A Feast of Fiction

For anyone who treasures looking at beautiful, thoughtfully crafted books which would age gracefully on any bookshelf, check out Bespoke Editions.  They publish custom-made editions of classic titles, printed and handmade to order, and judging from the photos on their website these books are works of art in their own right. It looks like they're only selling to "selected customers" for the time being, but this is one spot worth watching.

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Though I had a lovely time running the marathon in Dublin last weekend, the sad consequence was a minor injury to my right foot.  Small price to pay, of course, but it makes the issue of getting to and from class a little difficult. Luckily, living in Oxford means there's an easy solution: the trusty bicycle.

I was really excited when I got back from India and noticed that Boston had installed new bike lanes.  Oxford is streets ahead on this one.  Not only are bike lanes present and accounted for on almost every road, they are put to heavy use by cyclists making the appropriate turn signals, obeying traffic lights, and generally sharing the road in a safe and efficient manner.  With the cost of owning a car (and parking!) so extraordinarily high, the bicycle--specifically, the "sit up and beg" model, as used above by the Wicked Witch of the West--is the preferred mode of transportation here in the Thames Valley.

This produces some strange results.  At 6 pm it's not uncommon to see women in dress skirts and men in suits happily pedalling away alongside students in clubwear.  It's also not uncommon for a Yankee on wheels to have heart palpitations as she navigates down what feels like the wrong side of the road.  What's a girl to do?  In this case, it's to take a lesson from my Indian friends.  If I'm not sure whether someone knows I'm coming . . .

. . . they will once they've heard my bell.  Tingalingalingalingalingalingaling...

The Kids Are Alright

Much is being made of this new survey conducted by Publisher's Weekly, which reveals that 74% of students surveyed prefer print textbooks over ebooks.  Even with flashy iPad apps like Theodore Gray's The Elements at their fingertips, good old pulp and binding is still the most comfortable way to learn.

I have to say I'm not surprised.  Even though my own library gives us the option of accessing our materials as ebooks from anywhere on- or off-campus, I found my own exploitation of this feature short-lived.  Last week I broke down and paid real pounds for a heap of books, knowing the money was better spent in the long run on hard copies rather than the antacids I would need when I discovered none of my hours of reading had sunk in.  There's only so many times you can switch between your textbook and facebook before your studies start to suffer.

Now, I do realize that this slightly contradicts what I said earlier about the iPad.  Funny what being a student will do.  I will, say, however, that publishers seem a lot more comfortable producing a hybrid model, where materials are available both online and in print form.  Some people are going to learn better from the computer -- think of all those young kids who grew up reading from a screen -- and some people will want paper.  There really is no reason not to service them both.  If done correctly, the result will be a bottom line of more readers, and how can a publisher argue with that?

But It's Good For You!

Fact:  when you complete the Dublin Marathon, they do not give you a free pint of Guinness at the finish line.

If I had known that, I wouldn't have been in such a hurry.

We had to find our own

It's Bad Enough We're Getting Rid of Paper

Now there's a blog post on The Bookseller's website (written by an agent) suggesting we get rid of editors.

Next month:  "Reading - should we even teach our kids?  A debate."

OK, so that might be an exaggeration.  I would be curious to see which publishing house would actually succeed by telling a brand-new author, "We'd love to publish your book.  Our marketing team really liked it.  We'll send it out to a few freelancers to see if it reads OK and then will get in touch once we need you for book tours.

"Wait, is there a problem?  Don't worry.  Your agent will call you as soon as he can."

And then they'll wonder why Lulu.com is suddenly doing so well.

One for the Authors

Phew!  That was two technical blog entries in a row.  I've clearly been studying too hard.  Time for a pleasant reminder of the real reason we edit:



I'd publish you, Sir Paul. . . . even if I may renegotiate that "thousand pages" part . . .

Get What You Pay For

The market for ebooks in the US is far more mature than the market for ebooks in the UK, so it's interesting to hear that just as I've gotten myself a gadget the pricing wars are suddenly erupting at Amazon.

Basically, the big players in the UK publishing industry--Penguin, Hachette, HarperCollins, MacMillan, and Simon & Schuster--have all decided that they will no longer allow Amazon to set the prices for their ebooks.  Previously, pricing had been set at a uniform $9.99 for all ebooks, which actually makes each ebook sale a loss-leader.  Though ebook sales are starting to outstrip sales of some versions of the printed book (i.e. hardbacks), Amazon was losing money on every purchase.

What do they gain from this?  More importantly, what does that say about books?  Let's say your technical handbook on book publishing retails at a brick-and-mortar for $34.99.  The ebook (should you make it available) is $9.99.  The paperback guide to getting your first job as an editor is probably only $12.99 in stores.  The ebook?  $9.99. That makes it slightly more difficult for Suzy College and Professor Pompous to discern which book is meant for whom.  They could go on the website and read the blurbs, or read the first chapter, but that's much more time and investment than the usual consumer will take when deciding to make a purchase.  Make no mistake: how publishers price books is very important to how publishers sell books.  Take away that lever, and you're removing a very powerful tool.

So, publishers understandably want to have a little bit more say on their own marketing mix.  Fine.  Amazon, of course, is unhappy, and sent UK Kindle owners a letter to prove it.  Their own lever has been removed--uniform, cheap pricing across the board.  With the iPad looming over the punchbowl with its own publisher-set price model, it seems Amazon would rather set their own terms and keep their loss-leader rather than cede marketing power.

This article from the Idea Logical Blog makes a great point, though.  Smaller publishers, or publishers who already focus on the ebook model, still stand to benefit from Amazon's one-size-fits-all pricing.  These publishers can't pay Barnes and Noble or Borders the same huge sums to get their books featured at the front of every store (if they can get their book into the store at all).  I especially like the point this writer makes that big publishers should be doing everything they can to keep brick-and-mortar booksellers in business, given Amazon's flattening of the marketplace.  Through customers may buy more books thanks to lowered prices, they also take away a lot of intangibles which bias the big powerhouses.  Amazon, after all, doesn't hold Harry Potter parties.