Why aren't more of the good instructional books in ebook format?

[VIProfessor]

Since I'm foolish enough to lend out instructional books, I find myself having to replace them every so often. I am dismayed, though, to find that Most of the great books published over the last couple decades (such as Capelle's, Henning's and now Wilson's books, are not sold in e-book format.

Anyone have any ideas as to why that is? I'd love to hear from the billiards authors on the forum.

 

[bdorman]

Converting them into a digital file is a costly, time-consuming process. It's not worth it for old books that have little market demand.

 

[mortuarymike-nv]

Here is a good one on banks and kicks

Since I'm foolish enough to lend out instructional books, I find myself having to replace them every so often. I am dismayed, though, to find that Most of the great books published over the last couple decades (such as Capelle's, Henning's and now Wilson's books, are not sold in e-book format.

Anyone have any ideas as to why that is? I'd love to hear from the billiards authors on the forum.

http://billiardbuddies.com/bank-bandit-e-book/

 

[dr_dave]

Since I'm foolish enough to lend out instructional books, I find myself having to replace them every so often. I am dismayed, though, to find that Most of the great books published over the last couple decades (such as Capelle's, Henning's and now Wilson's books, are not sold in e-book format.

Anyone have any ideas as to why that is? I'd love to hear from the billiards authors on the forum.

Publishers release in E-book formats only when there is sufficient demand based on customer interest. You can help this along by clicking on the e-book request links on the publisher sites. For example, for the "Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards" (my book), click on "Request as NOOK Book from the publisher" here:

Barnes & Noble's "The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards"

Regards,
Dave

 

[VIProfessor]

Publishers release in E-book formats only when there is sufficient demand based on customer interest. You can help this along by clicking on the e-book request links on the publisher sites. For example, for the "Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards" (my book), click on "Request as NOOK Book from the publisher" here:

Barnes & Noble's "The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards"

Regards,
Dave

Done, and thanks for the guidance. I requested a number of other pool-related titles, and I'd like to urge all AZB'ers to do likewise. We gather here and often engage in discussions that are, to put it mildly, less than constructive. Here's a chance to put our collective voices to good use by striving to make written instructional material more available and transportable in this digital age!

One thing I'm still not clear about....I hear the argument about the prohibitive cost of digitizing old books, but I'm not sure how it applies to some of the books I'm talking about. If the 99 Critical Shots is in its 30th printing, how could there be insufficient demand? Also, how does that apply to more recent books such as Banking With the Beard and Play Great Pool? Is it cheaper to publish on paper than in ebook form? How on earth are obscure and poorly written instructional books available on Nook while the best and most popular ones are not?

 

[ctyhntr]

The price of doing business on Apple's iTune is 30% off the gross. Amazon rates are similar. You can google Amazon's recent fight with e-publishers for more details.

Since you feel strongly about this, have you considered sponsoring your favorite author? You can also look into organizing a kickstarter campaign to convert books to PDFs.