Category: Ramblings

On Collector’s Editions, a Consumer Point of View

Brian Keene recently announced “Is There a Demon in You” anthology with three other writers. The book is currently only available as a collector’s edition. There was a comment on the price of the book, and Keene responded to it here.

Currently the title (for sale here) is $50 for the book. Some time down the road, a regular edition will come out. The comment that Keene is replying to is about the cost of the book.

But that isn’t the issue. Not really. See limited edition collector books SHOULD be expensive. They are, by nature, LIMITED and COLLECTOR versions of the novel. There is craftsmanship in the book cover, the printing. They are signed. They look great on a bookshelf.

I have several collector editions of Keene’s and others’ work. And despite paying upwards of $150 for a book, I’ve never read them. Why? Simple, why the fuck would I risk damaging a $150 book to read it? I didn’t buy it as a book, I bought it as a collector’s item.

Which goes back to the real issue. Keene says “respect those customers (the ones who want to buy these collector editions), and don’t complain about the price.” The real issue isn’t that the collector’s edition is expensive. The issue is that there is no other option. These people, some would refer to them as ‘readers’ or ‘fans’, want to read Keene’s work. They want to read the novel, and from a basic level, they want to give Keene money. They aren’t complaining about the price of the collector’s edition. They are complaining that there are no other options.

I think the idea is like this: release a collector’s edition of the book; wait a few years (yes years in this case); release a regular version of the book. Maybe the thought is that no one will buy the collector’s edition if they can buy a mass market. Maybe the thought is that the collector’s edition has no value if you can buy a mass market.

I say both thoughts are wrong.

People who buy collector’s editions, buy collector’s editions. People who don’t, don’t. We see the same thing in “normal” publishing all the time. “When does this book come out in paperback?” We were asked that all the time at the store. The publishers seem to believe that no one will buy the hardcover if the mass market is also available, and from my experience, that simply isn’t true.

The bad part is the time. Those fans who wanted that book are now moving on to read something else. When that book comes out? Hopefully they remember they want it. Because right now, they are lost sales, each and every one.

In fact, I’d argue that the collector’s edition would sell better AFTER the book has been released to the masses. Then we have read it. We’ve talked about it. We’ve decided if we like it. Then we would be more likely to drop $50, $75, maybe more on a nice signed limited edition of the book.

Again this is from my point of view, as a customer. Maybe there is an inside the biz, inside the game, point of view that makes these decisions sound more logical. But from here, I just scratch my head.

(For the record, I believe this particular anthology to be well worth the money for this edition.)

A Year without Big Pubs

I had started another rant about eBook prices. And then I saw this, and it only made things worse.

Basic overview: the five major publishers got together and decided that ebook prices were too low, so together they would raise them.

I’m pretty sure you can’t do that. Price fixing, or something. What it means though is that books will continue there upward path from $10 for a new ebook to $12, $15, $20… For a text file.

Add on Brian Keene‘s (and many, many others) recent spat with his previous publisher and I have decided it time for action, not just blog posts.

So rather than post yet another rant about ebook prices, or about how big publishing treats writers and readers, I’ve decided to do something about it. My plan is to go a full year and not buy a single book from the major publishers.

Not. One.

I will read. I will read public domain books. I will read small press. I will read blogs and I will read forums. I will read, and I will buy books. But not theirs. Will I miss things? Great novels? good biographies? Even things written by friends? Yes. Yes I will.

But it is time to put my money where my mouth is. Will Macmillan notice that I’m not buying the latest shovelware best seller? No. But I will notice where my entertainment dollars are going to.

(What I don’t know is what to do about movies and music, so that will be another post.)

Another Year with Nothing added to Public Domain

Another year and nothing has entering the public domain. Duke Law puts out a list each year of what may have been. Here is this year’s list. There is another article on Techdirt with more discussion on this matter.

Under the laws they were created under, these works, such as Lolita, Return of the King and “Unchained Melody” would all be public domain. Instead along comes the Sonny Bono copyright extension act and all of that changed. The thing about copyright extensions is this: it robs us, the public, from our culture. That is why it is called “The Public Domain.”

The bad part isn’t really how this affects things like Steamboat Willy, or any of the great movie or book classics. These things are still available to the public no matter what media we are using. We will get “Gone with the Wind” in any new media format that comes around.

The bad parts are the things that are not. There are stores of warehouses full of Jazz recordings or silent films that are rotting because they cannot be released or archived under the current copyright laws. TV shows, radio broadcasts, almost 100 years of culture locked away for no good reason.

And when I say ‘rotting’, I mean it. The film and tape from that era is degrading at a rapid rate. True the Jazz museum is archiving, but because of unclear copyright law, the only way to hear these pieces is at the museum itself.

Like the jazz Led Zeppelin blatantly copied from, but gave no attribution to. Or how about this, which shows scenes from Star Wars and the other movies that, sometimes shot for shot, copies from. Pays “homage” to, I think that is the word…

Art isn’t created in a vacuum. As members of culture we are absorbed in it, we build on it in our ever day lives. The dangers of more modern copyright enforcement is not that expression of an idea is owned, it is the idea itself can be owned. One cannot copyright, patent, trademark, etc, an idea. (Despite attempts and some success at doing so) One can only do those things to a specific implementation of that idea, and that monopoly has a finite time. That is the deal we make with creators. We, society, give the creator a limited monopoly to make money, and then after that, the creation is released to everyone.

Before this? Before ~1600’s when copyright laws were started? There were none. Zip. Nada. And yet somehow there was a lot of art being created. There were a lot of things invented. Did people copy? Sure, just listen to classical music, those guys “sampled” from everyone.

But the biggest argument of why these things should have entered into the public domain, rather than retro-actively had their copyrights increased is simple: that was the law they were created under. These artists, writers, musicians, saw no reason to hold back their creative endeavors because they had a maximum of 56 years (you had to renew your copyright to maintain it back then) of monopolistic control over their work. Now that monopoly isn’t even with the artist anymore. Most are owned by companies, or run by estates. But to what end?

Who is benefitting from the Return of the King being under copyright until 2043? Not us, the public, that is for sure.

Oh, and in Europe? James Joyce has entered public domain this year. This will make his novels and plays free to Europe for production, citation, even remixing, reimagining, and free distribution. I suspect in protest he will never write another book.