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Books are not too expensive

millersbookreview.com

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Re: Books are not too expensive

#201

Post by so-cal-schemer »

toast0 wrote: post #193
rahimnathwani wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's the case, then why do librarians curate collections? Why stock any book before a library user has requested it?

To reduce latency on first use for books the curators think are likely to be used?

As the top poster said: Use it or lose it.

Request physical copies of books you want to read, and that you think are beneficial to the community. And check them out from time to time.

I'm sure a librarian does their best to keep abreast with the latest best books.. but would they know the field better than someone in it?

I've been told they have experts that consult on title selection. But based on the 004-006 section at most libraries, I can only infer that is the IT guy at the senior center..

If the library buys it, that patron will come..

Re: Books are not too expensive

#202

Post by so-cal-schemer »

ivansavz wrote: post #59
WaitWaitWha wrote: post #36

To be fair, this article is partially true. Now, allow me to pour some gasoline/petrol/benzine around this thread. Have you purchased a college course required book recently? There is a market monopoly by Pearson, Wiley,Cengage, and McGraw. Buy the eBook, or the actual book with a CD in the back, but cannot access the pictures because the code can be use only once ! (often the codes do not work at all) Updated every…

Yeah the textbook cartel is outrageous. I started a textbook publishing company to fight this! I was working on web copy describing how crazy the mainstream textbook prices are, and used the price C$300 for the calculus book, trying to be flippant (to exaggerate the competitor price to make my prices look better). I decided to check the price in the bookstore, and to my surprise the price was even higher than that! (…

The considerate professors would use titles from Dover Books with supplemental reading:

https://store.doverpublications.com/pages/math-science

On the order of $10 each - small paperbacks.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#203

Post by so-cal-schemer »

I remember some great tech bookshops of yore. Computer Literacy [0] for one. Seattle has Ada's Technical Books [1].

If I buy a new book I want to buy it from such an independent shop - ideally when an author gives a talk and I can get it signed.

[0]: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

[1]: https://adasbooks.com/

Re: Books are not too expensive

#204

Post by so-cal-schemer »

so-cal-schemer wrote: post #203

I remember some great tech bookshops of yore. Computer Literacy [0] for one. Seattle has Ada's Technical Books [1]. If I buy a new book I want to buy it from such an independent shop - ideally when an author gives a talk and I can get it signed. [0]: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... [1]: https://adasbooks.com/

Oh, no! Tragedy! Ada's is closing in June!

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/capitol-hil...

Re: Books are not too expensive

#205

Post by Loranubi »

WaitWaitWha wrote: post #36

To be fair, this article is partially true. Now, allow me to pour some gasoline/petrol/benzine around this thread. Have you purchased a college course required book recently? There is a market monopoly by Pearson, Wiley,Cengage, and McGraw. Buy the eBook, or the actual book with a CD in the back, but cannot access the pictures because the code can be use only once ! (often the codes do not work at all) Updated every…

In Germany I spent exactly 0 dollars/euros on books in university. We got access to a huge amounts of ebooks through the university network and profs never required a specific one and would just recommend a few. One of these was always available. This free access was of course covered by the 250 euros per semester tuition…

But yes, standards and certifications are horrible.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#206

Post by mrweasel »

malfist wrote: post #88
mrweasel wrote: post #79

Many of the comments talks about the price of books like those required for college courses, and the article don't really make a big deal of this, but the statistic it uses does specifically say "recreational books". If your first language is English I assume that this is less of an issue, but the problem is that not enough books are being translated anymore. Translation is expensive, and no, AI cannot do this very w…

> If you want to learn something new, you better learn to read English Do you really think that non-fiction is exclusively written in english?

No, but it is economical to translate into e.g. English, less so to translate into Swedish or Estonian.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#207

Post by boarush »

vidarh wrote: post #87
rcxdude wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because significantly less of the money you pay goes to the person who wrote the book.

To quantify that: If the author has self-published on Amazon, 35%-70% goes to the author. (70% above a certain price threshold and assuming the e-book is exclusive to KDP) If published via a publisher, the author is more likely to be getting 10%-15%.

To be fair though, a lot of publishers also do a one time payment deal with authors as well, after achieving a certain milestone of number of books sold.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#208

Post by vidarh »

boarush wrote: post #207
vidarh wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To quantify that: If the author has self-published on Amazon, 35%-70% goes to the author. (70% above a certain price threshold and assuming the e-book is exclusive to KDP) If published via a publisher, the author is more likely to be getting 10%-15%.

To be fair though, a lot of publishers also do a one time payment deal with authors as well, after achieving a certain milestone of number of books sold.

The more common is an advance payment, but note that these are almost always offset against royalties, not in addition to royalties, and you need to be fairly successful before you'll ever earn out a full advance.

For 99%+ of authors, writing is a hobby that pays less than minimum wage. For self published authors it's often a net loss after costs like editors and cover design.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#209

Post by mat_epice »

so-cal-schemer wrote: post #200
rahimnathwani wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SFPL doesn't have even one copy of SICP. And I can't request a copy because it's too old.

I can't remember the number of times and ways I've tried to get them to re-acquire it. Maybe we should organize a good old sit-in? https://mtpfriends.bigcartel.com/product/what-s-more-punk-ad... Some universities have it, but the only copy in CA public libraries seems to be at the Sharp Park branch in Pacifica (which I believe was acquired in the last couple of years - good on them!). Berkeley public library has copi…

I would prefer my library not buy SICP (at least the Scheme edition) since it's available for free online.

https://mitp-content-server.mit.edu/books/content/sectbyfn/b...

Re: Books are not too expensive

#210

Post by TFNA »

mrweasel wrote: post #206
malfist wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to learn something new, you better learn to read English Do you really think that non-fiction is exclusively written in english?

No, but it is economical to translate into e.g. English, less so to translate into Swedish or Estonian.

Depends on the genre. It wasn't unusual for an acclaimed travelogue by a French or German author to be translated into multiple European languages, but never get an English version because UK and US publishers assume their market just won't buy foreign-penned travel books.
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