You may or may not have noticed, but for many months the pages of the website this Blog belongs to (
http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/) all ended with a question:
Would you be interested in buying a printed version of this website's contents?
Many readers clicked on this question and reached a poll questionary asking whether they would be interested and if, what they would be willing to pay for it. Over 150 readers filled the form with reasonable answers. Thanks to all of you!
In the meantime I had to remove the poll because 95% to 99% of the entered data came from automatic Spam-Bots entering random data just to see what it may be good for. Well, it was good for shutting down this kind of poll
Anyway I would like to summarize the results of the poll as those who entered their opinions might want to know what others thought.
As I said, in total there were some 150 useful replies. About 75% would be interested in buying a book version of this website. This corresponds to the opinions expressed in personal communication:
- The site's contents is useful.
- The site contains too much information to read it online, so you want to be able to read it offline while checking your record collection.
The second question asked how much you would be willing to pay for a printed version. The replies indicate that you have a reasonable knowledge of book prices and that you would be willing to spend a reasonable amount getting a book documenting Chuck Berry's complete recording output:
- The average suggested price for a black&white version is between US$20 and US$25.
- The average suggested price for a color version is around US$40.
About 5 readers suggested a price of US$75 or more. Thanks for the compliments! And about the same number suggested less than US$10. Hmmm....
Unfortunately printing a book is expensive. This site's contents adds to some 150 to 200 pages in print. Selling such a book for US$25 would require that at least 1.000 copies could be printed and sold at full price. This is not to expect, though, unless it would come from a mayor publisher. And printing the book for the 100 of you who already said they would buy it rises the price to the US$100 range.
Therefore unless a professional publisher approaches me covering most of the investment, I do not see a printed version offered in a bookstore ever. Sorry!
However, what I can envision to create is not a printed, but a print
able version. I already experimented with creating a nicely laid out booklet. If I ever find the time I will put all of this site's contents into a document which prints clean and readable. I will then offer a version of this document for download so you can read it offline and print for yourself.
Such a printable PDF file will not be available for free, though. I will have to charge some amount to cover the effort spent. How much would such a printable version of this site's contents be worth to you? Let me know.