Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2004 21:31:47 -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>

"Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net> wrote:

> I'm confused, Keith.  I'm confused that you can't tell HTML email
> from spam.  Surely the content is different.

Sure.  I can tell the difference in about three seconds.

However, I get an average of one email every *two* seconds.  So I need
some automated procedure.  There isn't time for me to actually *look*
at them, even if I never did anything else, nor can I afford to hire
several full-time assistants to look at them for me.

For a while, I was automatically deleting all HTML email, plus all
email which contained certain key phrases, or was from certain
countries.  But, while this blocked 99% of the spam, the remaining 1%
was still far too much.  Plus, occasionally some legitimate sender
would happen to mention N*geria or V*agra, or send HTML email, and
I'd never see their email.

So a year ago I switched to a combination of whitelisting and
disposable email addresses.  That works much better.

(The stars are in case *you* are filtering on those words.  I'm not,
any longer.)

> And I'm really confused by your math.  You're willing to spend $500
> a year on books -- but only if they are priced at (or below?)  $5.00
> each.  But if their price rises to $8.00 each, you're only willing
> to spend less than one-fifth that, $96, a year for books.  And
> should, ghod forbid, the prices rise to $10.00 each, $20 is your
> annual maximum for books.

What's so strange about that?  I get $5 worth of enjoyment from many
books.  I get $10 worth of enjoyment from very few books.

You've mentioned enjoying Pepsi.  But if Pepsi were to cost ten times
as much, I doubt you'd spend the same amount on Pepsi, and drink one
tenth as much.  More likely you wouldn't buy any at all, ever.

Of course all Pepsis are created equal.  All books are not.  Some
books are worth more to me that others.  But very very few are worth
more than $10 to me.

> Well, considering the current $8.00 standard pricetag on mass-market
> paperbacks, I guess you're saving over $400 a year, and soon --
> maybe in a couple of years -- you'll be able to save even more!

That's exactly right.

I continue to buy lots of books, but almost all of them used.  These
are often books I would have been willing to spend $5 on, new.  But
for $8 or more, I wait a year or two and buy them used for much less.

If publishers gain enough by the higher prices to make up for having
fewer customers, more power to them.  If not, they know what they have
to do to avoid going out of business.