comp.lang.idl-pvwave archive
Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado
Home » Public Forums » archive » Re: Market Research 101
Show: Today's Messages :: Show Polls :: Message Navigator
E-mail to friend  		Return to the default flat view Create a new topic Submit Reply
Re: Market Research 101 [message #74993 is a reply to message #74992] Wed, 09 February 2011 15:41 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
penteado is currently offline  penteado
Messages: 866
Registered: February 2018
Senior Member
Administrator
On Feb 9, 7:44 pm, David Fanning <n...@dfanning.com> wrote:
> 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?

For subjects that involve visualization, I find aesthetics very
important. Not only books specifically about visualization, but also
those on subjects that need good visualization. I have been
disappointed by several books on statistics or other subjects related
to data analysis, because they were lacking in figures (or lacking
decent figures). For that reason I have decided against buying some
(Amazon's preview is very useful for that).

So I have a hard time imagining a book like yours without color. I
understand it costs more, and would pay more for that reason. As for
the physical material, I would prefer none (see below).

> 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"?

For a book on visualization, if I did not know the author, I would
probably not even consider buying one without color. For a color book,
if the table of contents seemed convincing enough, and the subject
useful enough, I might go up to $120-150 (the latter is pushing it,
though). Usefulness is the most relevant part in accepting the high
end of the price range. Since I do not use direct graphics, I would
hardly go for more than $40. If it was a good book about iTools or
Graphics, I might go for $150 (but it would be hard to convince others
to buy it, something I always try to do when I find one to be useful).

> 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?

Pretty much. I have bought electronic versions of several physical
books I already had. I only buy a physical book if there is no
alternative. For the Kindle device there is the problem of the lack of
color (not a problem to me, as I prefer to read Kindle books from the
computer anyway). This became even more important after I moved out of
the US, which makes shipping that does not take forever cost about the
same as (or more than) the books.

Report message to a moderator

[Message index]
 
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Previous Topic: Pre-Publication Release of New Book
Next Topic: Preferred way to get multiple returns from a function

-=] Back to Top [=-
[ Syndicate this forum (XML) ] [ RSS ] [ PDF ]

Current Time: Thu Oct 09 20:22:07 PDT 2025

Total time taken to generate the page: 0.87791 seconds
.:: Contact :: Home ::.

Powered by: FUDforum 3.0.7.
Copyright ©2001-2013 FUDforum Bulletin Board Software