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Post by potet on Feb 11, 2022 10:32:20 GMT
The problem with distributors like Amazon is that they continue to sell outdated versions of didactic books. It is nearly impossible to prevent it.
Fortunately, if you only sell through Lulu, you may be sure that your customer will be offered the latest version.
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Feb 11, 2022 12:54:07 GMT
Well this is the meaning of the word www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/didactic In what way do you mean it specifically? However, you cannot really dictate what books people buy, by isolating a particular one from the mass market. On Amazon, the publication date is displayed anyway, but a more recent date does not always mean the most recent information, and by the time many books get published, it's out of date anyway. |
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Post by potet on Feb 11, 2022 18:59:37 GMT
Well this is the meaning of the word www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/didactic In what way do you mean it specifically? However, you cannot really dictate what books people buy, by isolating a particular one from the mass market. On Amazon, the publication date is displayed anyway, but a more recent date does not always mean the most recent information, and by the time many books get published, it's out of date anyway. Very simple. I am publishing an updated version of my Tagalog grammar in English ( A Grammatical Pandect of Written Tagalog, 2020). I am expecting the final draft next week, and will launch the book on FaceBook after the final check up. There will be no other version than the latest with Lulu. If I had kept global distribution, both the 2022 edition and the obsolete 2020 edition would be made available by retailers like Amazon, and some customers might buy the obsolete edition.  As for "didactic", it goes without saying that I only use the meaning "designed or intended to teach people something" (MW) - a grammar book is a didactic book - definitely not "usually disapproving —used to describe someone or something that tries to teach something (such as proper or moral behavior) in a way that is annoying or unwanted" (MW).  |
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Feb 11, 2022 20:00:22 GMT
I was surprised how many Tagalog publications there are on Amazon. The latest one placed there this month. (And many are in fact videos if one clicks Latest!) But basically you are sort of saying you do not wish to compete with them. But would it not be better to call it Filipino? The word Tagalog may only be known to Filipinos. Some of the books on Amazon have Filipino in brackets.
But anyway, delete the older version at Lulu and it will not be available for sale anywhere, even though listed, and make it clear your newest one is such, by putting 'Updated (date)' on the cover, it should then be obvious which is which. Just how often do they need updating anyway?
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Post by potet on Feb 12, 2022 10:38:50 GMT
JustKevin wrote: "But basically you are sort of saying you do not wish to compete with them. But would it not be better to call it Filipino? The word Tagalog may only be known to Filipinos. Some of the books on Amazon have Filipino in brackets."
I am not saying that. I am only in competition with other authors who are publishing a Tagalog grammar. At the present moment, mine is the most complete one because it includes features that have disappeared from the current form of the spoken language. It is a classical reference book with plenty of quotations from Tagalog authors, which is unusual in this field, where "grammarians" never quote any writer.
I do not use the term "Filipino" in my title in order to eschew the quarrel over how far Filipino is actually Filipino, that currently plagues discussions on FaceBook. LOL
It is quite possible some Filipinos will hate this book of mine and campaign against it with the argument "we don't speak like that".
A few years ago I was dressed down by a Pampango Filipino who reproached me with promoting Tagalog although it was rejected by many provincials as the national language of the Philippines. As a French linguist I couldn't care less; researchers cannot afford to participate in local political issues, and should always keep far from them.
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Post by potet on Feb 12, 2022 10:47:30 GMT
JustKevin, I stopped letting my book being distributed by Amazon because two years ago I discovered that, not only did they keep 75% of my royalties (this of course I knew), but they also had stopped paying any royalties at all on a title that sold well: "Ancient Beliefs and Customs of the Tagalog".  I questioned Lulu about it, and the answer was policies have changed, and the price of my book (about US$35) was too low for Amazon! Lulu advised me to use their price program to calculate it for global distribution. I did, and the program came up with about US$55! That was outrageous and a sure way of preventing many potential customers from buying it. That was when I removed all my public titles from Global Distribution. Since then my royalties have been up by about 40%. |
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Feb 12, 2022 14:21:55 GMT
JustKevin wrote: "But basically you are sort of saying you do not wish to compete with them. But would it not be better to call it Filipino? The word Tagalog may only be known to Filipinos. Some of the books on Amazon have Filipino in brackets." I am not saying that. I am only in competition with other authors who are publishing a Tagalog grammar. At the present moment, mine is the most complete one because it includes features that have disappeared from the current form of the spoken language. It is a classical reference book with plenty of quotations from Tagalog authors, which is unusual in this field, where "grammarians" never quote any writer. Make that clear in the Description and on the back cover.I do not use the term "Filipino" in my title in order to eschew the quarrel over how far Filipino is actually Filipino, that currently plagues discussions on FaceBook. LOL It is quite possible some Filipinos will hate this book of mine and campaign against it with the argument "we don't speak like that". Very useful for marketing then. Controversy often generates a lot of discussions.A few years ago I was dressed down by a Pampango Filipino who reproached me with promoting Tagalog although it was rejected by many provincials as the national language of the Philippines. As a French linguist I couldn't care less; researchers cannot afford to participate in local political issues, and should always keep far from them. Had he bought your book then? At least that's a sale  |
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Feb 12, 2022 14:24:01 GMT
"I questioned Lulu about it, and the answer was policies have changed, and the price of my book (about US$35) was too low for Amazon! Lulu advised me to use their price program to calculate it for global distribution. I did, and the program came up with about US$55! That was outrageous and a sure way of preventing many potential customers from buying it. That was when I removed all my public titles from Global Distribution. Since then my royalties have been up by about 40%."
Huh? all of my books are below $10 on Amazon etc, so what's that all about?!
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Post by potet on Feb 12, 2022 20:13:32 GMT
JustKevin wrote: " Had he bought your book then? At least that's a sale " I don't know. He didn't tell me. On FaceBook several readers take a picture of themselves with a book of mine. Only in such occasions do I know who was the buyer. A particular case is that of a follower who bought Concombre aux Philippines before flying to Manila, and held the book in front of him where I took the cover picture decades ago. Here it is:  |
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Post by potet on Feb 12, 2022 20:25:10 GMT
"I questioned Lulu about it, and the answer was policies have changed, and the price of my book (about US$35) was too low for Amazon! Lulu advised me to use their price program to calculate it for global distribution. I did, and the program came up with about US$55! That was outrageous and a sure way of preventing many potential customers from buying it. That was when I removed all my public titles from Global Distribution. Since then my royalties have been up by about 40%." Huh? all of my books are below $10 on Amazon etc, so what's that all about?! Such time-consuming publications require a lot of research; these books have many pages. www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/jean-paul-g-potet/ancient-beliefs-and-customs-of-the-tagalogs/paperback/product-1mkynk8v.html?page=1&pageSize=4 |
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Post by potet on Feb 12, 2022 20:27:49 GMT
Here is the blurb of A Grammatical Pandect of Written Tagalog: While English is the official language of the Philippines, Tagalog ( Tagálog) has been its national language since 1937, and as such is called Filipino in Spanish and English, but Pilipíno in Tagalog because the phone [f] does not exist in this language. Tagalog is an Austronesian language of the VSO type, whose main syntactic feature is focalization, whereby one of the arguments of the verb is selected as the focus of the clause, which determines the form of the verb and the nominal markers of its arguments. For instance, the English sentence "the fisherman gave a/the lobster to the neighbour" corresponds with three Tagalog sentences depending on whether the focus is the fisherman ( nagbigáy ang mangingisdâ nang uláng sa kapitbáhay), the lobster ( ibinigáy nang mangingisdâ ang uláng sa kapitbáhay) or the neighbour ( binigyán nang mangingisdâ nang uláng ang kapitbáhay). This grammar book is an opportunity to introduce the rare or new concepts of actuated mood, unactuated mood, aggregative noun, duplicand, immediacy, imperation, inclusory group, phonotagm, topization and transference. All the examples are translated, and indices indicate the equivalents between the two languages. The abbreviation ng for nang “of” and mga for mangá (plural marker) are replaced by the full words. Stress is indicated by the acute accent, and the final glottal stop by the grave accent. The final consonants replaced by clitics are memorized as silent diacritics on the latter. Finally, a phonetic transcription is supplied whenever necessary.  |
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Post by BlueAndGold on Feb 12, 2022 20:41:53 GMT
Awesome photograph, Potet!! I'll bet it was thrilling to receive that from a reader! My heart would lift on eagle's wings. |
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Feb 13, 2022 1:20:35 GMT
"I questioned Lulu about it, and the answer was policies have changed, and the price of my book (about US$35) was too low for Amazon! Lulu advised me to use their price program to calculate it for global distribution. I did, and the program came up with about US$55! That was outrageous and a sure way of preventing many potential customers from buying it. That was when I removed all my public titles from Global Distribution. Since then my royalties have been up by about 40%." Huh? all of my books are below $10 on Amazon etc, so what's that all about?! Such time-consuming publications require a lot of research; these books have many pages. www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/jean-paul-g-potet/ancient-beliefs-and-customs-of-the-tagalogs/paperback/product-1mkynk8v.html?page=1&pageSize=4 |
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Post by potet on Feb 13, 2022 11:31:29 GMT
JustKevin wrote: "Indeed, but that's not what I meant. How can the price of a book on Amazon be too low? Who says that? Lulu or Amazon? As I said, mine there, and millions of others, are far lower than $35. Even free." Yes, it's puzzling. I understood Lulu asked Amazon, and Amazon answered that they couldn't make any profit on this title given the manufacturing cost since their profit was a percentage of my royalties. I don't believe it's true. I now remember a French sinologist who wrote "The Roots of Old Chinese". He published its first edition with Amazon; now it's published by John Benjamins. He thought that 50€ would be an honest price. Amazon compelled him to sell it over 80€. Now, in the John Benjamins Edition, it costs 119.84€.  I have the impression some scholarly books are artificially construed as precious by making them expensive. Could it be a trick to prevent the spread of knowledge or just a commercial gimmick? |
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Feb 13, 2022 13:50:51 GMT
JustKevin wrote: "Indeed, but that's not what I meant. How can the price of a book on Amazon be too low? Who says that? Lulu or Amazon? As I said, mine there, and millions of others, are far lower than $35. Even free." Yes, it's puzzling. I understood Lulu asked Amazon, and Amazon answered that they couldn't make any profit on this title given the manufacturing cost since their profit was a percentage of my royalties. I don't believe it's true. I now remember a French sinologist who wrote "The Roots of Old Chinese". He published its first edition with Amazon; now it's published by John Benjamins. He thought that 50€ would be an honest price. Amazon compelled him to sell it over 80€. Now, in the John Benjamins Edition, it costs 119.84€. <button disabled="" class="c-attachment-insert--linked o-btn--sm">Attachment Deleted</button> I have the impression some scholarly books are artificially construed as precious by making them expensive. Could it be a trick to prevent the spread of knowledge or just a commercial gimmick? It's a gimmick. In the US a college professor can write a book of between 60 and 240 pages, then turn around and have it listed as required reading for the course, with the college charging more than it's usually worth because in essence it's a money making scheme for both school and professor. |
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