Many thanks for all these fascinating perspectives here. The limited edition subscription model sounds very promising for well defined niche markets, but it is sad if a single very small print run is still the only viable option. Maybe there is an argument for an initial print run followed by a print on demand option sold online?
Justin, your online journal idea sounds most interesting indeed, but I suspect there may be quite a resistance to pay-per-view. I have a feeling that even most educated readers still judge value for money by the number of pages, and not by the content. Everyone (except a researcher who just has to have that information) thinks twice before paying £5 for a ten page article when they can buy a 200 page paperback for the same amount. Do you have any information on the conversion ratios for pay-per-view articles at other sites?
I must say, slightly belatedly, that I love ‘real’ books too! There’s little better than a nice pristine new hardback (as long as it’s one that doesn’t fall apart on first opening) – but not paperbacks – I hate the way you have to abuse them so much to get them to open flat enough to read, and how they then turn into twisted, distorted things that you can never quite bring yourself to throw away! Definitely a necessary evil – necessary for economy, size and weight.
What is better than a nice new hardback is an old book. I’ve recently spent a small fortune on old books. Quite a number I had already downloaded – and I still use the PDFs for searches, but I like to have the originals too – books like the Naval Chronicle, Nicolas, William James, Clarke & M’Arthur and so on. And I love margin notes and inscriptions in old books. My copies of the Naval Chronicle have corrections made by the original owner. I haven’t verified them, but I bet that most will turn out to be accurate. Researching the original owners from their inscriptions is often interesting too.
Lesley, I am shocked that your customer reviews have disappeared on top of everything else that has happened. Is it a glitch or something worse? It looks like they may not have disappeared altogether from Amazon, but the link from the book details has gone which obviously has the same effect. See here for a review still buried in the site:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3EXINF5EXZ1P4