Re: Electronic OA plus print on demand model for books

[Joseph Esposito <espositoj@gmail.com>]

I am afraid Heather is misinformed about the economics of print 
on demand.  The unit cost for POD is significantly higher than 
for books printed on offset equipment.  The savings for POD, when 
they exist, come about from the absence of a need to manage 
inventory.  If you can sell only one or two copies, POD is more 
efficient.  If you can sell 1,000 (or 100,000, for that matter), 
start the presses.

As for the idea that ebooks will represent a market that is 
substantially additive to the print market, well, what was that 
line from Hemingway?  'Wouldn't it be nice to think so?'

Joe Esposito

On Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 2:22 PM, Heather Morrison 
<hgmorris@sfu.ca> wrote:
> Joe Esposito wrote:
>
> Book professionals are now forecasting that in five years, 25% of
> the book market will be electronic. How can anyone expect to sell
> print under these circumstances?
>
> Comment:
>
> Assuming that this forecast is correct - that 25% of the book
> market will indeed be electronic in five years, does this not
> mean that 75% of the book market will be print?  If sales of
> e-book editions take off, this does not necessarily mean a
> corresponding decrease in print - the 75% could be 75% of a
> larger market.
>
> Within the next few years, it should be possible to greater lower
> the cost of print books through print-on-demand.  It makes sense
> to me that people would make use of a book espresso machine at
> their university library or bookstore, and pay a modest fee for
> the book production and print-on-demand rights, as the high cost
> of attempting to distribute limited edition academic books on a
> worldwide basis are thereby eliminate, as are all sales and most
> marketing costs.
>
> Another possible model is a completely free internet-based
> edition, with revenue generated by value-add electronic versions,
> i.e. the web browser version is free, but there is a modest fee
> for the Kindle version.
>
> Heather Morrison, MLIS
> The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics