Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 22:42:41 -0500 (EST)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: New mass market pb format
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net> wrote:
> Sigh.  The market is "soft", so they come up with another way of
> charging more for books.

And of making them so they weigh more, take up more space, and don't
fit on one's bookshelves.

These must be the same geniuses of marketing who decided that people
love to listen to fragments of tinny music on the phone whenever
they're on hold.  Especially if the music begins in the middle and
is randonly interrupted by an automated claim that your call is very
important to them.  And who decided that everyone wants to receive
HTML email, seeing how it's more than twice as long, and almost
indistinguishable from spam.  Or that people want to see Christmas
decorations and hear Christmas music in November, to ensure that
we're all thoroughly bored with it by Thanksgiving.

> Maybe they should work on a way of selling books for less?

Only if they want me to go back to occasionally buying books by
someone other than my favorite few authors.  Or to buying most of
my books new, instead of used.

I'm willing to buy about a hundred books a year at $5 each, or about
a dozen at $8 each, or one or two at $10 each.  It's their choice.