![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dsrtaoLet's start a thousand pure ebook publishers. They all start out as small startups -- one to three partners -- and adequate funding. Their mission: to make enough money to survive and thrive in the world of selling ebooks.
Some of them try to replicate traditional publishing, in which the good taste of one or a few editors determines the selection of investments:
Costs:
- slushpile reading
- editorial selection
- proofreading and continuity
- editorial advising
- formatting
- web service
- programming
- office stuff (banking and incorporation and insurance...)
- attracting new writers
- attracting customers
Others will try to do it in a new-fangled method with people voting on the slushpile, which slashes editorial costs by substituting the vox populi. (This is not a recipe for getting a new Jay Lake or Walter Jon Williams or Daniel Abraham: this is a recipe for getting a dozen imitators of Twilight).
Costs:
- web service
- programming
- proofreading and continuity
- formatting
- office stuff
- attracting new writers
- attracting new customers
- attracting slushpile readers
Some will be even less than that: with no editorial costs at all, they will be a combination of catalog and review-publishing service.
Imagine Amazon, if it offered nothing at all but electronic delivery of ebooks, with the same deal open to everyone who could fill out a form: XX% of the price you set, payable via PayPal every $50 or remainder if you close your account.
Costs:
- web service
- programming
- office stuff
- attracting new writers
- attracting new customers
- attracting new reviewers
In all of these three cases, all other things being competent, I believe the reputation of each firm will determine market position.
Some of them try to replicate traditional publishing, in which the good taste of one or a few editors determines the selection of investments:
Costs:
- slushpile reading
- editorial selection
- proofreading and continuity
- editorial advising
- formatting
- web service
- programming
- office stuff (banking and incorporation and insurance...)
- attracting new writers
- attracting customers
Others will try to do it in a new-fangled method with people voting on the slushpile, which slashes editorial costs by substituting the vox populi. (This is not a recipe for getting a new Jay Lake or Walter Jon Williams or Daniel Abraham: this is a recipe for getting a dozen imitators of Twilight).
Costs:
- web service
- programming
- proofreading and continuity
- formatting
- office stuff
- attracting new writers
- attracting new customers
- attracting slushpile readers
Some will be even less than that: with no editorial costs at all, they will be a combination of catalog and review-publishing service.
Imagine Amazon, if it offered nothing at all but electronic delivery of ebooks, with the same deal open to everyone who could fill out a form: XX% of the price you set, payable via PayPal every $50 or remainder if you close your account.
Costs:
- web service
- programming
- office stuff
- attracting new writers
- attracting new customers
- attracting new reviewers
In all of these three cases, all other things being competent, I believe the reputation of each firm will determine market position.
