Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 21:33:21 -0400
From: mark <whitroth@5-cent.us>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [WSFA] Why some of us are here: books
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist@KeithLynch.net>

And, for that matter, why Amazon and the publishers, with their idiotic
$10 or $15 for an ebook, are *stupid*.

Excerpt:
Publishers Gave Away 122,951,031 Books During World War II

In 1943, in the middle of the Second World War, America's book publishers
took an audacious gamble. They decided to sell the armed forces cheap
paperbacks, shipped to units scattered around the globe. Instead of
printing only the books soldiers and sailors actually wanted to read,
though, publishers decided to send them the best they had to offer. Over
the next four years, publishers gave away 122,951,031 copies of their most
valuable titles.

"Some of the publishers think that their business is going to be ruined,"
the prominent broadcaster H. V. Kaltenborn told his audience in 1944. "But
I make this prediction. America's publishers have cooperated in an
experiment that will for the first time make us a nation of book readers."
He was absolutely right. From small Pacific islands to sprawling European
depots, soldiers discovered the addictive delights of good books. By
giving away the best it had to offer, the publishing industry created a
vastly larger market for its wares. More importantly, it also democratized
the pleasures of reading, making literature, poetry, and history available
to all.

Serious books were hard to find before the war. An industry study in 1931
highlighted the book trade's limited audience. Nineteen out of every 20
books sold by the major publishing houses cost more than two dollars, a
luxury even before the Depression. Those who could afford them often
struggled to find them. Two out of three counties in America lacked any
bookstore, or even so much as a department store, drugstore, or other
retailer selling enough books to have an account with a publishing house.
In rural areas, small towns, and even mid-sized cities, dedicated
customers bought their books the way they bought other household goods,
picking the titles out of mail-order catalogs. Most did not bother.

There was another, less-reputable class of books, though, that enjoyed
broader distribution. Cheap mysteries, westerns, and comics could be
snapped up at newsstands in paperbound editions that cost far less to
produce than hardcover books. Throughout the 1920s and '30s, publishers
tried to take advantage of this format to publish a wider range of books.
Most efforts failed. Then, in 1939, two new entrants changed the equation.
Pocket Books and Penguin Books each offered a mix of new titles and
reprints of hardcover books, including some of a literary bent. More
importantly, they sold these paperback books on magazine racks.

Americans could put down a quarter and pick up a book all over town, from
train stations and drugstores. Within a year, Americans bought 6 million
paperback books. By 1943, Pocket Books alone printed 38 million copies.
"It's unbelievable," said the head of Random House. "It's frightening."
--- end excerpt ---

<http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/publishers-gave-away-122951031-books-during-world-war-ii/379893/?single_page=true>

        mark