Paksworld

We always knew that long books cost more to produce than short books, just because of the production  cost.     So long books are priced higher to cover that higher cost.    It’s not just the paper in the books–or even that fat books need bigger covers (which they do.)   It’s that longer texts take longer to edit, copy-edit, typeset (even with electronics working there, too) and proof after typesetting.   However, the materials cost is still the big problem, due to the ever-rising cost of paper and (related) the per-pound cost of shipping.

Some of us (points at self) thought that e-books would solve that problem, because a long electronic file (though yes, it takes a bit more bandwidth to download) isn’t that much more costly than a shorter one.  Within limits.   And paper & shipping costs are now out of the equation (“shipping” cost now consists of what the customer pays for a download…it’s no longer the publisher’s problem.)

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While we wait another couple of weeks for the US release of Kings, here’s some more background to consider.   Back when I first discovered the complexity of Paksworld (as much as was needed for that first set of books)  I knew that having so much magic, of one kind and another, would almost certainly displace technological innovation, wherever magic worked well enough and was economically viable.

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