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<blockquote data-quote="abel_marko" data-source="post: 5328106" data-attributes="member: 20617">For this logic to result in `cheap' PDFs, the first book must cost around US$200,000 (more for big books, less for small ones).&nbsp; I don't think anyone wants that.You might be interested in the series by a notable SF/F author on <a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/02/common-misconceptions-about-pu.html" target="_blank">How Books Are Published</a>, with the caveat that things like RPG books are going to involve even more people (usually, many more people) than novels.The real tension, of course, is that PDFs aren't as *valuable* to most people as physical books, while still costing the producers nearly as much as the physical books (yes, physical materials have an additional overhead, but that's still subject to volume discounts, just like ebooks -- ebooks just reduce many of those low numbers even lower).&nbsp;&nbsp; Pirated or home-made ebooks can be useful in some circumstances, but simply aren't as valuable to most of us as the professionally-produced version, since they stopped selling the professionally-produced PDFs (before that, the pirated versions *were* the professionally-produced versions).I have an ipad, and I use it for game reference frequently.&nbsp; Before I had the ipad, I did the same thing (but with more pain) on on iphone.&nbsp; I would certainly love to have a viable electronic version of the D&amp;D books that didn't require skirting/breaking the law.&nbsp; Sadly, the best options right now are probably the horribly closed Kindle/iBooks pathways.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="abel_marko, post: 5328106, member: 20617"] For this logic to result in `cheap' PDFs, the first book must cost around US$200,000 (more for big books, less for small ones). I don't think anyone wants that. You might be interested in the series by a notable SF/F author on [url=http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/02/common-misconceptions-about-pu.html]How Books Are Published[/url], with the caveat that things like RPG books are going to involve even more people (usually, many more people) than novels. The real tension, of course, is that PDFs aren't as *valuable* to most people as physical books, while still costing the producers nearly as much as the physical books (yes, physical materials have an additional overhead, but that's still subject to volume discounts, just like ebooks -- ebooks just reduce many of those low numbers even lower). Pirated or home-made ebooks can be useful in some circumstances, but simply aren't as valuable to most of us as the professionally-produced version, since they stopped selling the professionally-produced PDFs (before that, the pirated versions *were* the professionally-produced versions). I have an ipad, and I use it for game reference frequently. Before I had the ipad, I did the same thing (but with more pain) on on iphone. I would certainly love to have a viable electronic version of the D&D books that didn't require skirting/breaking the law. Sadly, the best options right now are probably the horribly closed Kindle/iBooks pathways. [/QUOTE]

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