Re: lol the ada book site wants $60 what ajip

[Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com>]

On Sat, 24 Sep 2016 00:28:31 -0700 (PDT), polymorph self
<jackvanc3@gmail.com> declaimed the following:

>If only we has more capitalism

	We do have capitalism -- that's why Ada (and most other text/reference
books) cost so much. The publishers price them to make up the initial cost
of printing -- so a book that sells only 1000 copies will probably cost
much more than a similar book that sells 10000 copies -- since the up-front
cost to edit/typeset both books are the same (author royalties probably
don't matter, unless the author was given a guaranteed minimum amount).
If it costs $50000 to set up (say $25000 for an editor making $75000/year,
and another $25000 for layout/typesetting and setting up the press/binder
system, plus $10 for paper per book... The 1000 copies book will need to be
sold for over $60/copy just to break even; the 10000 copies book can sell
for just over $15/copy and make the same profit.

	The GPL has never been about "no-cost" products; it's about
distribution (if you use this product to make something commercially
viable, we insist you provide the source code to others so they may extend
and modify it to make something else viable)
-- 
	Wulfraed                 Dennis Lee Bieber         AF6VN
    wlfraed@ix.netcom.com    HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/