Computer books

Christopher Browne cbbrowne-HInyCGIudOg at public.gmane.org
Tue Jan 18 03:45:20 UTC 2005


> I suspect a likelier explanation is that there just weren't that many
> people in the area ready to pay $80 for one more instruction book on
> how to use a pirated copy of Photoshop.

That's a pretty significant set of additional pieces of the puzzle.

 1.  Yes, indeed, the "computer book industry" has gotten increasingly
     associated with "piracy."  

     (Leaving aside that piracy is, in FACT, a crime that continues to
     be as worthy of summary execution as any, in view of the fact that
     it tends to include rape, robbery, and murder, all three...)

     That is a factor that leaves people unwilling to pay premium prices
     for books.  One rip-off deserves another...

 2.  In order to be able to stock books that, though they may be
     wonderful, will NOT fly off the shelves instantly, stores stocking
     "specialty" books need to charge premium prices.

     That means charging $80 or more for a good book.  That's going to
     scare off the price-sensitive.  

And with the Internet as a cataloging and central sales system, that
means it's a way for someone to centralize stock, and seriously beat
those premium prices.

I suppose that means that someone running a good technical bookstore
might be able to scale it up to sell to all of Canada and compete with
Amazon.ca/Chapters.ca.  Probably will be tough for whomever jumps in
first...
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