At 09:44 AM 1/10/2002 -0600, Chris Devers wrote: >On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, Joe Johnston wrote: > > > The slow conference season, business deals that didn't blossom as well > > as expected and the death of their editor-in-chief all contributed to > > what can only be called a shitty year. > >Oh no! May I ask who the editor-in-chief was? None of the books seem to >mention this position at all, though I've noticed that they have been >adjusting the format of their books recently (not as many with RepCover >binding, less color on the book spines (is the ink expensive or is this >just aesthetic?), etc., and the colophons now read, not "designed by Edie >Freedman", but "based on a series design by Edie Freedman", which had me >wondering if she might have left the company...
Edie's still there, and still as formidable as ever. (I met her--she's rather imposing) They just do a lot of work, too much for a single person. RepCover's pricey, relatively speaking, so easing back on that is probably a cost-saving move. Fewer books are being bought on expense accounts these days I'd bet--dunno about you, but a couple of bucks can make a difference between an impulse purchase and not buying for me. > > If you would like to help O'Reilly, do consider buying a book from their > > web site (http://www.ora.com). > >Do they get a significantly bigger cut if you buy things there as opposed >to in a regular bookstore? I suppose so -- indie record labels get more if >you buy direct, so why shouldn't indie publishers be the same way? But is >shipping cost set against that bigger cut for them? Would that cancel out >the advantage of buying from their site? FWIW, standard prices on books to distributors used to range between 40 and 50% off cover. (It might be more now) Huge places like Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon might get another couple of points off. If you buy direct they get all the cash. Costs are higher (they have to have the apparatus in place to take and fulfill the orders) but they get more than they would through the wholesale channel. Dan --------------------------------------"it's like this"------------------- Dan Sugalski even samurai [EMAIL PROTECTED] have teddy bears and even teddy bears get drunk
