50 CENT BOOKS AT BIG LOTS

Sure, the books were 2-3 years old. But they were hardbacks. By Janet Evanovich, Brad Meltzer, Patricia Cornwell, and even some Frank Herbert Dune books.

What's more, the shelf above them had $3.00 hardbacks by similar best selling authors.

This is what happens when the big publishers send out a hundred thousand books and they don't all sell right away for twenty-five dollars. Out of all the money poured into making a print book, it gets down to three dollars and then finally fifty cents.

There's something wrong with this picture. Three dollars, much less fifty cents, won't pay the costs of shipping. No wonder the traditional publishers are quaking. No wonder ebooks are paying their bills (partly because the royalties traditional publishers assign authors for ebooks are pitiful).

The publishing model used for years and years and years is sadly out of whack. Though some people say it's cheaper to print fifty thousand or so books the regular way (even if they get scads of returns) than it is to print a thousand or so POD books (on demand books that won't be returned).

I can't see it. I'm wondering whether, when the publishers get through scrambling, they can't find a better way to print and distribute their books. I hope so.

Not that I'll turn down a book for fifty cents. If it's one I want to read.