medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Paul Chandler <[log in to unmask]>
> Christopher Crockett said:
>> but the Basic Idea is about right, i should think: the combination of
Technology and Economies of Scale *should* result in cheaper prices at the
consumer end --but, they don't. [...]
> There does seem to be much weirdness in academic book pricing,
"weirdness" is an euphemism, i assume.
for what?
Greed?
Incompetence?
>no matter how sympathetic to the beleaguered publishing industry you try to
be.
i'm "sympathetic" to the damnéd Beleaguered Publishing Industry only in so
far as i like books --shucks i even like buying books.
however, i don't like being Gouged (and, truth be told, don't have enough
money to be gouged very often).
it's against my Religion.
and i especially don't like the idea (in my imagination) of being Gouged for
shoddy quality (interior and or exterior quality) books, just because the
"beleaguered publishing industry" can get away with their Scam because of
because of
1) the pressure on Academics to Publish rather than Perish,
b) the Acquiescence of Lieberrians (who now at least have the excuse of
desiring to avoid being hit with clearly Bogus lawsuits by Bullying Thug
Publishers), and, not least, by
iii) the ridiculous Copyright laws written by the very best Politicians money
can buy.
>I once set a Longmans paperback as a textbook but as it was about $60 (and
that was more than a decade ago) almost none of the students bought it.
well, at least one student should have bot it --and found a photocopy machine
to crank out a few more copies, at cost.
>I told the story to the Longmans rep at a conference, remarking that if the
price was half that, they would sell a few dozen copies every year just to my
students, instead of just one to the library, and surely that would be good
for Longmans, wouldn't it? His answer: "20 or 30 copies is a lot. We could
give you a trade account."
thanks, Paul, i *love* that response.
soooo Typical.
Bottom Line, Over Paid Greedheads.
Cutting their own Noses off Despite their Face.
duh.
>I had to say I was just a teacher, not a bookseller.
the two professions are not mutually exclusive --after all, the only
difference between them is that *anybody* can sell books (if they can find a
hapless fish to rip off), while teaching, well, Teaching requires Special
Skills.
like in the old saying: "Those who Can, Do; Those who Can't, Teach"
besides, the "trade discount" the guy was so kindly offering you would have
been 30-40% off the retail Gouge price --that's a substantial enough amount,
if you have both a Pricey book and a captive audience of students who have to
buy it (from you) if they want to Get in Good with the Prof and pass your
course.
>And with all our modern technology, why can't they put the notes at the foot
of the page where they should be?
that's a separate --though perhaps related-- issue.
my "understanding" is (and i don't know where i picked it up) that the
fanatical enmity of publishers towards footnotes is --now get this-- because
footnotes make the book *look* so "heavy" that it will scare off lots and lots
of potential customers.
i assume that, after extensive Marketing Research by Professional Bean
Counters, trying to appeal to the widest possible audience for your exhaustive
study of Tithes in the High Middle Ages was decided to be the Smart Play for
the Buck$ --and those pesky footnotes just scares the Sheeple off, so put 'em
at the end of the book; after all, nobody reads them anyway.
of course, academical authors *could* Insist that they be placed at the bottom
of the page --on the weird (nice word, that) chance that some readers might
enjoy participating in the "dialog" which exists between the body of the text
and the notes at the foot of the page.
a dialog which has a long pedigree but is clearly quite hopelessly passé here
in the Third Millennium and the Age of Twits.
a few years ago i did some editing work for Margot Fassler on her massive book
on Chartres
http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300110883
http://books.google.com/books?id=YcQtugS41DYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
[note that the worthless "endnotes" are "not available" in the preview]
she kindly gave me a copy when it came out.
being a fairly sensitive chap, i was more-than-somewhat Livid at the fact that
the YUPpie Bean Counters had gone for wretched End Notes, and i told her so.
"They wouldn't do it," says she.
why didn't you *insist*? says i.
"Caint. They wouldn't do it. Against their Policy."
now, here's a reputable senior scholar, holding an Endowed Chair at the
publisher's home university no less, with quite a few excellent publications
under her belt, publishing a significant work (the product of about 10 years'
labour), about a very popular subject (by academic standards), one which any
academical publisher on the planet would jump at the chance to handle --and
yet she can't get the YUPpies to simply Do the Right Thing.
even though they put the book out at such a "reasonable" price ($65 HB --no
PB, yet) that a traveler looking for some lite in-flight reading could pick a
copy up at any airport news stand.
>And while we're at it, why have they stopped putting font information like
"Set in 11/13.5 pt Palatino Linotype" like they did in the good old days?
because nobody uses 11/13.5 pt Palatino Linotype anymore --it's much too
exciting a typeface to appeal to a Mass Market audience.
> Is resistance futile?
yes, certainly.
duh.
but that doesn't mean that we should just give up --Acquiescence is equally
futile.
c
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