Comments on: Round up #113: Print on Demand blooms, States suit approved

By: An unsettling settlement « I Love My Kindle

An unsettling settlement « I Love My Kindle — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 03:45:33 +0000

[...] I recently wrote about Judge Cote approving a settlement agreement between 49 states, four additional American entities, and three publishers over the Agency Model pricing structure. [...]

By: Bufo Calvin

Bufo Calvin — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:34:19 +0000

Thanks for writing, Lady!

That is an excellent point! Some of the consumers who were hurt the most didn’t buy any Agency Model books…because they books cost too much for them. Those who did buy them could afford them.

You’ve inspired me…I’ll probably do a post about that settlement.

Bravo to you for donating your “rocking chair” to the future of kids!

By: Lady Galaxy

Lady Galaxy — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 06:19:20 +0000

I really don’t want any money back from the publishers when the state suits are settled. I knew how much each book cost when I bought it. Sometimes I waited for the price to go lower. Other times I wanted to read the book without having to wait. The choice was always mine. I would prefer that instead of giving money to individuals who bought books that the publishers would give libraries a better deal on lending Kindle titles. If I do end up getting money back, I’ll probably donate it to my local public library for the children’s book section. The traditional retirement gift for teachers in my district is a rocking chair. I had no place to put one and no desire to have one, so I suggested that the best gift they could give me when I retired was to buy books for the school library. They bought 15 books! Sorry, I’m rambling again.

By: rogerknights

rogerknights — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 05:08:26 +0000

Bufo, you’re very diplomatic. You have as much to crow about as I do, because you saw the future of POD in retail outlets, whereas I saw it in bookstores. That’s because I thought that only high volume–which only bookstores could deliver, IMO–could justify the high prices of the POD machines. It hadn’t occurred to me that these low-cost Kodak machines could be pressed into service in retailers.

Bufo said, “I still see some hurdles…how long will it take, how much will it cost, that sort of thing.” I see them too. I doubt, because of their lower cost, that the Kodak machines will be able to match the real POD machines for speed, book-like appearance, or cost-of-operation (= book cost).

I’m also dubious about how rapidly these machines will be adapted. “On Demand will train a dedicated staffer to operate the book machines at the Kiosks.” That’s going to involve more time and overhead than an automat.

The PW article reads like a press release. “On Demand to Roll Out More than 100,000 Book Machines through Kodak and ReaderLink” says the headline. But those partners haven’t committed to such a conversion project. They’ve only committed to pilot programs. 100,000 is a blue sky number, maybe a decade down the road, if all goes well.

I hope you post follow-up pieces on the chatter in the publishing industry about this project, plus additional news from the participants, etc.

———–
I’ve changed my mind about how POD distribution into bookstores might happen. I used to think it might happen in one fell swoop, with a collective effort by the publishing industry. That’s because I couldn’t see bookstores coughing up the money for the machines.

Now I think it might happen incrementally, with publishers using the machines to print out their low-volume and backlist titles at bookstores, and with a select group of publishers being involved in helping to finance acquisition of the machines, perhaps on a lease basis. Low-volume books might continue to be published conventionally as well, but they would be sold to bookstores at a higher price, to encourage the stores to acquire a POD machine.

This wouldn’t save publishers much money initially, but it would position them to do so in the future, and would get the migration process rolling. Over time, publishers might shift the printing of all except bestsellers over to POD. Then they could get down the cost of printing, warehousing, distribution, and returns.