| Market Research 101 [message #75001] |
Wed, 09 February 2011 13:44 |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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Folks,
OK, today's topic: "What you want, verses what you
can get". Or, perhaps, "What you want, verses what
you can afford."
I wrote this book of mine with only one idea
in mind: I wanted a book that was both informative
and beautiful. It turns out that informative you
can get for a dime a dozen. Beautiful, well, that
costs a bit more. Quite a bit more, as it turns out. :-)
So, here is the question I should have started with,
according to my MBA son. How much would you be willing
to pay for a book about graphics programming in IDL?
Let's start with a couple of assumptions. Let's assume
it is a pretty good book and that it contains information
that may be of some interest to you. Would you pay $25,
$45, $85, $135? Where do you start drawing the line?
What causes you to draw the line? Do the aesthetics of
the book have anything to do with it? Do you care whether
it is in back or white or color? Cloth cover or paperback?
Sexy picture of the author on the back cover?
At your price point, whatever it is, would you expect
a full-color book, or would you expect black and white
illustrations? (Keep in mind this is a book about
scientific visualization techniques.) If you expected
color, how much of a premium (above what you would pay
for a black and white book) would you be willing to pay?
What would you think is "reasonable"?
Would it matter to you if the book was in black and white,
but you could gain access to a color PDF of the book for
some nominal charge if you bought the book?
Or, are you one of those modern kinds of readers who
disdain physical books, and only consider buying a book
if you can load on your Kindle or IPad?
Obviously, I have to make some choices here in the next
week or so. And, obviously, I don't expect everyone will
be willing to cough up $150 for a book, even if it is
personally autographed by the author. But I would like to
get a sense of what people might expect to pay for a technical
book and what they would expect to get for their money.
Thanks!
Cheers,
David
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
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