-=> Quoting Phil Marlowe to Leonard Erickson <=-

 > Seems there was a tax case involving a machine
 > tool manufacturer. They would make up a large
 > batch of the (very expensive) gizmos they made,
 > and sell them over an extended period. This had
 > major tax advantages.
 PM> 
 PM> I remember that tax case. That goes way back,
 PM> doesn't it -- the 1970s? Way before what I'm taking
 PM> about. It was an IRS fluke ruling that applied only
 PM> by chance to publishers, and that they tried like
 PM> hell to get themselves exempted from. [Don't know
 PM> if they eventually succeeded?] But they received a
 PM> lot of hysterical coverage in the press about how
 PM> this was going to bankrupt the industry, wipe out
 PM> cultural institutions, etc. Gross exaggeration.
 PM> Production of books is far more flexible than
 PM> products that need tooling -- especially after
 PM> computers came into use in the industry. They used
 PM> it as an excuse for a long time; didn't know they
 PM> were still using it.

They never got exempted as far as I know. So they still have to deal
with not being able to have a "back list" anymore.

On the other hand, outfits like Baen Books (www.baen.com) are doing
great things with cheap, open format e-book copies of their regular
stuff, free books online (they figure that having the first few books
in a series available cheap or free draws in more readers :-), and so
forth.

If you like SF & Fantasy, you need to check them out. 

http://www.baen.com


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