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Thread: Printed books

  1. #16
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    There will always be print to some degree

    Tablets and smart phones are for the middle class and up. The lower class and the 3rd world nations can't afford it. It's really just middle class myopia that thinks print will die. However, in America, it's clearly on the decline. This is as much about the megabookstores as it is about tablets and smart phones. The collapse of the megabookstores was inevitable, something that the book industry foresaw on the onset. It's a classic example of the failure of monoculture.

    That being said, I'm very excited about our magazine going to tablet via Zinio. I confess, I was skeptical at first, mostly because I don't own an iPad or an Android yet. But it's pretty cool so far. I'm really liking what I see there - it's a very exciting platform.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    Tablets and smart phones are for the middle class and up. The lower class and the 3rd world nations can't afford it. It's really just middle class myopia that thinks print will die. However, in America, it's clearly on the decline. This is as much about the megabookstores as it is about tablets and smart phones. The collapse of the megabookstores was inevitable, something that the book industry foresaw on the onset. It's a classic example of the failure of monoculture.

    That being said, I'm very excited about our magazine going to tablet via Zinio. I confess, I was skeptical at first, mostly because I don't own an iPad or an Android yet. But it's pretty cool so far. I'm really liking what I see there - it's a very exciting platform.
    Excellent analysis. Pretty much spot on with what a lot of authors are saying.

    The Borders collapse is still sending reverberations through the publishing industry, it was probably the most significant publishing related event of the year, and although it was related in part to technology (namely Borders selling the farm for online book sales to Amazon) it was equally a product of the giant box bookstore model in general.

    In Canada our huge chain of big-box bookstores, Indigo / Chapters, is trying to avoid this by selling e-readers, book accessories, starbucks coffee and over-priced crap gifts.

    So far they're doing better than Borders, but that's not saying much.

    I still try to do my book-buying from small speciality stores when I can.
    Simon McNeil
    ___________________________________________

    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    Tablets and smart phones are for the middle class and up. The lower class and the 3rd world nations can't afford it. It's really just middle class myopia that thinks print will die. However, in America, it's clearly on the decline. This is as much about the megabookstores as it is about tablets and smart phones. The collapse of the megabookstores was inevitable, something that the book industry foresaw on the onset. It's a classic example of the failure of monoculture.
    Does the 'lower class' buy books though? I'm 'lower class' and I love books, but, though I hate to say it, I see the 'middle' and 'upper' class as the majority of the book buying market (the books I buy are mostly used, so they don't really do anything to support printing).--I guess it is better outside of U.S.? But for how long?

  4. #19
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    i buy all my books here, best book store i have ever seen.
    For whoso comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man is by so far the mightiest of all.

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by ShaolinDan View Post
    Does the 'lower class' buy books though? I'm 'lower class' and I love books, but, though I hate to say it, I see the 'middle' and 'upper' class as the majority of the book buying market (the books I buy are mostly used, so they don't really do anything to support printing).--I guess it is better outside of U.S.? But for how long?
    Though well educated, I'm hardly wealthy, from an income perspective I count as "lower class," "working poor." Books are a luxury I can afford.

    Of course, as an author, reading a lot is part of the job description so there is the question of the extent to which they COUNT as a luxury but still...

    Poor people DO buy books.
    Simon McNeil
    ___________________________________________

    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

  6. #21
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    Not a month goes by that I don't buy at least a couple of books.
    More if you include the ones I buy for my girls.
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by SimonM View Post
    Poor people DO buy books.
    Lol. I know they buy books (my background is similar to yours, Simon, except that I'm unpublished ), but do they buy enough? Used books don't count.
    I know that outside the U.S., there are many countries that still have a high respect for literature among all classes, but I wonder how long it will be before they 'catch up' with us.

  8. #23
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    Shaolin Dan I've been every sort of published except for having a book publisher publish one of my fiction books. I'd suggest don't worry about "getting published," just practice your craft, and if you can't sell to Harper Collins sell it yourself through Amazon.

    (Just do yourself a favour - edit, edit, edit, edit first. Trust me on this, when writing a book-length work of fiction, typos WILL slip through.)
    Simon McNeil
    ___________________________________________

    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

  9. #24
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    Thanks Simon. Good advice.

    Right now I'm working on a kung fu related project that will be online...hopefully I'll be able to post a link here in a few months...otherwise I've pretty much put everything else on hold.

  10. #25
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    Just start writing and do it every day.
    Simon McNeil
    ___________________________________________

    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

  11. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by SimonM View Post
    (Just do yourself a favour - edit, edit, edit, edit first. Trust me on this, when writing a book-length work of fiction, typos WILL slip through.)
    I assume you mean if you go the self-publication route, right?

    In that case, I'd say go a step further and be prepared to pay a copyeditor to put something like 50–100 hours into it. Authors are for the most part the worst possible editors of their own work. My 2cents.

    If a fiction publisher buys your ms they should pay for that I assume; or have they gone the same route as academic publishers and dump the responsibility on the author?
    Last edited by rett; 08-19-2011 at 04:12 AM.

  12. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by rett View Post
    I assume you mean if you go the self-publication route, right?

    In that case, I'd say go a step further and be prepared to pay a copyeditor to put something like 50–100 hours into it. Authors are for the most part the worst possible editors of their own work. My 2cents.
    If fiction publishers dropped editing responsibilities onto authors they'd be dooming themselves to complete irrelevance.

    As for paying for 50-100 hours of copy editor time, that doesn't come cheap and some of us can't afford to do that, instead relying on the kindness of untrained friends and our own ability to edit.

    Sad, but true.
    Simon McNeil
    ___________________________________________

    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

  13. #28
    Just in case you know off hand... How does it work in Canada? Supposing you decided to sink a couple of thousand dollars into getting a fiction work snazzily edited and then self-published it with a print-on-demand service. Could you be registered as self-employed and deduct the editing costs from your taxes?

  14. #29
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    You could, if there were any benefit in doing so. Our income tax system is progressive enough that if you aren't really making much in the way of income above the poverty line you won't be paying much in the way of taxes.

    Furthermore deductions can't generally be carried over to future years. So you'd have to earn enough for the deductions to matter.
    Simon McNeil
    ___________________________________________

    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

  15. #30
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    Can anyone recommend a decent used book store in the GTA as i see a couple of you are from the area?

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