Of e-book pricing, Justice Dept. charges, DRM, and Pottermore

[Omnigeek]

The original article/editorial struck me as rather disjointed.  The author's basic thrust is that he doesn't like ebook pricing.  Fine then don't buy ebooks.  Wait for the paperback edition or buy it at your local used bookstore.  Other people will pay the difference between the paperback price and the ebook price for the convenience factor -- people pay a LOT (or put up with a loss in quality) for convenience.

I'll note upfront here that I'm not one of those willing to pay a lot for the convenience factor.  I'd love the convenience of having some of the books on my shelf available in my Nooks -- but I'm not paying $15-20 for that convenience.  That's my choice and I don't whine about not having the same book available for cheap/free when I already have the DTB.

Xerox has some good commercials out showing how we'd rather have hotels and airlines concentrating on what they do best while Xerox handles the document administration.  Publishing companies can exist in the ebook era because they improve the quality of the writer's product and allow the author to concentrate on what s/he does best -- produce more good works.  Even established authors need help with the editing -- I gradually lost interest in Tom Clancy's books simply because they grew bigger and bigger -- it seemed like his editor had lost the ability to get him to trim his tomes.  If you read the dedications, a lot of authors have thanked their editors for their invaluable assistance.  Very few authors can produce publish-ready first drafts like Harlan Ellison and frankly, I'd rather read Pournelle, Niven, Turtledove, Weber, Stirling, etc. than Ellison on most days.

I'm happy to see Tor following Baen's lead on DRM and hope that spreads.  The market will adapt to these technological revolutions but worst thing we could do is get government regulation and oversight involved because some people don't like the direction or pace of those adaptations.  Publishing houses that don't adapt or institute changes people don't like will lose sales and authors (product) and new opportunities for authors will arise but it's very very hard to get government enforcement out of a system once introduced.

[MacMcK1957]

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Omnigeek wrote:

... Publishing companies can exist in the ebook era because they improve the quality of the writer's product and allow the author to concentrate on what s/he does best -- produce more good works.  Even established authors need help with the editing -- I gradually lost interest in Tom Clancy's books simply because they grew bigger and bigger -- it seemed like his editor had lost the ability to get him to trim his tomes.  ...

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I know this is a side-issue to the current discussion, but this seems a common trend among authors who get big enough they think they don't need editors.  I gave up on Stephen King some years ago for that reason.  The Stand was plenty long at 800 pages; it didn't need 1200.  Gerald's Game was a novel with enough content for a short story.  Insomnia was absolutely dreadful, chapter after chapter that didn't move the plot along at all.

[TnTexas]

Omnigeek: ... Publishing companies can exist in the ebook era because they improve the quality of the writer's product and allow the author to concentrate on what s/he does best -- produce more good works.  Even established authors need help with the editing -- I gradually lost interest in Tom Clancy's books simply because they grew bigger and bigger -- it seemed like his editor had lost the ability to get him to trim his tomes.  ...

MacMcK1957: I know this is a side-issue to the current discussion, but this seems a common trend among authors who get big enough they think they don't need editors.  I gave up on Stephen King some years ago for that reason.  The Stand was plenty long at 800 pages; it didn't need 1200.  Gerald's Game was a novel with enough content for a short story.  Insomnia was absolutely dreadful, chapter after chapter that didn't move the plot along at all.

I don't know if the author starts ignoring the editorial advice, the editor starts slacking up on the advice, or what; but I've noticed this trend as well. I thought the last half of Rowling's books suffered a bit from the same syndrome. I haven't decided yet whether I'll read her new one or not, in part, because of it.

[Sun_Cat]

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TnTexas wrote:

I don't know if the author starts ignoring the editorial advice, the editor starts slacking up on the advice, or what; but I've noticed this trend as well. I thought the last half of Rowling's books suffered a bit from the same syndrome. I haven't decided yet whether I'll read her new one or not, in part, because of it.

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Harry Potter and the Never-Ending Camping Trip (aka Deathly Hallows) -- IMO by far the weakest of the series.

[TnTexas]

Sun_Cat: Harry Potter and the Never-Ending Camping Trip (aka Deathly Hallows) -- IMO by far the weakest of the series.

Totally agree - and for more reasons than just that camping trip.

[MacMcK1957]

You desperately need someone to put a rein on you when you start rambling on and on.  For most of us, a spouse serves that function.  For authors, an editor is needed, and the author needs to actually listen to the editor.

[patgolfneb]

Conversation goes like this.

Agent to author: I feel the plot and character development are getting lost, can we find a way to streamline things, possibly limit some sections that don't add as uch or advance the story.

Author to management, possibly through agent: I can't work with this editor, what do they know about the creative procees. My talent has sold millons of books, if they don't appreciate my contributions we will find a publisher who does.

[TnTexas]

patgolfneb: Conversation goes like this.

Agent to author: I feel the plot and character development are getting lost, can we find a way to streamline things, possibly limit some sections that don't add as uch or advance the story.

Author to management, possibly through agent: I can't work with this editor, what do they know about the creative procees. My talent has sold millons of books, if they don't appreciate my contributions we will find a publisher who does.

For some of them - no doubt.