Comments on: Don’t Pity the Publishers http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/dont-pity-the-publishers/ Macro Perspective on the Capital Markets, Economy, Geopolitics, Technology, and Digital Media Mon, 22 Mar 2010 03:57:26 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: torrie-amos http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/dont-pity-the-publishers/comment-page-1/#comment-227758 torrie-amos Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:42:49 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41729#comment-227758 thfiv, it's a numbers game, they expect 80% of books to lose money, 10% to break even, and 10% to be a big smash, and then make it to always in print list, meaning, something like tony robbins Unlimited Power, twenty years old, yet still sells 30-50K copies a year a kiss breakdown author 2 bucks publisher, 2 bucks too mfg.........1 buck overhead sell to dist for 10 dist too retailer approximately 15 the thing is if they don't sell the publisher gets them returned thfiv,

it’s a numbers game, they expect 80% of books to lose money, 10% to break even, and 10% to be a big smash, and then make it to always in print list, meaning, something like tony robbins Unlimited Power, twenty years old, yet still sells 30-50K copies a year

a kiss breakdown

author 2 bucks
publisher, 2 bucks too mfg………1 buck overhead

sell to dist for 10

dist too retailer approximately 15

the thing is if they don’t sell the publisher gets them returned

]]> By: torrie-amos http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/dont-pity-the-publishers/comment-page-1/#comment-227752 torrie-amos Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:35:15 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41729#comment-227752 face it, they are screwed, buggy whip business, I'm a passionate reader, i easily purchase 100 books a year and have for decades, what do i do, i buy em used on amazon, so here you go for decades I spent a few thousand a year on reading material, now, five hundred..........where as I will be the last to get a kindle, young folks will not be like me, i have a library, book cases, glass enclosed cabinets and hundreds of volumes, now you can put it all on a kindle and put it in your pocket, yeah, since the actual cost of publishing will plummet because the hard cost of paper and shipping will plummet, the percieved value will bo down down down...............the dirty little secret of publishing.........a book has to be at least 250 pages or people don't feel it has any value, yeah, buyers buy based on the thickness of books, lol, and the beat goes on face it, they are screwed, buggy whip business, I’m a passionate reader, i easily purchase 100 books a year and have for decades, what do i do, i buy em used on amazon, so here you go for decades I spent a few thousand a year on reading material, now, five hundred……….where as I will be the last to get a kindle, young folks will not be like me, i have a library, book cases, glass enclosed cabinets and hundreds of volumes, now you can put it all on a kindle and put it in your pocket, yeah, since the actual cost of publishing will plummet because the hard cost of paper and shipping will plummet, the percieved value will bo down down down……………the dirty little secret of publishing………a book has to be at least 250 pages or people don’t feel it has any value, yeah, buyers buy based on the thickness of books, lol, and the beat goes on

]]> By: thfiv http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/dont-pity-the-publishers/comment-page-1/#comment-227720 thfiv Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:08:05 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41729#comment-227720 What is the breakdown of who makes what in the publishing business? Author __ %, Publisher __ % Distributor __ % and Retailer __ % What is the breakdown of who makes what in the publishing business?

Author __ %, Publisher __ % Distributor __ % and Retailer __ %

]]> By: shakazulu http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/dont-pity-the-publishers/comment-page-1/#comment-227719 shakazulu Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:06:46 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41729#comment-227719 Not a bad article. I have no pity for anyone, publisher or banker, who has not yet made significant efforts to move away from risk. Yes, even if that bank related risk is in markets with questionable regulation such as forex and, yes, even if said banks might have been given the green light by administative figures to use all means necessary loot at will. My book related question pertains more to the future when perhaps the format of electronic readers and operating systems has undergone dozens of changes and has evolved over time. We all know that history is continually re-written by "victors". What I want to know is, will the digital ways and means as we know them now finally succumb to entropy in a grand crash or will a more protracted slow and gradual loss of information lead to libraries with the morphology of Swiss cheese? If so, then what role will paper print copies of texts play in the future, say 100 years from now? Many of us already posses a lack of knowledge pertaining to history from relatively short whiles ago such as seems to be the case with the dark ages of Europe. The same seems to be true even in some cases the more recent history of nations such as Zimbabwe for example (where IMO propaganda and disinformation efforts appear to have ruled supreme for three or four decades). I feel that there is nothing quite like print books for preserving slices of history, even if they do tend to become a tad brittle and fall apart through the years. Reading about a topic as it was originally written 150 years or so ago from an original binding can be a very enlightening and transporting experience. Either way, whoever said that about our attention spans being about as long as our, uh, well ... they were right as far as I'm concerned. Not a bad article. I have no pity for anyone, publisher or banker, who has not yet made significant efforts to move away from risk. Yes, even if that bank related risk is in markets with questionable regulation such as forex and, yes, even if said banks might have been given the green light by administative figures to use all means necessary loot at will.

My book related question pertains more to the future when perhaps the format of electronic readers and operating systems has undergone dozens of changes and has evolved over time. We all know that history is continually re-written by “victors”. What I want to know is, will the digital ways and means as we know them now finally succumb to entropy in a grand crash or will a more protracted slow and gradual loss of information lead to libraries with the morphology of Swiss cheese? If so, then what role will paper print copies of texts play in the future, say 100 years from now? Many of us already posses a lack of knowledge pertaining to history from relatively short whiles ago such as seems to be the case with the dark ages of Europe. The same seems to be true even in some cases the more recent history of nations such as Zimbabwe for example (where IMO propaganda and disinformation efforts appear to have ruled supreme for three or four decades). I feel that there is nothing quite like print books for preserving slices of history, even if they do tend to become a tad brittle and fall apart through the years. Reading about a topic as it was originally written 150 years or so ago from an original binding can be a very enlightening and transporting experience.

Either way, whoever said that about our attention spans being about as long as our, uh, well … they were right as far as I’m concerned.

]]> By: Bruce in Tn http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/dont-pity-the-publishers/comment-page-1/#comment-227705 Bruce in Tn Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:29:54 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41729#comment-227705 Subsidize publishers of books? Why next people will be calling for subsidies of newpapers and traditional news outlets...nah, probably not.... http://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/american-media-need-innovation-not-subsidy/ American media need innovation, not subsidy "Leonard Downie Jr., former executive editor of the Washington Post, and Michael Schudson, authors of the Columbia University report, described their work in the Post today as a “comprehensive report.” They recommend federal subsidies for news organizations and changes in federal law to allow more philanthropic support for journalism. More on those topics later." ...Medicare for the New York Times...sure, why not... Subsidize publishers of books? Why next people will be calling for subsidies of newpapers and traditional news outlets…nah, probably not….

http://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/american-media-need-innovation-not-subsidy/

American media need innovation, not subsidy

“Leonard Downie Jr., former executive editor of the Washington Post, and Michael Schudson, authors of the Columbia University report, described their work in the Post today as a “comprehensive report.” They recommend federal subsidies for news organizations and changes in federal law to allow more philanthropic support for journalism. More on those topics later.”

…Medicare for the New York Times…sure, why not…

]]> By: Damien Hoffman http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/dont-pity-the-publishers/comment-page-1/#comment-227704 Damien Hoffman Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:29:02 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=41729#comment-227704 Barry, as books follow music to digital, aren't they slowly going to lose more talent to self-publishing? Not in the near term, but in 10-20 years? If I could deal directly with Amazon as I can with Apple, I would self-publish for Kindle and print on demand for hard orders through my website. Anyway, just a thought from when I spent 2 years working at an indie music label ... Barry, as books follow music to digital, aren’t they slowly going to lose more talent to self-publishing? Not in the near term, but in 10-20 years?

If I could deal directly with Amazon as I can with Apple, I would self-publish for Kindle and print on demand for hard orders through my website.

Anyway, just a thought from when I spent 2 years working at an indie music label …

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