Reading, ethics and costs.

[Time Waster]

Charity shops sometimes sell 3 paperbacks for a pound.
Rome's very popular second hand books flea market sells books for a few pounds each.
Those and the 72p Ebook are not going to be the latest bestsellers or indeed most probably the book you are looking for.
So you buy a new book for £17.99 or an Ebook for £12.99.

Ebook was 72p, Amazon fullfilled paperback £13.99 and Waterstones bookstore in Manchester was ,,£17.99 for the same paperback.

BTW I heard that in Paris flea markets they sell secondhand books by weight.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

BTW I heard that in Paris flea markets they sell secondhand books by weight.

It's possible; I have never been to Paris, can't read French anyway
On the by, I once managed to collect all the Discworld series from charity shops, took me a good couple of years and many charity shops visits!

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

It's possible; I have never been to Paris, can't read French anyway
On the by, I once managed to collect all the Discworld series from charity shops, took me a good couple of years and many charity shops visits!

You can find shop in the UK where you can buy nice looking books - mostly hardback - by the yard (or meter I suppose)
it is mostly used for people who want to make their room look sophisticated and have rows of books on bookshelves

apparently you can get a lot of decent books in that sort of thing

 

[annedonnelly]

It's possible; I have never been to Paris, can't read French anyway
On the by, I once managed to collect all the Discworld series from charity shops, took me a good couple of years and many charity shops visits!

It's a nice challenge, isn't it? I have a list of various books by various authors that I look out for in charity shops. And nice to support the various charities.

 

[All uphill]

Ebook was 72p, Amazon fullfilled paperback £13.99 and Waterstones bookstore in Manchester was ,,£17.99 for the same paperback.

BTW I heard that in Paris flea markets they sell secondhand books by weight.

I've bought books by the kilo in the Netherlands.

2.50 euro per kg. I chose two volumes of Seamus Heaney's poems.

 

[Pross]

See above on abuse of monopoly position.

Publishing on Amazon is normally the only realistic option.

The main reason it is the only realistic option is that the vast majority of 'authors' are producing cr@p, unoriginal work that would otherwise go unpublished. It's the equivalent of YouTube for wannabee film producers or Spotify for musicians. Occasionally there will be that one person who has actual talent that may have got missed by traditional publishers but then many of the top authors would have taken a lot of knock backs before they got an acceptance too. Most ebooks I buy are a lot more than 72p but the cheaper ones I've taken a chance on in the past have been cheap for a reason.

One thing I would say is that when you buy a hard copy book you should also get access to the ebook version. I tend to favour a real book but there are times where an ebook is better e.g. reading in bed alongside someone who is going to sleep as you don't need a light on and can set it to dark mode.

 

[Dadam]

The main reason it is the only realistic option is that the vast majority of 'authors' are producing cr@p, unoriginal work that would otherwise go unpublished

That may be true but what would you prefer? Go back to big publishing houses gatekeeping what can be published?
And in any case, if some people enjoy those works who are you to decide what is cr@p and unoriginal?

 

[Time Waster]

That may be true but what would you prefer? Go back to big publishing houses gatekeeping what can be published?
And in any case, if some people enjoy those works who are you to decide what is cr@p and unoriginal?

I wonder what classes as cr@p and unoriginal? The latter is a well used term but some of the most respected works in the English languages used the storylines of ancient Greek works. I cannot remember what but I think you can thing of all the greats having borrowed or used what was before them.

Also isn't that a bit elitist and judgemental. Every writer has a market and if they enjoy what another person calles cr@p well I would rather they were reading and enjoying themselves than only sticking to the great novelists of the past or whatever counts and the opposite of cr@p.

PS the 72 pence ebook was a good translation of a Roman philosopher of the Stoic school of philosophy. Is that unoriginal or cr@p? I think it might have been the narrative of his debates and discussions, as written by one of his students who was there at the time.

 

[Pross]

I wonder what classes as cr@p and unoriginal? The latter is a well used term but some of the most respected works in the English languages used the storylines of ancient Greek works. I cannot remember what but I think you can thing of all the greats having borrowed or used what was before them.

Also isn't that a bit elitist and judgemental. Every writer has a market and if they enjoy what another person calles cr@p well I would rather they were reading and enjoying themselves than only sticking to the great novelists of the past or whatever counts and the opposite of cr@p.

PS the 72 pence ebook was a good translation of a Roman philosopher of the Stoic school of philosophy. Is that unoriginal or cr@p? I think it might have been the narrative of his debates and discussions, as written by one of his students who was there at the time.

What's the issue with the ethics of paying 72p for something produced centuries ago then?

Most of the cheaper stuff I've read has been trying to find something new when I've read everything by my preferred authors. I'm certainly not a high brow reader, generally reading thrillers etc. and there is just so much out there where they've tried to copy the style or concepts of more successful authors. I found one author who was just about worth going through their whole series at around £2-£3 a book but with most others I've felt ripped off even at those prices. No coherent plot, no research, regurgitating stuff I've read in other books etc. I've certainly given up on far more cheap ebooks than I ever have on hard copy books. Whether that's because I'm more tolerant when I've spent more or because the publishing industry does a decent filtering job who knows?

 

[SpokeyDokey]

What's the issue with the ethics of paying 72p for something produced centuries ago then?

Most of the cheaper stuff I've read has been trying to find something new when I've read everything by my preferred authors. I'm certainly not a high brow reader, generally reading thrillers etc. and there is just so much out there where they've tried to copy the style or concepts of more successful authors. I found one author who was just about worth going through their whole series at around £2-£3 a book but with most others I've felt ripped off even at those prices. No coherent plot, no research, regurgitating stuff I've read in other books etc. I've certainly given up on far more cheap ebooks than I ever have on hard copy books. Whether that's because I'm more tolerant when I've spent more or because the publishing industry does a decent filtering job who knows?

I agree with most if your content in #38.

The big online platforms, whether they be music or books or video, give creators huge potential market penetration way beyond that which they would achieve by more traditional outlets.

The issue being that the lads next door with their talentless garage band or the wannabee author who cannot even be bothered to have their work proof-read, think that they are the next big thing and are being ripped off. Forgetting that they are not obliged to use the modern day big players in whatever field.

 

[Drago]

My book was proof-read by several members of CycleChat, which is probably why it isn't a runaway sales success

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

My book was proof-read by several members of CycleChat, which is probably why it isn't a runaway sales success

too many mentions of underpants??

 

[Drago]

too many mentions of underpants??

Indeed! The scene where the hero does a wet fart while fighting a knife man would make Anry McNab nod with approval.

 

[Time Waster]

What's the issue with the ethics of paying 72p for something produced centuries ago then?

Most of the cheaper stuff I've read has been trying to find something new when I've read everything by my preferred authors. I'm certainly not a high brow reader, generally reading thrillers etc. and there is just so much out there where they've tried to copy the style or concepts of more successful authors. I found one author who was just about worth going through their whole series at around £2-£3 a book but with most others I've felt ripped off even at those prices. No coherent plot, no research, regurgitating stuff I've read in other books etc. I've certainly given up on far more cheap ebooks than I ever have on hard copy books. Whether that's because I'm more tolerant when I've spent more or because the publishing industry does a decent filtering job who knows?

if you like crime thrillers (of the pedigree of Agatha Christie perhaps) then check out British Library book series. I got one in my lucky dip library bag collected from the open doorway during COVID 19 lockdown. It was a collection of crime short stories from one of the magazines that the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and even Edgar Allan Poe wrote in I believe. They were old stories too from 1800s or even 1700s right through to Agatha Christie heyday.

The other thing is that this book was more of an anthology with explanation pieces in the chapter lead in to each new story. This explained the history of each particular story and style of crime thriller. I mean there are several types of locked room styles on there own. The styles where you know who has done it but not how. Procedural ones where you learn the methodology of crime investigation and can work with them to see if you get there first. All this adds to the quaintness of olden times and even mores. Not one needs a trigger warning neither.

I cannot tell you which book it was but it was one of those British Library enprint ones. They do crime stories on water too. I read one on water and it was also good. Didn't get on with the train one though but there were the odd decent tale in there. heartily recommend looking for that book and enprint.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Go back to big publishing houses gatekeeping what can be published?

That's the ones (a handful of people) who used to decide what was unoriginal and unsellable.
Nowadays it's us who decide, the general public.
However, before deciding, we must buy the works first.
If they are cheap enough, we might be tempted.
If the author is successful they'll probably up the price of their next book.
I think this way is better, gives more authors a chance of exposure, of course also subject to their team's marketing skills.

PS the 72 pence ebook was a good translation of a Roman philosopher of the Stoic school of philosophy. Is that unoriginal or cr@p?

The cheap price would be because the author's copyrights are well expired!
They expire 50 years after their death iirc.
If the translator has been dead for more than 50 years too, then the 72p are all the publisher's profit, no printing or storing costs.