[CRAZY IDEA] Really Really Cheap+Light Books

[SinbadEV]

So I have a potential scheme that I need help hair-braining.

So, I have recently been experiencing a number of "negatives" relating to books.

First: They are expensive and I'm cheap

So I started taking them out of the library and found:

Second: Hard Cover books are big and heavy.
Third: Libraries tend to re-bind books and, after a while, this makes it hard to read pages (the "inside" column is sheared off when a new spine is added
Fourth: Libraries add these cool plastic protectors to paperbacks to essentially turn them into pseudo-hardcovers (which is awesome)
Fifth: Even some paperbacks are HUGE

My wife has also been reviewing books and, for some reason, despite the fact that most books are released in Hard long before they are released in Soft-cover... the pre-release copies she get's are always soft-covers. (we'll call this SIX)

Added to all that, eBooks are taking off, but they too are really expensive... which will undoubtedly lead to rampant piracy and annoying DRM schemes.

So, I was thinking,

how do I make books

CHEAPER, SMALLER, LIGHTER, TOUGHER and released in this format right away, instead of 6 months to a year after the hard-bound versions.

First, my ideal book:

Bound with that reinforced plasticized card stock that high quality gaming cards are made from.

Using that very thin but very opaque "bible paper" like you get in dictionaries and bibles.

Biggest it can be and still be small enough to fit in the pocket of a pair of adult pants (aka about the size of a normal paperback). About 5 inches by 8 inches.

100% compostable (I know I mentioned reinforced plastic... we'd need some kind of biodegradable plastic)

Okay, next you need to convince someone that it's okay release books in the format from the start... which is probably hard... so to start with I'd have to get the licence to print some awesome old books... out of print sci-fi would be a good start... Okay, now that we have a market we go to the "real" publishers and say "Yo, we can print your book for like $1.00 a copy... if you include one of our hyper-portable versions with each hard-back copy then people won't wait for the paperback anymore... they'll buy right away and then put the "pretty" version on the shelf" yes this will create a secondary market for the books but this way they could NEVER release a copy of the book in "just" paperback for a much longer time (or not at all)...

I was also thinking if I could get the infrastructure to print these consumer friendly books I could just become my own publishing house... I'm sure there are a few authors out there that are having trouble breaking in to the market and a niche publisher that's capable of mass production would be a good start... I could make "one printing only" contracts which would leave them open to obtain literary agents and real publication contracts in the future.

Another advantage here is that I couldn't likely get into the market relatively cheaply if I could find an existing publisher (like one of those companies that makes the "new testaments + psalms and proverbs" you find in dollar stores willing to get me started).

Anyways... probably just rambling wackyness. Input?

Anybody know who prints those cheap new testaments?

[knorke]

i dont think using thinner papers etc makes that much of a difference. Personally I would hate having to to read a book (novel, school book or w/e) printed on bible paper.
Maybe you coul save some money by using unbleached paper.
The material is probally the cheapest part of a book, just like it is not the CD that makes software expensive.

[AF]

The reason bibles and dictionaries get away with the thin cheap paper:

• People like to have bibles but the percentage of bibles in existance that have ever been read, in any amount beyond the front cover, are tremendously tiny. No number of pious christians in your neighbourhood will make up for the thousands of Gideons bibles handed out to school children in the UK who just dont care, or those in hotels, or in Oxfam charity stores, or sitting as token bibles on church shelves
• People would prefer to listen to a preacher speak from memory, whom they assume has read the bible, than go read the bible themselves
• There are large swathes of the bible that are never seriously read, and hold no useful information. Examples include the lengthy passages on lineages of obscure figures in the bible. These passages are likely to be skipped
• Most readings of the bible focus on specific parts in order to demonstrate something to the readers
• A lot of bible readings involve 1 person reading aloud, especially when there is a large congregation. Its easier to hear the person speak aloud alone, than follow with your own bible. The same is true of printed out powerpoint slides in lectures etc
• A lot of bibles are purely for show, and for social not theological purposes. Wether this is true or not for you and your community, it is true of others, and si by no means an isolated trend.
• There are an enormous number of bibles that are not owned by any one individual and serve corporate or legal purposes, such as the bible in a courtroom that people swear on.

For these reasons, bible pages dont have to be hardwearing, as theyre unlikely to be read in their entirety, and not at length but rather in reference. Those that are read at length are likely to be of a higher quality.

Other reasons:

• Cheap bibles are cheap and easy produce for mass release at low cost, this is their aim, and thin mostly opaque paper is cheap and easy to mass produce
• Cheap thin paper makes for smaller bibles, smaller bibles are easier to fit into vans and packages in larger quantities
• Cheap bibles made of thin cheap paper are easy to replace
• These bibles are not intended to act as books of god for pious individuals. They are intended to be there for penetrative purposes, for places where a bible is unlikely to be present, or for distribution to those who are young or do not currently hold complete faith. As such once it takes hold they will invest in a heftier book.
• Hardback Bibles are also numerous and in demand.

I remember handling many of these bibles, and one thing I can say is that the pages have a habit of tearing with extreme ease, remember pages tearing simply because I turned a page.

[TradeMark]

Buy a voice book, or whatsoever they call em, its as heavy as CD, you can fit them 1000 in your bag, plus you can read it while youre driving.

[MidKnight]

Alright, that sounds okay. Time to do your research!
Try and figure out more about how and where books are printed, and see if you can buy a timeshare at a press to print a bunch of editions. Start with the classics; they aren't copyrighted. If others like it, you may have a business premise on your hands!

[zwzsg]

Today's book are really cheap! You should have seen their prices in the middle-ages!

I'm not that sure material make up for that much of the price of books. Can you google me a pie chart of what books cost is made of?

[hoijui]

cons:
* some do not want their book to be available in a "cheap" form, cause it would destroy the "costly" image of "the masterpiece" (i know, who cares about such people?)
* my books often get wet, from rain, banana or snow, for example. they would be dead with bible paper.

the reason you get pre-release versions of books as soft-covers, is that they are very cheap to produce. you basically load a PDF on a book-making machine, and it outputs a few hundreds of them. these machines are quite cheap (compared to anything else in that business). on release, they make hard-covers for the "costly" image, so they can sell a book that costs them 3$ for 50$, instead one that costs them 50c for 10$.

i like your idea

i would propose though, that if it is cheap, light, small and biodegradable, it should not be rigid. first, to keep it light, small and cheap, and second, it would also enhance the image, and make it more different to other books. if it wears out after a few years, you should put it on the compost, and buy it again. even if you would find biodegradable plastic cover stuff, it would still look and feel artificial/non-biological, and it would not feel like what it is, and would not be recognized as that.
keep it real!

[Panda]

I don't think that there is really a solution for your problem. I used to work in a library reference department and really like all of the different kinds of books that they had there. I doubt that it would be possible to make all of those different kinds of books compact and cheap. Some of those books really are gorgeous and each book says something about the author's style.

[bobthedinosaur]

head-jack and download?

[KaiserJ]

we've got periodicals on microfiche!

i couldn't handle books with thinner paper; i have enough trouble not tearing pages as it is

[AF]

A cheapola A5 eink display that had uber basic gesture wipes for turning pages and index/contents, that had at most the graphical power to display photographs, that needed no backlight and was uber thin, mass produced into the tens of millions.....

Really books aren't going to change much, what we should be looking for is a more convenient electronic form.

( Sadly current gen ebook readers suffer from a set of problems that put people off, even though real books also suffer these problems. Heavy ebook reader that means you cant hold ti up for longer than an hour? Maybe you've forgotten that hardback book thats twice the weight )

[SinbadEV]

Maybe you've forgotten that hardback book thats twice the weight

Well I had, then I read "The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest" and "Quicksilver" in hard-cover. With pocket editions I can hold them in one hand, up to my face, while I'm standing at the bus stations... with hardcovers I have to sit down and balance them on my lap or hold them with 2 hands... and even then I usually hold them closer to chest height which puts strain on my neck.

I know what you mean about the production of the book being a tiny part of the cost of the book already... I think my biggest peeve is the big-ass books that libraries always seem to have for anything older then 5 years and the whole "wait a year for the paperback" version, thing.

I wonder if publishers hate libraries?

I'm really starting to like the idea of trying to find a good "out of print" book that obtaining the printing right to would be relatively cheap... apparently HG Wells stuff is classified as public domain under Canadian law... hmmm....

[hoijui]

http://www.gutenberg.org

[Machete234]

I dont really mind carrying a ~1kg book with me.
Recently I carry the first band of dune with me in the hard cover version.

There are only a few ebook readers and they all have some drawbacks.
And generally people dont read as much anymore and the book stores are full of fantasy shit and vampire stories.
I dont think books have such a bright future.

[SinbadEV]

I dont really mind carrying a ~1kg book with me.
Recently I carry the first band of dune with me in the hard cover version.

There are only a few ebook readers and they all have some drawbacks.
And generally people dont read as much anymore and the book stores are full of fantasy shit and vampire stories.
I dont think books have such a bright future.

A lot of people still read... maybe you live in some kind of cultural wasteland.

[TradeMark]

why does everyone think voice book = ebook here?

buy a damn voice book... all you need is mp3 player for it.

[SinbadEV]

why does everyone think voice book = ebook here?

buy a damn voice book... all you need is mp3 player for it.

I think you mean "!="... but I disagree... I prefer to read the words myself... I can't stop at the speed of thought or read the last couple words over etc. and the reader adds his own interpretation to the words.

[TradeMark]

have you tested you actually need to stop at thinking when you hear it?

I mean its like watching a movie without watching a movie... i never needed to stop at thinking on a movie tbh... if you need to, i think its not the right movie for you if your brain cant handle it...

Also, whats the point creating own interpretation when someone else can do it much better (for example in movies the way how they talk, is really epic compared to what you can make it sound like).

...by now you probably noticed that i dont read books at all

[Sabutai]

As allways it's a money thing:

1. Sell expensive hardbacks to elite who can't wait to buy.
2. Wait half a year for the word to spread.
3. Sell cheap paperback to the masses.
4. ?????
5. Profit

[SinbadEV]

have you tested you actually need to stop at thinking when you hear it?

I mean its like watching a movie without watching a movie... i never needed to stop at thinking on a movie tbh... if you need to, i think its not the right movie for you if your brain cant handle it...

Also, whats the point creating own interpretation when someone else can do it much better (for example in movies the way how they talk, is really epic compared to what you can make it sound like).

...by now you probably noticed that i dont read books at all

I have tried listening to audio books, I essencially have to do so through noise cancelling headphones with my finger on the pause key with my eyes closed in a dark room otherwise I'm distracted by whatever is going on around me and can't pay attention to what I'm hearing... I have none of these problems when reading on the bus, despite there being a lot more distraction... my brain engages with the written word is a much more comfortable way then an Audio of someone else reading the written word.