-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 13/12/11 18:58, Steve Litt wrote: > On Tuesday, December 13, 2011 08:01:45 AM Rainer M Krug wrote: >> Hi >> >> first my apologies for this OT topic, but I rahter ask here then >> go into another forum where I have no idea who knows what. >> >> So please reply off-list (unless you think this is on topic). >> >> I am going to write a guidelines book (management, alien >> invasive species, South Afica) which will be around 50 pages (I >> guess). To make it available in printed form as well, I am >> planning to publish it in something like print-on-demand, but >> would also make the pdf available for free download (or a very >> low cost). The guidelines will likely be read mostly in South >> Africa. In addition, these guidelines should have an ISBN >> number. >> >> I will obviously writing the guidelines in LyX. > > LyX is obviously the best authoring tool for this.
I thought so from the discussions recently. > > I'm reading your preceding post. If I'm reading you correctly, > profit isn't a major motive, because you're giving away your PDF > free or at very low cost (free would be a lot less headaches if > profit isn't a major motive). Exactly. > > The free or cheap PDF constrains what you can charge for the print > book. Nobody's going to pay $29.95 for the print version of what > they can get free. Well - the target users will unlikely have an ebook reader, and if they do, I am quite sure they will prefer to have something printed and bound - it also leaves a better (read: serious) impression when they have a proper bound paperback / hardcover book in their hands. > > You can do print-on-demand and pay a lot of money for each book, or > do a 200 book short run and pay less but have inventory clogging up > your life. If you take possession of the books, you pay shipping > twice (one from the printer and one to the reader). Fulfillment of > print book orders is a hassle. Wrap it, take it to the post office, > mail it. One out of 100 claim they never got it. These hassles are > worth it if you're selling the book for $29.95, or $42.50 like the > most expensive of my print books, but maybe not if you're selling > it for $9.95, and definitely not if it's $4.95. That is one reason why I thought about print-on-demand like Lulu.com - I do not have the hassle. And, as mentioned erlier, profit is not the objective of this book. > > What I'm getting at is this: Are you sure you want a print version > at all? If you have a PDF, plus maybe you distribute it as a few > flowable text eBook types like Kindle, iPad, Nook, generic EPUB, > you'd get it out to a lot of people. I've never been to Africa, but > I hear in South Africa and Africa in general, a lot of people have > cell phones due to a lack of other infrastructure like cable and > landline phone. I'm pretty sure that as long as your images are > inline and not to the right or left of text or other images, images > come out OK on a flowable text eBook. As outlined earlier, the target market is managers which usually are financially not in a situation to have an ebook reader. Also, in SA there is still the perception that they want to have something printed in their hands and not on the screen. Which is especially the case for management in nature conservation, which usually do not have the financial means and educational background to utilize these electronic medias as they could be used (I am allowed to say this - I was in SA for 15 years and simply LOVE the country and the people there!). So I would have to provide a certain number of printed copies, but also would like to provide electronic versions(s) for ebook readers. From my side, these should be for free, and I only said low price, in case that the publisher / printer is objecting to give them away for free. (I haven't looked at the conditions of Lulu.com to know if I can still distribute an ebook version for free). > > By the way, I LOVE the whole concept of invasive species. Living in > Florida, USA, I see a world teeming with life, with plants growing > on plants growing on other plants. I don't know if they're foreign, > but we have these "air potato" vines that climb trees from the > ground all the way to the top. We have Spanish Moss hanging from > every tree, and little mini-vines that completely cover our > decorative plants and would steal all their light if I didn't rip > them off. And then of course we have the fire ant > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_imported_fire_ant) that came here > from Brazil in the 1930's, liked it here, and made it their home. > Don't try laying on the grass in Florida. > > Anyway, this post isn't really responsive to your question, but a > lot of other people answered your question precisely, so I thought > maybe I'd persue this other avenue. Well - your post was really helpful, as it highlighted exactly the points I tried to solve and which are bothering me (posting of copies? ebook?) So - it possibly did not answered my question, but it addressed my question perfectly and made my thinking about it much clearer - very useful. Thanks a lot, Rainer > > SteveT > > Steve Litt Author: The Key to Everyday Excellence > http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/key_excellence.htm > Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stevelitt > - -- Rainer M. Krug, PhD (Conservation Ecology, SUN), MSc (Conservation Biology, UCT), Dipl. Phys. (Germany) Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology Stellenbosch University South Africa Tel : +33 - (0)9 53 10 27 44 Cell: +33 - (0)6 85 62 59 98 Fax : +33 - (0)9 58 10 27 44 Fax (D): +49 - (0)3 21 21 25 22 44 email: rai...@krugs.de Skype: RMkrug -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAk7oapQACgkQoYgNqgF2egpwEwCdF5fRt2PDtoEyOC58jyEEAT+3 R6IAoIHwtOxF1bLrYuWPmP/bc4pyLxty =qMkL -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
