[FOM] Out-of-print books

[Timothy Y. Chow]

On Sat, 2 Aug 2008, Roger Bishop Jones wrote:
> FOM book authors who wish to avoid having their books go out of print 
> could consider publishing through the amazon "print on demand" 
> publishing service. This service is economically independent of the 
> volume of sales, since books are printed and shipped automatically, one 
> at a time, when they are ordered.

There are certainly many good reasons to go this route.  The one thing to 
consider, though, is the long-term survival of the book (in particular, 
after the author's death).  Many libraries are not in the habit of 
purchasing such books, and at present, there is little guarantee that the 
book will still be available from the print-on-demand company fifty or a 
hundred years from now.

Tim