On Dec 21, 2004, at 2:43 PM, Damon Agretto wrote:
You've hit the crux of it. Why bother, indeed, buying a new *paper* book if you can get the same title, gently used, for half the cover price? This is what makes it difficult to be a publisher and *great* to be a bookstore, particularly those that handle used titles. Amazon's making a *fortune* (well, not, but still...) as a vendor of used copies of my programming book, but neither I nor Osborne/McGraw-Hill are seeing a cent of those sales. Which, believe me, sucks.
I think I'm just not understanding the difference between a used e-product and a new one, since theoretically there should be no difference at all (all other things remaining constant).
There isn't. The difference is entirely conceptual.
A used hardcopy book, however, *does* have some differences -- increased wear and the like -- so there's a better justification on the side of the consumer to demand the product for less money.
I think the justification's there anyway. If I can get a $10.00 book for $5.00, I don't need further justification to purchase the title; and if I bought a book for $10.00 and do not wish to keep it, I should be able to sell it for $5.00, right?
That's what I'm trying to facilitate -- that second part of the buy/sell equation. The *one thing* that is keeping me from more extensive eBook purchases (apart from many publishers simply not selling them) is that I can't return the book if I don't like it, I generally can't browse/preview the book, and I cannot offer it in sale to others. I am stuck, stuck, STUCK with it forever. If I decide it sucks, too bad. If my tastes change over time and I want to sell it because I'm just not interested in its content any more, too bad.
Of course there's no physical difference between a used eBook and a new one. It's strictly a symbolic thing. The idea of selling a used copy is entirely imaginary.
If the material is not copyrighted or is GPL, you can consider using lulu.com -- they allow you to PDF-ify a document and then do a POD production of it on your own. You could do that and then order a copy or two for yourself. The end result's pretty decent, a bound trade paperback.
Also I believe Cafe Press (cafepress.com) offers a similar product.
Product is definitely copyrighted -- its old OOP gaming books turned into PDFs by the company to continue to make them available. Other companies now release print books as PDFs, and these are regularly printed out by users for various purposes, and I believe its covered under fair usage since they're not giving away the printed copies (in part or whole) or trying to sell them. At least I queried message boards about it (though no one has given me a satisfactory answer). I vastly prefer print over digital for a number of reasons (I like books; they look cool).
Well, look over those sites and see if they have any terminology in their contracts that might get you. If not, pick one. :) (If you have more than one book you want to print, go with Lulu.)
-- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror" http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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