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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Too long, too costly -- the story of too many books

Sam Harris explores an undeniable truth about publishing, which is that far too many books are just magazine articles that got out of hand:

One fact now seems undeniable: The future of the written word is (mostly or entirely) digital ... I’ve started to think that most books are too long, and I now hesitate before buying the next big one. When shopping for books, I’ve suddenly become acutely sensitive to the opportunity costs of reading any one of them. If your book is 600-pages-long, you are demanding more of my time than I feel free to give. And if I could accomplish the same change in my view of the world by reading a 60-page version of your argument, why didn’t you just publish a book this length instead?

The honest answer to this last question should disappoint everyone: Publishers can’t charge enough money for 60-page books to survive; thus, writers can’t make a living by writing them. But readers are beginning to feel that this shouldn’t be their problem. Worse, many readers believe that they can just jump on YouTube and watch the author speak at a conference, or skim his blog, and they will have absorbed most of what he has to say on a given subject. In some cases this is true and suggests an enduring problem for the business of publishing. In other cases it clearly isn’t true and suggests an enduring problem for our intellectual life....

I’ve begun to experiment with self publishing short ebooks. Last week, I published LYING, my first installment in this genre. ...a very short book [9,000 words; about 26 pages]  that can be read in 40 minutes—and (costs) $1.99. ...I decided that it was not worth my time or other people’s money to publish LYING elsewhere, or as a physical book.

 



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Well obviously he's not talking about fiction. And anway, I for one don't read books just to know that author's argument or point of view. I am reading it beause I enjoy reading. Enjoy the way a lyrical author tells the story. And that story can be non-fiction too. I wouldn't want Unbroken or Pictures at a Revolution or Team of Rivals to be shorter. I savored those books.

This: "...an enduring problem for our intellectual life...."

We've come full circle back to Reader's Digest if people can't be bothered to read more than 60 pages because of "opportunity cost". Granted, there are a number of 600 page books that could have been written in 60, but that's not a problem with 600 page books, it's a problem with authors who don't know when to shut up.

ZORN REPLY -- I suspect the problem is closer to this: The amount of time it takes to research an informed, useful, fresh 60-page book on a topic -- let's say the history of Elgin and Aurora -- is nearly the same amount of time it takes to write a 600-page tome on the same topic. And, trust me on this, the writing time, while not exactly similar, is nowhere near 10 times greater for the long book. And the production costs are also not ten times greater. So the economics of the situation for both the publisher and the writer are to generate something longer, hefty enough to justify a cover price large enough to cover payment to the writer making it worth his while to have spent the time necessary to create the book.
$30 for a 600-page history of Elgin and Aurora will seem reasonable to those interested in the Fox River valley; $20 for a 60-page history will seem far less reasonable. Even though the 60-pager may do the job better -- more efficiently -- for 95 percent of those with a passing but not thoroughgoing interest in the topic.

BTW, it's the inability to read more than 60 pages of a lengthy tome which has gotten us into the current economic mess we're in. Contrary to what conservatives think, Adam Smith had a lot more to say about free markets than just the "invisible hand". He in fact went on at length about how government intevention and control is necessary for the markets to be actually free.

One more before I shut up. "Opportunity cost" in this context is just a fancy way of talking about priorities. I've never heard anyone talk about the opportunity cost of watching a 3+ hour ball game or following a season of "American Idol" or playing a round of golf every Saturday or hanging out at the bar with buddies.

The optimist view of all of this is that it should get easier for authors to publish their works, and they can also publish their works in segments.

--It certainly appears that our attention span for reading has devolved, with preference for fewer words and quick bursts of information. Technology is setting the trend, but to me there is still nothing better than unwinding at the end of the day with a wonderful, 300+ page book.

This guy is so silly it really isn't worth the time to respond to. He sounds like he's got the attention span of a fruitfly. Maybe he gets all his information from the Internet?

I've got a couple of dozen of shelves filled with books which needed to be longer than sixty pages. I'm sure you do too.

Dienne, I'm pleasantly surprised that you've read Smith. I'm very familiar with his remark that when a group of businessmen get together the talk tends to turn to collusion. You might enjoy Hayek or Friedman as well.

Stating the obvious pt. 1: Arguing that *some* books should be no longer than 60 pages is not the same as arguing that *all* book should be no longer than 60 pages.

Stating the obvious pt. 2: A bestselling author with philosophy degree from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA very likely has an attention span significantly longer than that of a fruit-fly.

-- MrJM

Too bad he doesn't appear to write like one.

The comments to this entry are closed.

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
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