Books Gone to Waste?
Daily Mail
Jan 08, 2010
THE fact that 77 million books are pulped each year (Mail) is shocking, ludicrous, environmentally obscene -- and completely unnecessary. I'm part of a quiet publishing revolution in that I self-publish my own books, factual and fiction.
For the first time this year, more books in the U.S. were self- published than went through the traditional channels, and this trend will follow in this country before too long.
I, and the majority of self-publishers, use a system known as print-on-demand. Thankfully, though, mine aren't among the 59,000 books that average only 18 sales. This model does what it says on the can and makes perfect sense.
I use a company called www.fastprint.net (I'm sure others are available) and, through its set-up, our books are available via the usual internet channels -- Amazon, Waterstone's, W. H. Smith and the like.
When someone places a order, a single copy is printed for them and dispatched, cost-effectively, within just two or three days.
There's no waste, no need for a warehouse with carefully controlled humidity or temperature and no expensive investment in a large stock of books that end up being pulped. Books are a delight, with a never-ending appeal, which is why computers, e-books and electronic gadgetry will never replace them completely. One day, I'm sure all books -- except those pile-'em-high-sell-'em-quick biographies of here-today-gone-tomorrow C-list celebrities that the book trade seems to thrive on -- will be produced on a printon- demand basis.
Some sections of the book industry are deeply immoral. Pulping 77 million books in itself is a crime against the environment -- and most of them are mass produced in China and transported all the way here, only to be transported all the way back to be pulped.
The print-on-demand alternative will, hopefully, give the book trade a much-needed kick up the backside.
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