A@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> <vc4cr4$82r$1@panix2.panix.com> <vc4mqg$pfu$1@reader1.panix.com>
Injection-Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2024 12:56:21 -0000 (UTC)
Injection-Info: reader1.panix.com; posting-host="panix3.panix.com:166.84.1.3";
	logging-data="10918"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@panix.com"
User-Agent: nn/6.7.3
Bytes: 3537
Lines: 58

In <vc4mqg$pfu$1@reader1.panix.com> "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@KeithLynch.net> writes:

>Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
>> And then we have book sizes which were all functions of the original
>> folio size but with the coming of rotary presses are all different
>> now...

>I keep waiting for new SF to come out in mass market paperback.  And
>it never does.

And you are likely to have a long wait.

Mass market paperback seems to be a relatively dying packaging form.  Most 
originals come out as hardcover or possibly trade paperback (and the 
reprint might well be trade paperback if it was originally a hardcover, 
since the page layout is similar).  Sometimes you get two reprints 
(trade paperback and mass market).  And indy/small press originals seem to 
be mostly trade paperback, since that's relatively cheap to print, and can 
command a better price.

It's nard to make money on a mass market paperback original.  By the time 
the publisher pays the author from the net, there's not a lot of money 
left to cover the fixed costs, considering how much fewer copies are sold, 
compared with what mass market used to sell decades ago.

But there's a lot more new SF being published than there used to be, and 
that's great.  As is expected, some of it isn't good -- but there are 
so many more good stories being published, in so many ways.  I know I'm 
always finding more new SF than I have time to read (and it would be worse 
if I wasn't quick to decide that I don't like a story, and can put it down 
without taking the time to finish it).


>I am *not* going to buy any e-books for which the fine print says I
>don't own it, but just have a temporary license to read it, which
>may be revoked at any time.  And which "phones home" to tell the
>publisher, advertisers, and the government exactly what I read
>and when.

While most of the Big 5 originals price their ebooks fairly high (note 
that Baen is not a Big 5 and has a different ebook pricing policy), the 
indy/small press market mostly prices their ebooks at a significant 
discount from the paper (likely TP) version.  Mostly, it looks like their 
$5.99 or under price point seems to be the sweet spot.  There are 
exceptions -- presses that are doing premium price physical books will 
have their ebook versions priced higher. 

For me, the convenience and pricing for ebooks have made them my primary 
format for new SF.  Everybody needs to make their own choices, and weigh 
the advantages and disadvantages of any format.

>-- 
>Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
>Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

Ben
-- 
Ben Yalow                      ybmcu@panix.com
Not speaking for anybody