[lbo-talk] U.S. Reports Accelerating Job Growth

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com, Wed Mar 9 17:02:14 PST 2005:
>On Wed, 9 Mar 2005, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>>>  What's the point of maintaining strict control over the reproduction of
>>>  creative work in a book-going- out-of-print situation like this?
>>  > None. I could theoretically earn a few hundred bucks in royalties over the
>>  next couple of years, but only theoretically, since Verso - how to put
>>  this gently? - isn't always reliable about making royalty payments. I'm
>>  trying to decide whether it's worth the effort of doing a second,
>>  seriously updated edition, but that's a totally different question. I
>>  spent six years writing Wall Street and made <$10,000 on it, and would
>>  like to squeeze another couple of bucks out of it if I could. But that
>>  doesn't seem likely, so I'm trying to figure out the best thing to do with
>>  it in its present, slightly outdated form.
>
>Looking at that math, it looks like making it free would really be 
>your best move.  On a per hour basis, this book paid you less than 
>minimum wage.  But I think it probably made you a lot more than 
>$10,000 indirectly, through the speaking fees and paid travel that 
>resulted from greater exposure and respect, no?
>
>So based on that logic, if you could give away 10,000 copies for 
>free you'd be a lot better off than if you sold 200 for $2 each, 
>since increasing the number of people who know about you makes you 
>more money than the raw book price.  And that would be doubly true 
>now that the raw book price is so much lower.
>
>Of course there are other reasons to sell the original book for 
>money, not least because it makes it legitimate in a society defined 
>by market value. But now that that's accomplished, and the selling 
>value of the download is so much lower, the logic really does seem 
>to hold.
>
>There is also a second reason that seems to apply especially to this 
>book. Many books that go out of print will eventually someday be 
>re-issued (or at least that is their authors' fondest hope), and if 
>you gave away 1000s of copies for free, you'd cannabalize that 
>future market.  But here you're saying that this is so out of date 
>that if you ever re-issue it again, it will only be as a 
>substantially new book.  In that case the free books not only 
>wouldn't cannabalize the future market, they'd increase it, since 
>the future book you are imagining is one that you would expect all 
>readers of the first one to want.  No?

Doug could pursue Michael's idea actively.  Instead of random 
giveaway, give free PDF copies of _Wall Street_ and free sample 
copies of the _Left Business Observer_ to leaders of student groups, 
community organizations, liberal congregations, etc. (you can find 
them on the Net if you are willing to invest some time) as well as 
rank-and-file labor activists and let them know that you are 
available for speaking engagements.

* Turn _Wall Street_ into PDF and use it for a subscription drive for 
the _Left Business Observer_ (you have to invest in good mailing 
lists).  A new subscriber gets a password to download a free copy of 
the book.

* Write a slim booklet on the Dollar or the Economics of War or some 
other timely subject (100-150 pages, about the same length as Noam 
Chomsky's _9-11_ 
<http://sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100546790>) and 
sell it -- a reader who buys a copy of the booklet gets a free copy 
of _Wall Street_ in PDF.  The booklet should consist of 30-50 pages 
in words, 30-50 pages told in cool graphic novels, and the rest in 
graphs and charts.

* With the promise of a free PDF copy of _Wall Street_, lure people 
who have smart phones to your website, and get them to subscribe to 
daily soundbites of political economy -- "Texting Capital" -- 
delivered to their phones, for a monthly subscription fee of $3. 
Pitch it to Andy Stern, who seems to be in love with the idea of 
using new technology for political education and organizing.  Get him 
to give you a consultancy gig.
-- 
Yoshie

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