TO PUBLISHERS, FROM READERS: PLEASE STOP 🛑 

I hate when they started removing the description of the book on the back and replacing it with reviews, like that makes no sense 😂 I also really don’t like when the description gives away the ending of the book as well, I’ve actually stopped reading the entire description of books because of that. Why aren’t publishers listening to the readers!!

I think if there has to be one of those permanent "stickers" on a book for a bookclub, or the adaptation it should be on the back. Next to all those blurbs from other authors.

I read a lot of indie authors, and I've noticed that they tend to have much higher quality copies with chapter art and hidden art on the naked hardback. Big publishers tend to make their copies as cheap as possible.

I don’t see a problem with movie/TV tie-in covers as long as that doesn’t become the only edition available. These days, that rarely seems to happen. When I was younger, though, that was very common. The movie would come out, the tie-in edition would release, and they’d stop printing the regular edition. Which was always absurd. That said, there are a handful of books where I prefer the adaptation editions. 😂

Publishers stopping translation mid-series is what ultimately got me to stop reading in Portuguese (well, along with the insane pricing for books in Portugal). Nowadays I read English/Spanish exclusively, that way I can get the whole series without having to worry. Plus, Portuguese translations got very, very awkward within the last few years, and since I found myself re-translating back to English in my head to see if phrases made sense, I just gave up. A decision I don't regret. My bank account does, because ALL the special editions haha. I've also fallen into the deep, dark pits of buying both the Kindle & hardcover editions of books (hardcover is reserved for 5 star books, though; I'm not rich lmao).

Kind of sad to hear everyone devalue-ing the work of authors by demanding cheaper and cheaper ebooks. When you buy a physical book do you think you are just paying for paper and glue?

I need more books which are original and really edited. I feel like reading fanfics all over lately and I’m starting to hate reading. Guess I need to look for book published before 2015 to get SOME quality. I was really shocked when I picked some spicy romance with friend just to laugh and it was so nicely written that it made me sad.

What I hate about the eBook pricing is that it was PUSHED by publishers as a 'cheaper' alternative to regular book buying because of not having to print the book for those editions. Complete doublespeak. Yeah, it'll be cheaper than the paperback by, like, 50 cents. "But we didn't lie!" they'd scream, if you called them on it. Also: Yay! :D The first time anyone has ever answered me specifically in a video. Silly, I know, but it made me giggle.

I LOVE the short synopsis at the start of a new installment in a series. It's so appreciated!

I am SO glad someone mentioned those weird rubbery covers!! I hate the feel of them and it’s impossible to get sticker residue off them. I have several hardbacks with dust jackets that have this texture and I’m just like NO please. 😖

Stephanie Garber is another author that does a lot of bonus stuff at the end of her books, and she said something on instagram that was really interesting to me. Apparently the bookstore/company selling the books sometimes requests the exclusive bonus content so they can charge a little more for their special editions. So while the authors/publishing companies are definitely guilty, the sellers are also complicit because they are trying to draw people in.

Oooh I loved this. It’s mind boggling to me that some of these points are overwhelmingly agreed upon. Like permanent stickers on covers. But publishing does nothing to stop it? Like why purposefully and continually do harm to your own sales??

Last month I was reading a thriller book and one of the praises was just straight up "I loved it". I found that really funny

the "bonus" chapters in the new SJM book really get me going because there is absolutely no chance that they are going to be pertinent to plot (I mean, like 75% of her books aren't relevant to the plot, so these chapters definitely won't be lol). They were definitely (in my opinion) written afterwards for the specific purpose of including them in various editions. None of the extra chapters she's had for past books have ever contained anything of any value 😬

RE: the library hold tip: my library's website has a function where members can request books, either upcoming books or older ones: a couple times I have requested upcoming releases, sometimes even saying "This author's last book had a hold of 6 months so please consider buying many copies" and by default when they purchase a book that was requested they put a hold on it in your name. :)

Self-published here. Thanks! This was VERY handy. For the record, I'm working a vampire buddy-cup trilogy now and yes, we are going out of our way to keep the same cover artist and we do FULL covers without ads and stickers over the art. I feel y'alls pain. Love the bundling ideas and I'll have to look into it. Oh, and I'm not a best seller on any category and my ebooks are all under $5... just in case anyone is wondering. 🤣 P.S. To that reader looking for new stuff - Try Nicole McKeon. Fantastic cover artist and indie published author, such good work!!!! There's a suggestion from a stanger on the internet.

A couple of things from the perspective of someone who works at a library: -I have developed a dislike of matte or textured covers because they get real gross really quickly when multiple people are reading them. -Dust jackets are great. The library I work at has protective covers for dust jackets that not only keeps the book in better condition for more usage, but protects the information we put on them, like the library barcode and spine. Also, much easier to wipe down if they come back a little icky.😅 -I would also prefer a standard sizing, it can be very irritating dealing with oversized books that won’t fit on shelves or smaller books that got lost amongst other books of a more standard size. -Final point, a reader shouldn’t have to be a detective to figure out if a book is in a series and what order to read them in. Not everyone can check the internet for series information and a clear reader’s guide should be more standardized with numbers on covers if the books need to be read in order for the series to make sense. I see the ambiguity confuse patrons a lot and there is no need for it.

The short cover thing is called a stepback

That is one thing that I am so envious of! :) It must be so nice to just go to your local bookstore and pick up a book. In my country the book selection in store is very limited. And if we want to order books not in store most of the time the price skyrockets. For an example, if ordered on Amazon the delivery cost is literally the cost of the book (or sometimes a bit more) so we have to pay double the price. It breaks my heart :(. and we also don't have libraries so we can't use that resource.

I hate how the digital covers change due to adaptations. They don't even ask the owner of the book. They just change the cover. Several times, the cover to the first A Song of Ice and Fire novel changed to match the newest poster for the adaptation. A few times I couldn't find it on my account due to the change. It also looks completely different from the uniform style of the following books. Fire and Blood not only got a new cover, it now claims that the book is a "tie-in" to the new show, as if it was written for the adaptation rather than the adaptation being ... an adaptation. It's pretty annoying 😅 At least physical copies can't be altered after purchase.

Japanese publishers have a few standard sizes that most books default to. It's really convenient for shelving, and it also means you can buy nice protective cloth book covers that fit a lot of different books well. They also put things like endorsements or info about adaptations on a short paper band around the bottom of the book, which you can just slide off, so it doesn't ruin the cover. (Oh, and importing Japanese books to the US is now frequently cheaper for me than buying new English books, because their prices are lower across the board despite generally higher print quality. The flip side of that is that longer books are often split into multiple volumes, which is usually nicer to hold, but does mean paying multiple times for one book.)

I'm new to reading ebooks and am discovering that they are not as affordable as I thought. In a lot of cases they are only 2 or 3 dollars less than the paperback, and sometimes are the same price as a hardcover which is insane

Absolutely need more floppy paperbacks and yes all the "#1 Bestseller Lists" need to stop 🛑. It's out of control. 😏 (#1 Small Town romance of a bake shop owner who dates the town's sheriff....hmm, okay I guess 😂)

Your makeup was amazing because it was complemented by the glare of your glasses. Looked magical.

I am so over publishers ditching regular paperbacks halfway through a series. If I wanted a giant book I would have bought the hardback.

I personally love dust jackets/sleeves on hardbacks. I don’t read with them on, and if the naked hardback gets a bit grungy while I read it I still have a beautiful and intact piece of art to display on my shelf. It also keeps me looking cryptic when reading in public, so nobody knows what I’m reading, lol. (Also, I love having a surprise design on the hardback itself.)

I don’t like the bonus chapters for other books at the end of the story either. First off, it usually isn’t in chapter one of the new book; second, if the bonus chapter is for a future release, it may not be included once the new book is released (has happened to me more than once!); third, it’s kind of a let down that the story I bought is shorter than I thought because 50ish pages are for a different story.

As a librarian: we also like it when you bug us about new releases-we want to get on the hold list too! 😅

Putting first chapters of other books as sneak peaks at the end prevented me from reading Six of Crows for so long, because its first chapter was at the end of my edition of the last Grisha book, and it's this amazingly boring prologue about characters that don't matter and never appear again and I was like "This is the books everyone's crazy about?" So yeah I never read those since then 😂

Soft touch laminate (the one that person was complaining about) is literally advertised as ‘to bring a luxe’ feel to books but is also known to be the worst lasting cover. Especially with heavy use (libraries) or in humid environments like my own, it becomes immeasurably sticky like the faux rubber coating on a lot of early 2000s tech that’s almost glue-like. And now they’re putting that on our books. Texture sensitivity is a big thing in a lot of neurodivergent people (also like myself) but I also hate it for the lack of forethought into how it will affect the longevity in who knows how many book covers.

I actually love dustjackets and go out of my way to make sure not buying hardbacks without them. I hate how they look without the sleeves 🙈

As a previous book seller I suggest people get to know their local book sellers. There are so many passionate people working in retail book sales who make it their mission to find the Hidden Gem books and love to recommend lesser known authors! The "tables" are corporate planogram set ups.....not what the staff are actually reading.📚

100% need the sleeves. When I bought the Farseer Illustrated editions, I didn't know they were sleeveless, and when the books arrived, they were scuffed and ruined. :( If the book has artwork or looks fancy, at the very least, include a dust jacket to protect the book.

Yeah, amazon is ridiculous with it's book ratings. I've never seen a book with fewer than 4 out of 5 stars listed there. Not exactly believable.

For the ebook pricing I completely agree, especially new releases lately are insane. In many cases for me it forces me to wait until they lower the price (if they ever) as I live in Italy and my library doesn’t have many English new releases (or many fantasy new releases in general actually). The prices also seem so arbitrary, sometimes you get book for 0.99 or 3€ and other times 10+€ for very short books.

So funnily enough, being called a "New York Times Bestseller" pretty much means nothing. I started looking into it when i started getting into author circles and everyone and their dog was a "US Today Bestseller". Its a title based solely on book sales

The smaller cover with the next page sticking out further is a step back and they are really common in Romance, especially historical. They usually have really beautiful art under the step back cover but it is usually a very spicy image so I think they were probably designed like that due to people's sensitivity. I really like them on romance books as long as there is additional art under the step back.

I've always hated the sleeves on hardbacks. It's one of several reasons I don't get hardbacks unless there will never be paperbacks (these days I mostly do ebooks so it's kind of moot, but this point is still valid I think).

With the bonus chapter controversy I feel like they could resolve this by there being a special code or maybe sharing a copy of the receipt that would allow access to all the other bonus chapters, that way readers can choose one special edition for themselves to physically own but then still have access to all the other bonus chapters. Or just make these chapters public once these editions are no longer sitting on the shelves.

YES for sizing consistencies, YES for banning cover obstructions, YES for the surprise when undressing your hardcover, YES for the e-book/audio bundle deals (I've seen extra audio costing $17 when buying a kindle!!), YES for link to e-versions and audio versions in hardbacks and paperbacks, YES for more sprayed edges, creative art work attached to non-fantasy books (I would love to receive posters, bookmarks, t-shirts, mugs, inspired playlists, whatever.. I would definitely purchase or pre-order an "ultimate package" of a new release of an anticipated fiction book), YES for more book club guides at the end of books (I enjoy reading the questions and sometimes help me see the book more under a microscope or a different angle). GREAT VIDEO!!! Love your channel

Library of a Viking recently had a short video about the different editions. Because of Amazon, stores like Barnes and Nobles 'want' their own special editions (he explains it better than I do) and that authors don't always have a say in it because of their contract. So I sort of get that. HOWEVER I feel the bonus content must never be crucial to a story, it should be some little extra snippet. Like the avengers eating shawarma at the end of avengers 😂

I wish publishers would pay more attention to proof reading. There are often quite a large number of spelling and grammatical errors in books these days. Especially in self published books. I find it very jarring to be immersed in a story only to keep being pulled out of my immersion by these mistakes. I can forgive one or two mistakes, especially in very large books. But some books contain so many mistakes that I can only assume there was no attempt to proof read them at all. There is no excuse for this at all with main stream publishers, but I can’t understand why even authors who self publish are often so careless. Even if they can’t afford a professional proof reader, they could still read through the manuscript themselves before publishing. Around 90% of errors are so obvious it would only take a cursory read through to eliminate them. Authors should have enough pride in their work to want to take the time to do that.

I think eBooks are super expensive because companies like Amazon take such a huge percentage of the sale price. Truly awful.

a big gripe i have is that bookstores are inconsistent with how they market fantasy romance books. Some are put in the fantasy section and some the romance section. please just create a fantasy romance category in the romance section. the romance expectations i have of a fantasy romance are very high and putting it in the fantasy section makes it really hard to find what I'm looking for and I'm much more hesitant because regular fantasy has completely different expectations even if it has a romance.

True about book cost. I live 3 minutes from my library but don't always have a ride to get there. I never buy new books cause they cost around $15 to $19 per book. Used books are more affordable since they sell for $4 to $8 bucks. But I gotta get some cash too.

I ended up buying the hardcover of Mystery of Thorn Manor for $15 even though I knew it would be ridiculously tiny because the ebook was $16.99 for less than 200 pages, it should be a $5 price point at most

Step-back covers! I only like them on The Locked Tomb because it's a colour strip. I own the hardbacks too so it doesn't bother me as much. I don't like photo covers in general and prefer illustrations. I hate how with some adaptations they diversify the cast, which makes it seem like the book is that way too when it's not. I love dust jackets if they put a little something fancy underneath. My dad throws away his dust jackets because he dislikes them so much lol As a bookseller, we'll have some titles sent in because that's what the buyers send us BUT a good bookseller should be ordering titles in for their sections too. I look after SFF and I'm also ordering in different titles so people have something new and exiciting and different to find. I also talk to customers a lot and personally recommend things etc. If your shop is very samey, someone isn't doing that extra work or isn’t being allowed to do that for some reason.

As a huge reader, I totally understand the "why are ebooks so expensive". But as an editor at a small, indie press, we have books in our catalogue that we must charge over $5 for or else we would lose money because large distributors deduct a "delivery fee" from the royalties based on how large the epub file is. A delivery fee, mind you, that only applies to small presses and indie authors. So we would not be able to give the author a cent and also keep our lights on if we didn't charge at least $7-$9 for some of the lengthier ebooks, unfortunately. I know that that is a lot of money for many folks. I wish we could do better.

Book series with mismatched covers go on my rainbow shelf, so I don't have to see them together and get irrationally angry.

The SJM 5 different versions made me so viscerally angry it was irrational lol. And I’ve seen where these supposedly aren’t integral to the overall story but in my experience with her work that’s bull. And it’s honestly made me reconsider whether I want to continue buying anything from her.

Completely agree with the binding comment. I absolutely refuse to pay $35 and not have a sewn book with acid-free paper. I prefer to get the eBook, and if the eBook is more than $10 I prefer not to read it.

I have to say: I found a Karen Marie Moning book for $3 at my local bookstore and decided to pick it up. Well, it was book number 10 in the fever series. In the back of the book, there is a summary of all the characters, the magic of the world, creatures, and what happened in previous books. Although I am not enjoying the book, it was nice to go back and see what happened since I haven't read the other books.

Wouldn't it be nice to have all your books be case-bound, smyth-sewn, the same size and without extra advertisement on the cover?

TINY FONT. I just hate reading books with small font because its harder... and annoying on the eyes. I would rather a book be more pages with bigger font. I think its why so many people like reading on kindle because bigger font helps people read a bit faster. Also... there is a level of dopamine I get when I get to turn pages and work through a book.. sorry... but its just how I am. lol

I am almost assuredly going to self-publish my own work in progress, so I figured this would be a very helpful watch. I wasn't disappointed. Tons of useful tips here as I think about my own process. One thing I thought of that I want to do specifically is have resources hosted on my website (like unaltered cover art) for BookTubers and anyone else interested. As I said on the video you did to writers, thanks for putting this together!

The praise instead of synopsis thing really irritates me, too, because you're telling me nothing about the book except how you want me to feel. It makes me less likely to check it out. Give me something specific about the plot, characters, or even the worldbuilding instead. Is there a heist, an airship, an old lady who is more than she seems? All three? Of course, this applies equally to writers promoting their work.

AH I missed out on the community post but something that really bothers me is that publishers and authors will share lists of every.single.trope in that novel. Like NOTHING about it is a surprise anymore. I feel like it's way too spoiler especially for the hyper specific ones. For ex: 'Touch her and die' well great now that I know its coming I'm not as excited to read it

In regards to the story relevant bonus chapters: Piracy (be it music, video, book, manga, anime, etc.) arises from a confluence of two key issues: price and availability. Piracy is generally an indicator that you have a distribution problem. I would even make an argument that one of the reasons that manga has enjoyed the success it has in the US in recent years is because of early piracy and scanlation aggregators like OneManga.

I LOVE bonus content. Maybe it's just a being poor thing. I feel like I'm getting more than I paid for. I also love getting to read a bit of the next book before it comes out. The 5 different stores thing is messed up. But when they're all the same it's cool. I read one series years ago. At the end it had lyrics to the songs mentioned in the books. I was like, 'yeah okay, whatever.' I still read them of course. But recently I listened to them on audio and they fricken composed and sang the songs! And had a live interview with the author. It was really cool! I did get the audio through libby though, so I didn't have to pay for it.

I really understand the annoyance of not being able to get paperbacks right away for new releases, but at least in Austria (and the German speaking countries in general), authors normally get a higher percentage of hardcover sales. It's in parts regulated, so that the authors will make at least some money, though it's still a really small part of the resell price. Knowing this, my feelings on the hardcover/paperback release delays have become more nuanced and I feel that it's a good thing for the authors. At the same time, I just do not have the money to only buy hardcovers and I prefer reading paperbacks

Regarding e-book prices from traditional publishers, for me as a Romanian reader, they are actually higher than the paperback, because the VAT (value added tax) for e-books is much higher than for paperbacks (in my country, because paperbacks count as "books" but e-books are seen as "electronics"), so if the American publisher prices the e-book a little lower than the paperback, the total price of the e-book plus tax is higher than the total price of the paperback plus tax. I prefer e-books for a number of reasons, but unless they are on sale (or indie, which usually cost less) I feel forced to buy the paperback because of the cost. So if publishers could at least lower the price of the e-book to the point where it doesn't cost me more than the paperback, that would be fantastic.

Omg yes…. Changing the covers mid series drives me BANANAS😤

Totally agree with the 'bonus' chapter content in books and how you have so many books having a different chapter. I work in a bookstore, and the number of times I get asked if they will be released......it's crazy!! Just recently for a school, Holly Black book, one of the requested "books'" was actually just a chapter!! The girls had seen it spoken about online, and then wanted it - little hard for us to get firstly because the edition it was in was the B&N one......and secondly because Australia we don't tend to get an 'bonus' content like they do in the US!!

19:30 Yes! I totally relate. I won't even buy some books because of it. If I hold the book too long, my fingerprints can be visibly seen. It makes me not want to read the book!

I just started reading EE Knight’s Dragon Novice series (I’m about mid-point through) and I’ve noticed two annoying trends that I really wish would stop. The first, which was mentioned broadly in this video, is fantasy authors who want the allure of a magical school without ever doing the work of coming up with a curriculum, history, facts. I felt this way with Deadly Education and Fourth Wing gives me the same vibes. My second issue is with this writing style where the character is talking to someone and then halfway through they switch to giving the Cliff’s Notes recap of what was going on in real time. Again Dragon Novice is guilty of this as well as Iron Widow, if I remember correctly. I don’t know if author’s are getting lazy or publisher’s aren’t giving them enough time to complete the books but this needs to stop!

I have one specifically addressed to the manga publishers: Please for the love of manga, STOP with the digital only titles. If you are going to publish a series, PLEASE make physical copies. Not everyone can read manga on a screen without our eyes going weird. I get that printing takes more money than digital books, but you are making certain series inaccessible to readers who want to read them but cannot deal with digitized manga. I couldn't not contribute a message to publishers even though the video is over. Everyone raised some very excellent points and you delivered them in a nice and cohesive way. I can understand most of them and do feel bad for countries that do not have as much access to books as we do in the US. Reading to me is one of those things everyone needs access to.

I live in europe and i stoped reading english books in my own languish beceaus i bought the first 1 or 2 and then they stoped.... i really want to suport the local publisher but that just wont happen now.

For orbit books specifically, the cover of their paperbacks peels off. It is the worst. It is normal for a spine to be cracked after some used but the cover peeling off is NOT normal.

Stepbacks! I think that's what those covers are called. I don't really mind them, except when I'm shelving it and it gets caught on other books.

Re: the comment about sneak peaks Idk about the situation in the us but where i'm from, pages in books always get bundled in batches of i think 30ish paper sheets (has to do with the folding and cutting of the sheets if i remember correctly) and then bound in the book, and depending on how long the book is that means that there are a bunch of empty pages at the end. That's why there are, at least in my country, sneak peaks, summaries for other books by the same publisher or - in the case of my old translated percy jackson copies - glossaries about the worldbuilding on the last pages so as to not leave them completely empty

Zelazny's Amber series came out in a huge omnibus edition decades ago, and it's still being sold today for around $15 on Amazon. The same 10 books in e-book format are currently being sold, again, on Amazon, for $54.40+tax. Tell me this is not insane. I cannot come up with anything that would justify this. I've already bought this series twice, I am not paying over $50 for a digital copy. You see this sort of thing a lot with classic series from the mid to late 20th century, probably because they got reprinted a lot and different publishers got the rights at different times, but this type of messy history creates some of the most egregious price disparities between physical and digital copies. I am perfectly fine with indie and self published authors e-book prices, it's the traditional publishers that think it's okay to sell a decades old digital copy from a long gone author for double the price of the same book in paperback, and I'm not okay with that.

19:10 i work in a used bookstore, and I like the new ones with the rubbery finishes personally, but idk if its only some of them, but we get some in the store that are older, and that rubber finish has degraded and they get all sticky and gross. and then i have to spend like 5 min buffing it off with sometimes goo-gone. kind of a pain in the butt, i once got a box with like 20 of those all sticky and covered in pet hair, and dust, not fun.

What if the cover art HAS to change mid-series? 😢 I'm an indie author, and I have two books out of a six-book series. Book Three releases in December. My designer started on a concept but isn't able to continue due to personal stuff. I didn't feel another designer would be able to match the previous books' styles well enough (and also feel the covers aren't the best fit for the series), and I didn't want to have to change designers again for 4-6 if the cover for 3 didn't perfectly match 1 and 2. I feel so bad about changing them but also figure it's better to change them now than later... 🥺 (I do hope, someday, that my original designer can finish out the series and I'll be able to do special edition covers for 3-6 in that original style.)

I personally need my books to have their dust jackets, I don’t want to see a naked book on my shelf

Re: Libraries. This varies by library, mostly depending on budget, but the number of copies ordered of a particular title is determined by the holds list when it's a pre-order. For example, in my system, pre-ordered books appear on our online catalogue 2-3 months before release. Approximately a month before release we look at the holds list and order enough copies to get through the initial holds list in three weeks or so. If someone doesn't see the book they want listed two months out, they can put in a purchase request then and still get a copy within a day or two of the release date. Generally speaking, we'll pick up a couple copies of any book our customer's request, as long as it's still in print from an established publishing house. We don't buy used and avoid indie publishers due to quality issues. A lot of indie presses have substandard binding and pages fall out within just a few checkouts. The turn around time from request to getting the book in the customer's hands is usually about 2 weeks. As I said, this varies a lot from library to library, but ask your local librarian what their policies are. We're mostly way too enthusiastic about the minutia of collections development and would be ecstatic to have in depth conversation about what we purchase and why. You may be surprised at how much you personally can change the selection available at your local library.

About the bookstores having only popular authors, readers also have to realise that a bookstore is first and foremost a business. Even if they make an effort to have a cozy atmosphere, and have events, and do all the neat bookish stuff, they still need to pay bills, rent, and their employees AND make a profit to make this business worthwhile and to do that they need to sell books and popular books sell. I appreciate when they stock authors that aren't as well-known because for many people a bookstore might be the only way they can have access to new books, but I'm not going to fault them on having displays on popular authors. It's still a business and if the popular authors are making money so that they can stay open, I can't be mad!

The thing about ebooks is that there have been soooo many fraud readers that it hurt authors. What I'm referring to are readers who read the majority or the entire book and then return it because they either think they shouldn't have to pay for books, or they want to take revenge for something the author did or didn’t do. Either way when this happens the price has to increase to allow authors a bigger cushion to counter this.

I absolutely HATE that matte rubbery texture. Regular matte please

Self and indie pubs don’t have many options for hardbacks. Most of it is limited to printing on the hardback directly. I know of one printer that does dust jackets, and the rest are direct printed.

On the book sizes/art changing thing. Its on purpose, they know it annoys people not to have a matching set so some people will go back and buy the 'new' version of the previous book so that they match, which makes them more money.

I think if you buy the physical book you should get the ebook for free.

To be honest... a lot of casual readers probably don't care much about the whole book cover, book height etc. stuff. I think that is something mainly people who are really into reading care about and this might be one of the main reasons why the publishers don't care as much. Regarding book sizes, some insight from Germany (where I'm from): I think the books come in less sizes than English books (I read mostly in English though). They either come in our standard paperback or in something I would call paperback deluxe which is larger in general. Most books are published as one or the other - only very successful books get both I think. SFF also tends to get not a lot of hardbacks - at least when geared at adults. Young Adult seems to be a lot different regarding formatting, but I don't read enough YA to say a lot about that. Yeah, and I agree on the translation thing. There seem to be some series where the publisher is like: nope, did not sell enough, translation wont be completed. Sometimes its even only the last book in a trilogy. Annoying for the people who dont feel comfortable reading a certain series in its original language.

I hate when the audiobook is published a year after the book was released also a First World problem, but when you try to buy an audiobook, and it says it isn’t available in your country, but it’s a US author. I personally am offended 😂

"Wheel of Time...has an adaptation." That's where you're wrong.

For years I published all my paperbacks the same size. Then printing prices in Europe exploded, and I had to change to a slightly smaller size because that enabled me to considerably reduce the amount the books had to get more expensive. In my thinking, it would be preferable for readers to get the book a bit smaller but with a manageable price, even mid-series. And, by the way, all my hardcovers have stitched pages. (Sorry, German version only, so far, translations are very costly).

As an aspiring author who would like to try either hybrid or traditional publishing avenues in the future, I understand the need for a more expensive ebook. Authors make VERY little money off printed books. Their returns are much higher for ebooks. If you support authors, especially emerging ones, understand that royalties are very poor, and online content is the one making most of their income

Good to know for me, as I’m going to start my own publishing company within a year or two 😁

Maybe book stores should just do a "movie" inspiration book section.

I actively avoid buying series with books in differing sizes. Drives me bonkers.

Can we add that there are no good reasons for audiobooks to be so expensive? The Harry Potter books total over $200 on Audible. Goblet of Fire costs $40 alone and that is unnecessary

More regional prices! So for the service to read e-books and listen to audiobooks in Russian, I pay about $1 a month. I also have 3 local libraries at another app, for one of them I had to visit the place, and others were done online. Of course, I don't have everything there, so I can purchase additionally, it's usually $2-5 for a book. Mind you, this is also with translation, buying rights, and all that jazz. But I want to read in English too, right? Translation can be bad, there can be no translation at all. After all, I want to read LBGT literature too, not only approved by the government books! I moved to another country, without any sanctions, but it doesn't have much literature in English in stores and libraries, so to Amazon I go. I can't get KU because of the region. I can get audible, but the price is just unreasonable, so I have to purchase directly. And don't forget that I have to pay US or EU prices while earning like I work minimal wage there, while actually earning good money for the country I live in. I won't pay $25-30 for an ebook. And yes, that means that I buy more indie books, which are usually cheaper, and it's great, but sometimes I want to read a popular book! And that's me, who is extremely law-obedient, while the culture of paying for services and digital things in both Russia and where I live just started to emerge. Most people pirate, because it's not only free, it's also easier. So publishers just lose money to piracy due to prices and lack of convenience.

Re: ebooks are pricy: Yes. I'm a librarian and yes. When a library (at least uni libraries I don't know about public ones but I'm assuming it is similar? Please correct me if I'm wrong) "buys" an ebook, they don't always buy it. Because many people can access the same electronic file at the same time, libraries buy a license to access the ebook for a certain amount of people [at the same time]. Especially since the pandemic, as well, a lot of publishers don't do one-time sales anymore, forcing libraries to subscribe instead (I'm assuming this is more uni-library specific) so for a certain (usually extortionate) amount of money, the library has access to everything from that publisher for as long as they subscribe. Ebooks and licenses for ebooks and publisher subscriptions and all of that (there's yet another system for e-textbooks because why tf not) is so so complicated and so so expensive for libraries who can't even afford to be properly staffed. I graduated my degree in October and there are so many of us who can't find jobs because it is so much cheaper for libraries to hire library assistants (don't need a masters degree) than it is to hire actual librarians (who have masters degrees) but now that we do have our degree we are overqualified to be library assistants. TLDR; ebooks in libraries are complicated and expensive, libraries don't have a lot of money and not enough qualified staff, please visit libraries to ensure they continue to get funding

With the bonus chapters, I feel like instead having short stories that’s not relevant to the current plot but involves the characters could work. That way you can encourage people to buy multiple copies, but not make those who can’t feel like they’re missing the story. Of course that works better or worse depending on the story.

Re: the bonus chapter issue. This has me thinking about how some books will put a bonus chapter in the paperback version. While this could be annoying it always seemed tolerable since paperbacks are cheaper, you didn’t need to go to a bunch of different stores to get them, and they typically were only a chapter. So if you really wanted to read them, all you needed was 15 minutes in a barns and noble. The SJM controversy takes something that might have been a little annoying and makes it infuriating. It feels like they’re just trying to pad her sales numbers.

Yeah some of these decisions publishers make are just dumb. I don’t think the people who make decisions talk to readers or have books on their shelves at home.

I wish publishers came up with better comp titles for books (similar to what someone said about so many fantasy romances selling themselves for fans of SJM and the Elizabeth Lim thing) Sometimes, they're spot on but other times, I pick up a book and get excited to read it because it's been sold to me as "X meets X, for fans of X!" Then it turns out that those elements are barely there 😂 or I see every book in that subgenre coming out with the same comparison, like thriller books using Knives Out now as a comp title. I understand they're trying to sell the book but I wish they were more accurate. At this point, I just ignore them.

For the price of novellas: I started reading the singing hills cycle by Nghi Vo on ebook. The first two were 4€ but the third book is 14€!!! For an 100 page ebook. I'll probably just dnf the series, I just don't have the money for that

Great video! I actually love the dust jackets. I am super nerdy and cover them in mylar (as opposed to removing them to read). Even nerdier, I love when I have a pile of books to put the mylar covers on - I find it really relaxing. Yes, I am that lame. :)

iirc that cover thing (where it's shorter than the main book) is called a stepped cover. The thing that gets me is the perma-stickers on books - completely ruins the book for me

The ebook price comment is interesting to me. I work in a public library and we purchase a subscription for the database Hoopla. Hoopla is interesting in that every time a patron clicks on a graphic novel, ebook, audio, etc we are charged for that borrowing privilege. We are also charged for every time a patron renews that item. If you aren’t finished with your audiobook when it’s time to return and you decide to renew that, Hoopla charges us. We spend an obscene amount of money for this consortium so that patrons have the access they need. Some graphic novels are 4 dollars every check out and renewal. Libby does not work this way and is bought as is with the consortium each year. Very interesting.