4 ms·

> what do you think will happen? They raise the price and print more copies?

ipsum2 2mo ago
What if the book has been out of print for 50 years? This isn't a contrived scenario, most of the rare books are like this.
- YetAnotherNick 2mo ago
  > What if the book has been out of print for 50 years? Same answer? They raise the price and print more copies. You can just print even 1 copy, just the cost per print will be higher. In fact publishers getting some profit on the tail end of books is the best thing that could happen to authors and publishing industry.
  - ipsum2 2mo ago
    Do you understand that many of these publishers do not have the original copy anymore, and may have gone out of business entirely? 50 years ago text was not backed up to the cloud.
    - YetAnotherNick 2mo ago
      If there are very few copies and no one wants to even spend $100 to scan it, likely the book wont be bought by anyone in any case and it would rot/thrown away in another 50 years if AI companies had not digitized it.
      - ipsum2 2mo ago
        Sorry, that "just-so" explanation is not how the world works.
      - greycol 2mo ago
        Which is what has happened over time now that humanity has the ability to digitize them. The problem arises when we are purposefully picking books where we know those scans aren't yet available and purposefully destroying them. There'd be less outrage if any of these companies made statements about guaranteeing the survival of the scans they are taking and the release or planned guaridanship in the case they can no longer maintain the data.
        YetAnotherNick 2mo ago
        Who is digitizing the books which are rare? Isn't it even more valuable to digitize for them now that they have new buyer which can pay 100s of times more.
        greycol 1mo ago
        Anna's Archive is a controversial example with that as a stated goal. But more to the point most of the people doing it aren't seeking to profit from digitizing these books so the 'monetary value' of them is not the yard stick or motivator. A higher monetary value could actually make it harder for these projects as they can rely on donations of books or even waiting for someone who wants a book they bought so they can spend that on the next one (which is less useful if the next one on your list was bought to destroy by the same person who bought the book you finished scanning). They're often books tied to a region, i.e. stories about a local fisherman's life and how they overcame adapting a boat to local feedstock, or the engineering that went into building the local train station. That's to say they can have little value to those outside the area but are still a rich read for locals, tourists, and those who move to the region or have a love for a place. I expect we'll see a concerted effort to organise to get these kind of book sent to regional mueseums for scanning now that people are aware they are actively being destroyed and they realise the timeline isn't how long the book can last.
chomp 2mo ago
You are not understanding how the market works. Rarity and value do not always correlate with demand. Otherwise I have some beanie babies to sell.
- ipsum2 2mo ago
  I doubt that your beanie babies are very rare.
KPGv2 2mo ago
> They raise the price and print more copies? How? Like, do you think a book published 100 years ago has a digital file sitting around a publishing house that might even exist anymore? Re-publishig of old books are often based on scans (the originals were literally pressed into paper by metal, not printed off hard drives), and if the books don't exist, they can't re-scan. I own some antique Japanese books that have very few copies in existence. You couldn't get them re-printed if you want to if the physical book didn't exist anymore. For a few books, I've actually purchased incredibly high-quality scans that cost me hundreds of dollars because to produce the re-issues, people had to go to museums with high-powered cameras to photograph the pages under supervision of a curator. There's no digital file to print from the publisher. If those books were gone, there's no bringing them back.

What if the book has been out of print for 50 years? This isn't a contrived scenario, most of the rare books are like this.

YetAnotherNick 2mo ago
> What if the book has been out of print for 50 years? Same answer? They raise the price and print more copies. You can just print even 1 copy, just the cost per print will be higher. In fact publishers getting some profit on the tail end of books is the best thing that could happen to authors and publishing industry.
- ipsum2 2mo ago
  Do you understand that many of these publishers do not have the original copy anymore, and may have gone out of business entirely? 50 years ago text was not backed up to the cloud.
  - YetAnotherNick 2mo ago
    If there are very few copies and no one wants to even spend $100 to scan it, likely the book wont be bought by anyone in any case and it would rot/thrown away in another 50 years if AI companies had not digitized it.
    - ipsum2 2mo ago
      Sorry, that "just-so" explanation is not how the world works.
    - greycol 2mo ago
      Which is what has happened over time now that humanity has the ability to digitize them. The problem arises when we are purposefully picking books where we know those scans aren't yet available and purposefully destroying them. There'd be less outrage if any of these companies made statements about guaranteeing the survival of the scans they are taking and the release or planned guaridanship in the case they can no longer maintain the data.
      - YetAnotherNick 2mo ago
        Who is digitizing the books which are rare? Isn't it even more valuable to digitize for them now that they have new buyer which can pay 100s of times more.
        greycol 1mo ago
        Anna's Archive is a controversial example with that as a stated goal. But more to the point most of the people doing it aren't seeking to profit from digitizing these books so the 'monetary value' of them is not the yard stick or motivator. A higher monetary value could actually make it harder for these projects as they can rely on donations of books or even waiting for someone who wants a book they bought so they can spend that on the next one (which is less useful if the next one on your list was bought to destroy by the same person who bought the book you finished scanning). They're often books tied to a region, i.e. stories about a local fisherman's life and how they overcame adapting a boat to local feedstock, or the engineering that went into building the local train station. That's to say they can have little value to those outside the area but are still a rich read for locals, tourists, and those who move to the region or have a love for a place. I expect we'll see a concerted effort to organise to get these kind of book sent to regional mueseums for scanning now that people are aware they are actively being destroyed and they realise the timeline isn't how long the book can last.

chomp 2mo ago

You are not understanding how the market works. Rarity and value do not always correlate with demand. Otherwise I have some beanie babies to sell.

ipsum2 2mo ago
I doubt that your beanie babies are very rare.

KPGv2 2mo ago

> They raise the price and print more copies? How? Like, do you think a book published 100 years ago has a digital file sitting around a publishing house that might even exist anymore? Re-publishig of old books are often based on scans (the originals were literally pressed into paper by metal, not printed off hard drives), and if the books don't exist, they can't re-scan. I own some antique Japanese books that have very few copies in existence. You couldn't get them re-printed if you want to if the physical book didn't exist anymore. For a few books, I've actually purchased incredibly high-quality scans that cost me hundreds of dollars because to produce the re-issues, people had to go to museums with high-powered cameras to photograph the pages under supervision of a curator. There's no digital file to print from the publisher. If those books were gone, there's no bringing them back.