New Book: The Russian Bride Guide

[Fussy]

The book was a great introduction. At least a dozen "to do" items (some of which I actually achieved!)

[Juvenal]

Is there any other ways to order the book except through pay pal?

Also does it come in a software format, or only as a printed Book?

[RG]

Is there any other ways to order the book except through pay pal?

Also does it come in a software format, or only as a printed Book?

Amazon?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russian-Bride-Guide-Stuart-Smith/dp/0955687403

No e-book, Manny is stuck in the 20th century still and pretends it's not a "proper" book unless it kills trees and wastes costs $ to ship it.

[shakespear]

No e-book, Manny is stuck in the 20th century still and pretends it's not a "proper" book unless it kills trees and wastes costs $ to ship it.  

"Harvests" vs "kills" is more proper.  Pulpwood trees area renewable resource.  Don't buy into all the liberal
"green world" statements.  Many are just plain crap. 

I think it has much more to do with protecting your copywrite protections.  Very difficult to do once you make the book available online.  Copy, paste and send and everyone has access for free.  Oh, that's right, everything on the internet is SUPPOSED to be free, right?

I've never considered "e-books" proper books.  More like very long text messages.

[Bill]

No e-book, Manny is stuck in the 20th century still and pretends it's not a "proper" book unless it kills trees and wastes costs $ to ship it.  

"Harvests" vs "kills" is more proper.  Pulpwood trees area renewable resource.  Don't buy into all the liberal
"green world" statements.  Many are just plain crap. 

I think it has much more to do with protecting your copywrite protections.  Very difficult to do once you make the book available online.  Copy, paste and send and everyone has access for free.  Oh, that's right, everything on the internet is SUPPOSED to be free, right?

I've never considered "e-books" proper books.  More like very long text messages.

shakespear you're showing your lack of computer literacy. Amazon's Kindle, an ereader device has many books available, including bestsellers. Same for Apple's version at the iBookstore.  As for Manny's book being free on the Internet, it is.

[Manny]

As for Manny's book being free on the Internet, it is.

I think if you try and download it, you will find it isn't.

[Bill]

As for Manny's book being free on the Internet, it is.

I think if you try and download it, you will find it isn't.

Manny the site that I found your book on is gone now but I'm sure there are others, if not now, tomorrow. The problem is that your book, useful as it may be has a limited audience and has now been in print for 4 years, its shelf life is almost gone. If I can find just released movies and best sellers on torrents sites the only reason I can't find your book is popularity.

[CzechMate]

It is not quick or easy to write a book, so I believe a book worth buying deserves to earn a profit for the author. 
I do not know what publishing company Manny used, but in many cases there is a higher profit margin for traditional books - ebooks are cheaper but often require great volumes to make money. 

I know of a specific example of a 30 page book that the publisher retailed at $15.00 but was only $1.99 as an e-book. 
The author declined because he would have had to invest hundreds of dollars to just make the internet version available.

Also, many people are reluctant to download as it is, and there is a lot of scam in the industry overall.

Paypal and postage are not risky, and books can be passed from person-to-person, too.

[Bill]

It is not quick or easy to write a book, so I believe a book worth buying deserves to earn a profit for the author. 
I do not know what publishing company Manny used, but in many cases there is a higher profit margin for traditional books - ebooks are cheaper but often require great volumes to make money. 

I know of a specific example of a 30 page book that the publisher retailed at $15.00 but was only $1.99 as an e-book. 
The author declined because he would have had to invest hundreds of dollars to just make the internet version available.

Also, many people are reluctant to download as it is, and there is a lot of scam in the industry overall.

Paypal and postage are not risky, and books can be passed from person-to-person, too.

Don't know how much it costs to convert to an ebook but I know Amazon does big business with their ebooks and Kindle. Perhaps it's not economically feasible for a book like Manny's but I'm sure most of the bestsellers are on Kindle and Apple iBookstore.

[GreyScales]

It is not quick or easy to write a book, so I believe a book worth buying deserves to earn a profit for the author. 
I do not know what publishing company Manny used, but in many cases there is a higher profit margin for traditional books - ebooks are cheaper but often require great volumes to make money. 

I know of a specific example of a 30 page book that the publisher retailed at $15.00 but was only $1.99 as an e-book. 
The author declined because he would have had to invest hundreds of dollars to just make the internet version available.

Also, many people are reluctant to download as it is, and there is a lot of scam in the industry overall.

Paypal and postage are not risky, and books can be passed from person-to-person, too.

Don't know how much it costs to convert to an ebook but I know Amazon does big business with their ebooks and Kindle. Perhaps it's not economically feasible for a book like Manny's but I'm sure most of the bestsellers are on Kindle and Apple iBookstore.

Today, the "cost" of "writing" a book is the same regardless of how the book itself is published.  The "costs" involves a computer of some sort, a word processor and countless hours.

If your using a publisher (electronic or paper), they may impose specific requirements for the Word Processor or "format" of the book they receive.  I can't think of a single "publisher" today that works ONLY with "paper" copies of books - though proof readers and editors may print a manuscript to work with, you as the author are pretty much hunkered over a computer.

Publishing a document on Kindle or other e-book store requires more than a little re-editing on the part of a publisher or author.  This is mostly due to size and format constraints on e-readers.  The only "electronic" version of a book that really doesn't require re-formatting would be a PDF - as PDF is meant to be an electronic version of the paper material.  As most books are "sourced" electronically today, formatting them for e-books isn't all that hard.

If Manny went thru one of the lower cost publishers, he probably paid the publisher to "proof" his material and insure it was in a format that can be easily published in paper format.  To get that "converted" to e-book, Manny would have to shell out cash to the publisher (remember, publishers do more than simply "print" books.  They do ISBN's, copyright registration, covers and cover art, and much more.)

There was talk in the late 90's that brick-and-mortar stores would be closing / down sizing "because" there was a new device available to book stores and small publishers that could print and bind single copies of books.  I remember seeing a picture of such a device - which cost at the time around $50,000.  At the time, I remember asking mom & pop shop owners if they were going to offer print-on-demand thru such machines.  I was told over and over that the final cost (that is, the cost to you and me) of almost every available book was identical whether printed on-demand or obtained from a publisher.  But the cost to Shop Owners was a great deal higher using on-demand printing vs. buying wholesale.

If you look at a lot of the "scanned" books that Amazon and Google have done, they take scanned pages and put them thru OCR software.  Once "OCR'd", they then pay someone to "proof" the material and correct any scanning mistakes.  There are open-source projects like the Gutenberg project that are using volunteers to do the proofing/re-typing - but they are far less common.

GS

[RG]

No e-book, Manny is stuck in the 20th century still and pretends it's not a "proper" book unless it kills trees and wastes costs $ to ship it.  

"Harvests" vs "kills" is more proper.  Pulpwood trees area renewable resource.  Don't buy into all the liberal
"green world" statements.  Many are just plain crap. 

I think it has much more to do with protecting your copywrite protections.  Very difficult to do once you make the book available online.  Copy, paste and send and everyone has access for free.  Oh, that's right, everything on the internet is SUPPOSED to be free, right?

I've never considered "e-books" proper books.  More like very long text messages.

It was mostly a joke, about the trees, at least.  I can tell you as someone that's done quite a bit of adventure type of travel, a Kindle loaded with multiple books, with Amazon DRM even, beats out carrying multiple paper books around. 

There are various other programs out there that can provide e-book DRM; it's not quite the same as "grab and distribute this PDF." 
Most DRM schemes can be broken, and I'm not aware of any factual analysis done with respect to how many sales are lost vs gained via the additional distribution mediums, but I do know the growing percentage of e-book sales happening in recent years, and my off the cuff thought would be that Stuart is missing an opportunity for additional sales there, but that's his right to do so. 

[Manny]

There will be an updated second edition as it happens. And that will also be an ebook on Amazon and elsewhere.

However, it will more than likely be mid next year as I have another to finish (on a different topic altogether) that there is a waiting list already for. 

The writers forums are full of the "electronic, or paper, or both" debate. Its rather like our age difference topic. Added to that is the debate surrounding which format of electronic publishing to use and how that is monetized when pirated - which any electronic book can and likely will be. e-publishing isn't terribly cheap - if done right. Its probably no cheaper to set up than a paper pub; but the net is way lower.  Its a big subject from this side of the fence. Yes, its just about worth doing, as downloads will increase sales and finance the investment it takes to add the new format.

I am going to test the idea with the re-write/update.

What put me [and others] off ebooks in the past is any Tom, Dick or Harry can vanity publish an ebook and have it on Amazon. There is some truly awful stuff out there because of this that never saw an editor. Some stuff out there is formatted badly, riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, and then run through a "Word to ebook free tool" that doesn't work right either. The end result is a grim affair. Again, on the writers forums, the concern about e-publishing, after piracy, is the stigma of being lumped in with those people, and Amazon pressuring you to sell your work for a dollar or so net. If you are selling chick lit light erotica like Fifty Shades of Grey, e-publishing is a no-brainer. When catering to a niche market such as this, paper is the usual format.

Another argument for paper is that when someone pays $20 or $30 for something, they are more likely to take notice of it (psychologists say). When they pay $2 for it, they value it less.

But as I said, I am going to give the epub lark a spin next year. I have read all sides of the debates out there, and the fact that tips the scales is that this small niche is one that attracts a lot of computer types, who are used to being able to download everything; that might give an epub of a niche title a chance of working where it usually wouldn't.

[NS1]

Hmmm, if I bring my copy, you gonna sign it for me, all these Ebooks could increase its value

[RG]

There will be an updated second edition as it happens. And that will also be an ebook on Amazon and elsewhere.

I'm hopeful that you won't suddenly be preaching the "value" of pay per letter/contact/video sites in the updated edition? 

Will you be needing any pre-release reviewers/feedback?

The pro vs con arguments are interesting, regardless of who is doing them.  I'd be interested in knowing the basis of the claims of not being cheaper to publish - that may be true of net to author, but I'm not convinced that's not taking advantage of the authors because the owners of the ecosystems can.  As I'm sure you're aware, Amazon doesn't charge significantly less for e-books vs printed, although many believe there should be a reasonable discount (say 60% of printed, and allow a limited form of transfer of ownership) - warehousing of books, and staffing those warehouses vs disk storage space and electronic distribution has some real cost differences.

[Zachris]

Since we're talking about eBooks, I'll submit my opinion.

They can have a value for guidebooks, like The Russian Bride Guide or a Travel Guide, because essentially these books are used and then thrown away. I think I read my copy of Manny's book about four times, but after I am married I doubt that I will ever look at it again. So, in my mind, what do you have and want when you buy a book. Most of the time I want something to hold on to, more than just something to read. Therefore, I believe that eBooks are generally a major rip-off! I for one will not be buying any unless things change dramatically.

 Why?
 
1. Although the cost of production of the eBook may be about the same as a physical book (writing, editing and formatting are the same labor intensive tasks) once the product is complete each copy is essentially free. So, prices can be set by how many purchasesare expected in order to recoup costs and make a reasonable profit. For this reason, technical books (with lower number of copies sold) will always cost more than novels even though the cost of production is about the same. But, the cost of the eBook is as high, or higher, than the cost of the equivalent paperback.

 2. Sellers argue that the cost of production of the eBook is so high because they need to be made readable by all the different readers out there. The problem is, those expensive readers (Kindle, Nook, etc) are themselves ripoffs. There is a well known document standard (pdf) that works just fine, and works well on every electronic platform without special formatting. If formatting for the proprietary reader requires more work it is done so that the publishers can sell those electronic readers.

 3. The eBook is vulnerable. Buy a conventional book and, unless the book is completely destroyed, you can always read it. Yes, a termite or a bookworm could eat a hole through every page, but the words around that hole are still fully readable. Try to get that level of recovery with an eBook when its storage medium is damaged.

 4. The eBook is proprietary to its reader. If the company that makes the reader goes out of business, or the reader standard goes out of fashion, the eBook becomes worthless. Anyone listening to 8-track tapes or watching movies on laserdisk anymore? How about all that software stored on your 5 1/4" floppy disks? The data is still there and theoretically retrievable. But, retrieval is not going to happen for most of us. So, history shows us that the eBook we buy today will be completely worthless and unusable in the not too distant future.
 
 So, in my opinion, buying an eBook is like buying bottled water or leg warmers. Something that is done because it is trendy and not because it makes any real sense.

[timjack]

I found the book well written and pretty accurate. Does it apply to Ukraine as well?

[Larry]

I found the book well written and pretty accurate. Does it apply to Ukraine as well?

I'd say it does.  Also to Belarus and likely many other post-Soviet nations such as Kazazkhstan, Armenia, etc.

[andrewfi]

Zachris, I tend to agree with you about the longevity of books and ebooks. I may be a little unusual in that I have a library that has followed me across Europe, contains books that are hundreds of years old and are my greatest treasure. But I also take books to read on holiday or other times I travel and since the late 1990's have used handheld computers for the purpose of maintaining a mobile library.

I see ebooks as being a different purchase to paper books, I accept that they are disposable. I also know that the average lifespan of a paperback book is around 3 months after purchase. This tells me that most people don't care about how long the book lasts.

Sadly now that Amazon reports they are selling more ebooks than paper books I see we are approaching a tipping point where paper books will become as rare as film cameras are today - like hen's teeth! That change happened sooner than prognosticators expected much MUCH more rapidly. Five years from now we will not have much choice as to whether we buy paper or electronic books.

[PBRstreetg]

So, in my opinion, buying an eBook is like buying bottled water or leg warmers. Something that is done because it is trendy and not because it makes any real sense.

Hell yeah +1
After you drop a book, spill a drink on it and the batteries go dead you can still see and read it on the beach.

[Bill]

Manny a touch off topic. Why no Youtube channel? With all the topics on RUA there's enough info to do a weekly broadcast on Youtube. The broadcast can be done with most iPhones or Android phones. If the channel is successful it might even make you a few dollars. If not a moneymaker it's still free advertising for your books and websites.

[Manny]

Manny a touch off topic. Why no Youtube channel? With all the topics on RUA there's enough info to do a weekly broadcast on Youtube. The broadcast can be done with most iPhones or Android phones. If the channel is successful it might even make you a few dollars. If not a moneymaker it's still free advertising for your books and websites.

Time -v- reward really. This stuff isn't my day job, and I have easier ways of making a crust.

This stuff is a hard area to monetise nowadays as a handful of big players now dominate the MOB marketplace. I understand enough about this industry to know the sub sectors of the market. The sub sector we have historically catered to is a small one within what is a declining niche anyway.

The money is in the communication sector, not the actual matchmaking or information sectors. Whilst a Youtube channel would drive traffic, it would be low converting traffic unless directed at communication themed sites and done to drive affiliate sales. To use a Youtube channel to drive traffic here and to book sales would deliver a market sub sector we are not particularly designed to cater to; thus it would be low converting traffic for us.

[GuppyCaptain]

So Manny you're thinking mid-2013 for the next edition? When was the current one written?

[Manny]

So Manny you're thinking mid-2013 for the next edition? When was the current one written?

2008. Seems like an age ago in many respects.

The core content remains relevant I think. Certain comments about stuff like internet connections have changed, the landscape on agencies has changed a bit, and my own opinions (and my wife's) have altered a bit on one of two issues - nothing drastic.

On the whole, I am still happy with it as a launch pad, I would just like to refresh it and update it a final time.

[Manny]

I got a copy of "Russian Bride Guide". Great book! Can't say enough about how well it's written and the content inside.  Second is this website and the people I've spoken with in just a few days. Thank you for a great site and friendly welcome! 

I had often wondered why she wrote a certain way and expressed interest in selective dates. Thanks to Stuart's & Olga's book, I have a better understand of the content to her letters. One example would be her desire for me to visit on the 8th of March rather then the middle of March. The book provided the answer to that one.

[Robert1974]

Are there any plans for an updated edition of this book?