Debates: VERSUS?
Cost Structure
Steve: As I've said before, I believe that both print and ebooks are reasonable consumer options for the foreseeable future. However, people who want to buy print books need to expect to pay more. It simply costs more to manufacture, warehouse, distribute, retail and/or ship a printed book. I expect the prices of ebooks to continue to become more affordable when ebooks become the primary distribution media. Happily, the costs for digital print-on-demand are also dropping so that the printed book option should also become more economical over time.
John Parsons (john@intuideas.com), former Editorial Director of The Seybold Report, is an independent writer, ghostwriter, and editor. He is the co-author of the interactive printed textbook, Introduction to Graphic Communication, on the art, science and business of print, which has been adopted by Ryerson, Arizona State, the University of Houston, and many other schools and vocational training centers. Custom editions of the book are under consideration by major printing companies and franchises for internal training purposes.