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MetaFilter On Binding Preference
23 Mar 2006, 7:53:07 am
21 Comments
At first, I was just going to yoink Metafilter's links and write something about the dwindling hardcover market versus paperback love, but I found that the MeFite's comments on the subject were more valuable.
Granted, their comments need to be taken with a grain of salt; they're the participators online, people willing to pay $5 to gain access (which, in a world of Farks, is an astronomical amount compared to the freeness of most accounts), which identifies them as preferential towards the internet lifestyle: quick devouring of information and then moving on. The average preference towards paperbacks doesn't surprise me, but it does concern me.
We've got only one hardcover book out -- actually a quarterly series -- at Tit-Elation.com (nsfw - it's erotica), and we've been having trouble selling it. The cover price is $23, an average price for a 150-200 page hardcover, but it's 40% more than the average erotic paperback of similar size. The cost of producing a hardcover (despite what one MeFi commenter said) is significantly more expensive because of the extra parts involved, so we're undercutting our usual pricing method because there's no wholesale discount to account for when selling only direct. The top Amazon 'erotica' results have numerous sales in the past few days, but ours dwindle. While the subscription model is a big part of the tough sell, the cost of the book (compared to the erotica that could be had online for free) is our next-biggest worry for scaring off customers.
The New Generation wants content - content is king, remember? - so they want what's inside the book, regardless of the binding method. They don't expect their books to last forever, because much like everything else they own their books will be replaced with the Next Thing shortly. From their standpoint, the difference between a hardcover and a paperback is only price, because the other differences are irrelevant, nearly somuch as the paper manufacturer or the font are in their purchasing decision.
Do people want hardcovers? There's some out there, but it's not as many as I think we are expecting. The wifey and I are old-world book collectors, who generally scoff at paperback ownership except as a necessary evil, and would prefer the hardcover. The vocal online minority isn't to be discounted - because the silent majority turns to the vocal to help make their own decisions. While The MeFi conversation doesn't make my mind up one way or another, it does add to the perspective, one that we need to weigh carefully to avoid losing money on spendy hardcover publishing.
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User Comments
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I know that you're much more professional than this but, as a complete newbie, I would like to get your views on this tutorial on making a hardcover book, if possible.