It's amazing how much social media has altered how we gather and distribute information. From printed books to E-Books, from journals to blogs, and on it goes. I still prefer overall the printed book to reading something electronic unless it's either a forum post, or fanfiction, or just general info on the net. Wikipedia has been hugely helpful, as have many of the online search engines, and dictionaries too.
Would I read an E-Book? Probably not. I like the feel of pages in my hands, so it's not for me on a Kindle OR a tablet. PC? Same thing. I would only really read these for teaser pages out of a printed book, which I did when the Order of the Phoenix came out for J.K's first world release a couple years ago now.
I did in short order buy the entire HP series in paperback, and hardback copy.
I suppose that E-publishing would be less-expensive than paying publishing fees OR taking the cost of publishing and distribution onto your own shoulders. I do know a person that did this, and believe me, domestic publishing for a book is expensive, whereas getting it published overseas, and shipping it back in country is a much cheaper alternative. This also depends on the number you send for printing too. Paper and ink are not cheap, nor are the covers, I mean the only reason authors like J.K likely have cheaper publishing fees for their books is that they mass-produce and distribute them, globally.
Economies of Scale can equal lower production costs overall but only if you publish lots rather than small amounts of books.
Although in the end, any publishing route done through a commercial publishing/printing company will incur some cost. They will literally end up marketing you, your work, and being able to claim part of your intellectual property if you go under their contracts.
My advice is read the fine print and get sound advice before you sign something.
You could be signing away more than just your book or books without realising it.
Contracts are nasty, pointy, prickly things that require chainmail gloves and patience to handle properly.
~ Pyre
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