                     ///////////////////////////////////////
                     //             DPA NEWS              //
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                     Volume 3, Number 1        January, 1994

ASCII edition of the DPA NEWS Monthly publication of the Digital Publishing
Association.  Copyright (C) 1993/1994 Ron Albright

If you have an IBM or compatible computer be sure to obtain the electronic
edition of this newsletter.  Look for DPA-22.EXE and DPAC-22.EXE

On to a NEW YEAR!.......

Now that the Quill Awards are behind us, it is time to start thinking about the
new year and what our activities should be for the coming twelve months.  We
would like to be the first to formally declare 1994 as "The Year of the
Electronic Publisher." It should be an exciting 12 months as we all concentrate
on bringing the wonderful world of electronic publishing to not just the
computer world, but the reading world at large.  Certainly, enough has been
done to set the stage for the "big push" and now is the time.  We ask each and
every member of the DPA to give a great deal of thought to what they can do,
individually, and the DPA can do as whole to make this public education blitz a
successful one.

We are asking for feedback from everyone.  Members and non-members, alike, all
interested in the electronic publishing industry.  It is time we took the next
step in putting our industry in front of the public.

We need your help.  It cannot be done in a vacuum.  What do we do next? How
best do we proceed? Where should we concentrate our efforts?  The public
libraries? The universities? The bookstores?  The computer users? Book buyers?
We really need your input.

It is also time to hold our annual meeting.  How best to do this is also open
to suggestions.  We hope we can do it electronically, either on GEnie and/or
the DPA BBS (205-854-1660).  Over the next few weeks we are hoping for some
input from you as to (a) how best to pull it off and (b) what the agenda should
include.  Clearly, it is time to elect new officers.  If you haven't gotten the
point as yet, let usclarify: We NEED YOUR HELP! Write us, call us, send us
electronic mail.  Anything.  Just let us know where we go from here and what we
should do to make the next year a pivotal one for the DPA and the digital
publishing industry as a whole.  We await your input.  We know you will come
through.

CD-ROM "How To" from John Galuszka....

John Galuszka (Serendipity Systems, P.O. Box 140, San Simeon, CA 93452;
publisher of numerous on-disk books and the popular "Electronic Publishing
Forum" newsletter) has taken the time to put together a superb resource guide
on how to self-publish on CD-ROM ("compact disk - read-only memory").  It is
included in a special supplement at the end of this newsletter issue and can
also be found on the DPA BBS and GEnie's "Digital Publishing" RoundTable.
John, a "founding member" of the DPA and long-time digital publishing advocate
and practitioner, has gone to great length and effort to produce the definitive
short guide to producing your own CD-ROM publication.  If you have any interest
in expanding your computer-readable publishing efforts to CD-ROM, this is must
reading.  We thank John for taking the time to research and write this
wonderful resource guide.  Included in the guide is a proposal for several
digital publishers to cooperatively produce a CD-ROM disk.  We suggest all read
this and see if your publishing efforts would fit into a cooperative publishing
effort as John proposes.

         The Annenberg Grant . . . A boon for Digital Publishers?

On December 17, billionaire publisher Walter Annenberg announced a $500 million
donation to foster school reform and inspire action and philanthropy in public
education.  Annenberg's was the largest single gift ever made to public
education.  The $500 million donation will be awarded over five years, and
Annenberg said he hoped it would inspire others to take action and support
public education.

Educators on the federal and state levels and at private educational
institutions plan to use the money to take advantage of the achievements in
model schools and spread those successes to districts around the country.  They
also hope to use some of the money for retraining teachers.

Annenberg, the only son of a Jewish immigrant, made his fortune selling horse
racing results to bookies and mobsters and went to prison in disgrace.  He
accumulated most of his fortune from TV Guide as well as other magazines and
newspapers.

The most exciting thing about the Annenberg grant is his vision of establishing
a network of computer capabilities for all schools - rural, inner-city, poor,
etc.  - to somehow be linked together by computer so that all schools have
equal access to literature and books.  It seems to imply, at least to us, that
electronic publishing will play a major role in getting education materials of
all types into computer-readable format.

We should all give some thought to what Annenberg's money should mean to us, as
digital publishers, and how we can best present our cause to those in charge of
establishing the access to publications for the schools involved.  Digital
publishing is the key to getting school systems, regardless of budget, on equal
footing when it comes to access to books and literature.  Somehow, We firmly
believe we can play a part in Annenberg's vision of cheap, easy access to books
for all schools.  Think long and hard, dear reader, and let us know where you
think we might fit in.

                          The Health Act on CD-ROM

According to Jacqueline Emigh writing for "Newsbytes," the widely-read daily
computer industry electronic newsletter, Allegro New Media has published Bill
Clinton's "Health Security Act" on a fully searchable multimedia CD-ROM title
for Windows priced at $14.95.

According to Emigh, the CD-ROM presents a multi-faceted view of the issues
involved, including White House commentary, along with interpretations of the
act by a variety of outside organizations, in text and in over two hours of
video.  Also incorporated are dozens of pictures, tables and charts, aimed at
illustrating the Health Security Act and its implications to consumers and
businesses.

The textual materials include all 1342 pages of the Health Security Act, plus
the President's Report to the American People, the President's Transmittal
Letter to Congress, and analysis of the proposed legislation by the American
Bar Association, the US Chamber of Congress, the US House of Representatives
Republican Conference, Benefit Solutions, the Health Insurance Association of
America, and more.

The 60 interactive video clips range from President Clinton's Address to
Congress and Hilary Clinton's Address on Health Care to interviews with
external industry experts.

Officials noted that the White House was quite cooperative with the CD-ROM
project, providing extensive materials.

For more information, you can contact Barry Cinnamon, Allegro New Media, at
800-424-1992.

                                 Winding Down ...

That's it for this month.  Now that the holidays are over, it's time to get
back to business of making digital publishing a household word.  Just as we are
ready to proclaim 1994 "The Year of the Digital Publication," We also ask for
your help in guiding the DPA during this coming year.  We will go nowhere
without your input, ideas, and support.  We really need your help now, friends.
Let's make it happen.  It's up to you.

Use either of the following three electronic addresses to correspond with us at
the Digital Publishing Association.  You may contact us with questions,
suggestions, or to obtain information on becoming a member.

                        CompuServe: 75166,2473
                        GEnie: RALBRIGHT              
                        MCI Mail: 370-7474 (RALBRIGHT)
 
For you old fashioned types, here's a traditional "paper" mailing address:

                       Digital Publishing Association 
                       1160 Huffman Road              
                       Birmingham, AL 35215           
 
DPA News is sponsored by the Digital Publishing Association. It features news,
product developments, and information of interest to authors, distributors, and
readers of electronic publications.  Items presented here serve to inform the
public of the electronic publishing industry which covers authorship and
publication of reading materials in electronic format.  Find back issues on DPA
BBS at 205-854-1660.

                               +--------------+
                               | Keep Current |
                               |              |
                               |  With  DPA!  |
                               +--------------+

==============================================================================
           >> THE FOLLOWING IS A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE DPA NEWS <<
==============================================================================

                           PUBLISHING ON CD-ROM DISKS

                           An Information Source List  
                                By John Galuszka

                     Copyright (C) 1993 Serendipity Systems

NOTE: This file is an article which will appear in the next issue of "The
Electronic Publishing Forum" look for EPF14A.ZIP in January.  It is being
placed here for personal, non-commercial use by members of the DPA.  Please do
not distribute it in this form; distribute the EPF.ZIP files instead.  You
may return to the main section of this edition of DPA News with your F5 key.

                                INTRODUCTION

      The issue of publishing on CD-ROM discs arose recently on The Digital
Publishing Roundtable on GEnie when Ted Husted of UserWare proposed gathering
all available shareware, freeware, public domain, and on-line electronic
publications into a gigantic collection under the title "New Alexandria."
This sparked discussions of other possible CD-ROM  publications, however, it
was clear that many of the participants did not have a clear idea of what was
involved in CD-ROM publishing. To bring interested parties up to speed on this
subject, DPA President Ron Albright olunteered to put together a bibliography
on the subject by searching through our back issues of BYTE and other
magazines.  Mike  White volunteered to look through his collection of
PC/Compute.

 The following report consists of three parts: 1) a bibliography of
articles  and books on CD-ROM hardware and software, plus related
information; 2) a list of resources; and 3) some ideas about cooperative
publishing on CD-ROM discs.


                             CD-ROM BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Select:  
   Hardware  GoTo #1
     Drives  GoTo #2
     WriteDrives  GoTo #3
     Miscellaneous  GoTo #4

   Software  GoTo #5
     Discs GoTo #6
     WritePrograms GoTo #7
     Other GoTo #8

   Techniques GoTo #9
     How to  GoTo #10

 #1 Hardware

 #2 Drives

 Inside
  CD-ROM Inside and Out
  By R. Alford
  BYTE March 1993; p. 197-206
  How CD-ROM drives work; how they store data; what
  the standards mean.  A major article.

 DRM604X
  Poineer's Super CD-ROM Drive
  BYTE, April 1993; p 193
  Review of Piomeer's DRM-604X drive

 MiniDisc
  Sony's MiniDisc for Data: Future Floppy?
  News item
  BYTE November 1993; p. 32
  A new 2.5 inch CD-ROM disc technology

 #3 WriteDrives

 CDD521
  Deshtop CD-ROM Publishing
  By Jon Udell
  BYTE Jan. 1993; p217-218
  Review of drive from Philips

 #4 Miscellaneous

 PhotoCD
  Smile for the Computer
  By P. Chen
  BYTE Nov, 1992; p. 139-144
  Bachground article on digital photography and Kodak's photoCD

 Video
  Gigabyte CDs Promise Feature-Length Video
  News item
  BYTE May 1993, p.32

 MPC Systems
  Making the MPC Upgrade
  By G. Loveria
  BYTE May 1993, p. 176-192
    Review of several multimedia computer systems; includes general
    information on the subject.

 Multimedia
  Multimedia Toolkit
  By Russell Lipton
  Random house Electronic Publishing
  ISBN 0-679-74084-8    $45.00
     The author's opinions on this subject in "paper hypertext" form.

  Instant Multimedia for Windows 3.1
  By Kris Jamsa
  John Wileu& Sons
  ISBN 0-471-58972-1   $29.95
     An introduction to the subject.

  Multimedia Creations
  By Philip Shaddock
  Waite Group Press
  ISBN 1-878739-26-3  $44.95
     An introduction to multimedia authoring using Gaspe Multimedia, a $249
     program.

  Multimedia: Making It Work
  By Tay Vaugham
  Osborne McGraw-Hill
  ISBN 0-07-881869-9   $27.95
     Called "the best Multimedia book I've seen" for DOS & Mac by BYTE's
     reviewer, Tom Yager.  A separate, companion CD-ROM disc is available for
     $32.95

 #5 Software

 #6  Discs

 OED
  The Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM
  BYTE Sept. 1992
  Page 80-81
     Review of CD-ROM disc

 Maps
  Road Maps on CD-ROM
  BYTE Sept. 1992; p. 287
     Review of disc

 #7  WritePrograms

 Kodak
  The Renaissance of Imaging
  By R, Cote
  BYTE June 1993; p 146-47
     Review of photoCD editing software

 #8  Other

 Multimedia & OS/2
  IBM Has High Hopes for Multimedia on OS/2
  by N. Baran
  BYTE November 1993; p. 110

 History
  Electronic Books
  by L. Reynolds & S. Derose
  BYTE June 1992; p.263-68
     History of electronic publishing

 Greening
   The greening of Computers
   BYTE Sept. 1992; p.147-158 (p. 152)
      CD-ROM mentioned in passing
 Secrets
  CD-ROM Secrets
  By Jerry Pournelle
  BYTE March 1993; p. 73-88
     General comments on CD-ROM installing, using, etc.  Pournell's column
     usually has somenting to say in passing about using  CD-ROM discs each 
     month.
  Also see:
   BYTE July 1993, p. 219-224
   BYTE October 1993, P.217-232 "The State of Multimedia"

 #9  Techniques

 #10  How to

 Publish
  Publish It Electronically
  By Cary Lu
  BYTE September 1993, p.94-109
     A general overview article about electronic publishing.  Includes a very
     good illustration of a CD-ROM read mechanism.

 Do-It-Yourself
  Publish Yourself on CD-ROM (Windows, Mac, or Unix)
  By Fabrizio Caffarelli &  Diedre Straugham
  Random House Electronic Publishing
  ISBN 0-679-74297-2   $50.00
  Includes "EasyCd"software ona CD-ROM disc
  Reviewed in BYTE July, 1993 p.50
     Note: The reviewer warns that the process of CD-ROM publishing is not as
     easy as the authors claim;  it is a good place for the beginner to start, 
     but "you will  need to find better sources of information on selling and 
     promoting ..."

 Create
  Start the Presses
  By Jon Udell
  BYTE Feb. 1993; p. 116-134
  Review of hardware, software, and techniques for
  CD-ROM publishing.  A major article.

 Multimedia
  The Guided Tour of Multimedia
    Available from: The Guided Tour of Multimedia; 
    914 S.Hoover St.; Los Angeles, CA 90006  for
    $39.95 + $3.50 shipping +CA tax, if applicable.
  CD-ROM disc covering: technology, hardware, software video, sound,
  animation, etc.  Requires: CD-ROM drive; Windows3.1; 386; 2MB RAM; 30MB
  Hard drive

 Search
  Search and Retrieval
  By E. Bushe
  BYTE June 1992; p.271-76
  Background article on this general subject

 SGML
  SGML Frees Information
  By H. Wright
  BYTE June 1992; p.279-87
     Background article on Standard Generalized Markup Language

==============================================================================

                                 RESOURCES


                                CONSULTANTS

  Graphix Resource Center
  38 Corporate Park
  Irving, CA 92714
  714-833-3838
     Training and support for multimedia presentations using IBC-PC and Mac
     computers, vartious video boards, software, sound systems, etc.  Prices
     range from $40 to $60 per hour.  Occasional free seminars and symposiums
     offered on spycific subjects.

==============================================================================

                            CD-ROM DISCS, VENDORS

 Computers at Large
 Saratoga, CA
 800-642-4194
 FAX 408-255-2388
   "Wide selection of CD-ROM titles."

 CD ROM Paradise
 P.O. Box 10177
 20100 Milano, Italy
 phone/FAX +39-2-70603189
   Shareware on CD-ROM; supports English & Italian

 EZ Systems
 6492 South St.
 Suite 252
 Lakewood, CA 90713
 800-685-7763
 FAX: 310-866-1473
   Call for product lists

 Knowledge Media
 436 Nunneley Rd.  Ste. B
 Paradise CA 95969
 800-78CDROM
 FAX&Voice: 916-872-3826
   Shareware on CD-ROM disk

 JCS Marketing, Inc.
 P.O. Box 1216
 Lakeville, MN 55044
 Voice & FAX: 612-469-5898
   Shareware on CD-ROM disc

 World Library, Inc.
 12914 Haster St.
 Garden Grove CA 92640
 714-748-7197
   Publisher of "Library of the Future" and classics on CD-ROM  editions; 8
   titles listed

 Walnut Creek CDROMS
 Unit 260
 1547 Palos Verdes Mall
 Walnut Creek, CA 94596-9713
 800-786-9907
 FAX: 510-674-0821
   Catalog sales of various CD-ROM discs including Project Gutenberg

==============================================================================

                              HARDWARE, SOFTWARE

                              CD-ROM DRIVES, READ

 Media Vision
 3185 Laurelview Court
 Freemont CA 94538
 800-845-5870
   Multimedia upgrade kits featuring NEC drives

 Pinoeer New Media Technologies, Inc.
 1-800-LASERON
   Single disc and multiple disc drives

 CD Research Co. Ltd.
 725 Denison St. East
 Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 1B8
 905-513-6800
 FAX 9-5-513-6802
   CD-ROM drive that connects to parallel port for notebooks

                             CD-ROM DRIVES, WRITE

 Pinnacle Micro
 Irving, CA
 800-553-7070; 714-727-3300
   ISO9660 compatible systems; RDC-202 system: $3,995.00 - drive and software
   for audio and data CDs.

 PDSC Division of Sony Electronic Publishing
 800-654-8802
 FAX: 408-372-9267
   Multimedia Formatter software and CDW-900E drive for PC and Mac; can master
   for the Sony DiscBook format (8cm)

                           NETWORK CD-ROM SYSTEMS

 Meridan Data, Inc.
 5615 Scotts Valley Drive
 Scotts Valley, CA 95066
 408-438-3100
 FAX: 408-438-6816
   Complete hardware and software for networked CD-ROMs,
   CD-Recordable systems, software, etc.

                              PUBLISHING SERVICES

 Pivar Computing Services
 165 Arlington Hgts. Rd.
 Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
 708-459-6010
 FAX: 708-459-6095
   Sevices include conversion of floppies to CD-ROM
   format; printing of CD-ROM discs; custom search/retrieval
   engines. Prices start at $260 for a  CD-ROM single copy.

                                 PUBLISHERS

 Allegro New Media
 387 Passaic Ave.
 Fairfield, NJ  07004
 800-424-1992
   Publishes "Business Library" and other CD-ROM discs

 The Voyager Co.
 1351 Pacific Coast  Hwy.
 Santa  Monica,  CA 90401
   Note: It has been reported that this company has moved to the east coast
   in early December, 1993.  A new address is  not available,  but mail
   should be forwarded by the Post Office.

 World Library, Inc.
 12914 Haster St.
 Garden Grove CA 92640
 714-748-7197
   Publisher of "Library of the Future" and classics on CD-ROM  editions; 8
   titles listed

==============================================================================

                       THE COST TO PUBLISH A CD-ROM DISK

    Here is what it costs to produce a CD-ROM disk, if the work is done by
Pivar Computing Services, Inc., 165 Arlington Hgts. Rd. Buffalo Grove, IL
60089; Tel:800-CONVERT

 a) $60 setup fee + $3.00 per MS-DOS diskette with a minimum of $160 - This is
the conversion process; it does NOT include a Search/Retrieval engine or other
programs.

 b) $100.00 per CD for small quantities; $1,500.00 for 100 copies of the CD;
$5.00 per CD for copies in excess of 100

    The above prices are for CD-ROM discs which are used to distribute
programs.  The proposed "New Alexandria" project would fall in this category
because each program (electronic book) would run on its own, not as part of a
CD-ROM program.

    To produce a CD-ROM disc with 200 electronic books would cost $2,160 for a
press run of 100 copies; cost $4,160 for a press run of 500 copies; cost
$6,660 for a press run of 1,000 copies.

    Note that these are only the prices from one manufacturer.

==============================================================================

          A PROPOSED METHOD FOR DOING COOPERATIVE CD-ROM PUBLISHING

    For small publishers, publishing on CD-ROM discs will be an
important technology in the very near future.  However, because of the high
start-up costs and the complexity of the software and hardware, there is the
danger that specialized, small-market publishers will be left out of
participation. Cooperative publishing may be one method by which small
players can join the CD-ROM "game."

    Here is how one cooperative publishing venture might work.  Let us
assume that the participants are five small,  regional publishers
(SmPub#1 to SMPub#5) and a CD-ROM publisher (CdPub.)

    CdPub has all the hardware, software, and expertise to create CD-ROM
publications.  CdPub has display programs and search engines, printing
utilities, note takers, bookmarkers, etc., all for use with their discs - call
these the "program files."  The SmPubs have various manuscripts or electronic
documents which they want to be published in CD-ROM format - call these the
"data files."

    The first step would be for the CdPub to inform the SmPubs of all of the
specifications that data files would have to meet in order to work with the
"program files." For example, one standard might be that no hyphenated file
names can be used.  Some specifications would be general to all CD-ROM
publications, and some specifications would apply to only the particular set
of "program files" used by a individual CdPub.  It would then be the SmPubs
responsibility to convert their manuscripts into a format that would meet the
specifications of the CdPub's "program files."

    An example of such specifications would be the method by which hypertext
links are marked within the body of text and how such links are hooked to
their intended jumping place.  In the DART program (UserWare, Fairport, NY)
links are designated by a trailing asterisk and the jumping place is indicated
by a colon in column one, immediately followed by the link name.  Thus, if We
place JumpLabel* at one place in a file, then put :JumpLabel someplace else in
the file, then We will have established a hypertext link between the two
locations.  We do not, at that point, have to have the DART program.  We can
create a complete DART-compatible file with our word processor, then later,
add the DART program files to our word processor files to make an electronic
disk-based book.

    We propose that the cooperative publishing venture use a similar
methodology: the SmPubs create CD-ROM-compatible files (their "data files")
which can then be plugged into the CdPub's "program files" to create a CD-ROM
electronic book. Thus the SmPubs do all of the "pick and shovel" work, leaving
the CdPub only the task of putting all of the pieces together.  The less work
the CdPub has to do, the less expensive the whole project will be; the
objective here is to enable small publishers to get into CD-ROM publishing
without breaking the bank account.

    Let us pause at this point and say a few words about the economics of
scale.  Each of our SmPubs is dealing with a limited market, or with material
which is intended for a small, specialized audience.  Individually, none of
the publications of the SmPubs could be put on a CD-ROM disk because the cost
to do so would be too high.  Let us say, for example, that each SmPub's book
would only have a press run of 500 copies.  Let us further say that each SmPub
has five books in this category.  We are then dealing with a library of one
hundred and twenty-five books, none of which is expected to sell more than
five hundred copies.  CD-ROM discs have plenty of room to accommodate this
amount of material.

    We propose that each SmPub be issued a password for each book by the Cdpub
and that these passwords be incorporated into the CD-ROM disk.  These
passwords will not be like the old passwords formerly used on "copy-protected"
disks, rather, they will be access doors used to separate the individual books
on the CD-ROM disk.  Note: this procedure we are outlining here will require
some programming changes to the way CD-ROM disks are currently set up - the
data file is usually a single huge file on a CD-ROM disc.  The password would
be prominently displayed on the label of the CD-ROM package.

    At this point we now have, on the one hand, the CD-ROM "program files,"
and on the other hand a collection of compatible "data files" which consist of
the manuscripts of the various books that the SmPubs want to include on the
CD-ROM disk.

    Once all of the "data files" are coupled with the CdPub's "program files,"
the whole mass of material is placed on a hard drive, then transferred to a
"write-once" CD-ROM disc using a special drive that can write to "one time
recordable CDs."   A copy is made for each SmPub so that everything can be
tested to make sure that no errors exist in the data files.  (These discs cost
between $20 and $25 each.) Once everyone is satisfied with the product, a copy
of this master is used to mass produce the finished product.  The CdPub will
either do this in-house, or send the master out to a specialist.

    Let us say that you get a copy of the CD-ROM from SmPub#1 as "Fall Foliage
Tours of New England." You enter your password, "Foliage," and the CD-ROM goes
to that part of the disk containing the "Foliage" data file.  You can use all
of the built in "programming file" features to manipulate the "Foliage" data.

   Let us say that you later get a copy of "The Collected Poetry of Jack
Lindsay" from SmPub#5.  The password in this case is "Lindsay." You enter the
password and have access to all of the poems of Jack Lindsay.

    In each of the above two examples, however, you are dealing with exactly
the same CD-ROM disc.  Only the packaging, labeling, and passwords are
different.  Each disc will actually contain the 125 books of the five
different publishers, but without the 125 individual passwords, you can see
only the book that you purchased.

    This is where the economics of scale enter the picture.  To do a press run
of 500 copies of a CD-ROM disc might result in a cost- per-disc of $20.00  If
you apply Dan Poynter's standard formula of "cost times eight equals list
price," then you end up with a price of $160.00 for a copy of "The Complete
Poems of Jack Lindsay."   That is, We think even Jack Lindsay would agree, way
too high a price.  However, If you are doing a press run of 62,500 discs (125
books times 500,) then you might end up with a cost of less than five dollars
per disc.  That would make your volume of  poetry somewhere  under forty
dollars - a price comparable to a deluxe hard cover edition.

    An alternative method might be to have one password lead to the all of the
publications of an individual publisher.  This could be used if the individual
books were related to each other in some way.  For example, the password
SmPub#2 might lead the a menu like this:

 Select one of the following:
 1) The History of the State Of Maine
 2) The History of the State Of New Hampshire
 3) The History of the State Of Vermont
 4) The History of the State Of Massachusetts
 5) The History of the State Of Connecticut

    This would mean that, if SmPub#2 priced his CD-ROM disk at $40.00, then
the cost per book would only be $8.00.  This is, of course, much higher than
any similar floppy-based book, however, the market seems to be accepting
CD-ROM-based books, but not accepting floppy disk-based books.   People have
not yet figured out what a bargain disk-based books can be, especially when
compared to CD-ROM, hardcover, and even paperback books.


    At the moment, cooperative CD-ROM publishing and the use of passwords to
partition segments of CD-ROM data does not exist.

    There is a great deal of potential in a system such as this, and perhaps
someone will realize this and put it into practice.

   We ran the above scenario past Julian Catalano, the Research Director of
World Library, Inc.  (World Library publishes "The Library of the Future," a
CD-ROM containing 950 classic works of literature and other CD-ROM discs.) and
he thought that there were no significant technical barriers to producing a
disc such as the one described in this cooperative publishing scheme, however,
he pointed out two things: a.) the discount to retailers for CD-ROM discs is
sixty percent, so publishers could expect to receive only about a third of the
list price of any CD-ROM disc sold in bookstores, computer stores, or via
catalog vendors. b.) there was a question as to who the audience might be for
such a work.

      We would say that the second issue is the most important one.

 (We already knew about book discounts; they are built into Poynter's "costs
times eight equals price" formula.)  We have seen a number of on-disk
publishers drop out because they  could not reach a large enough audience.
SoftServe, Access, and others have disappeared recently.

   The "small press" market traditionally has been very small, and users of
CD-ROM discs are still a small percentage of computer users.  If you have "a
small percentage" times "a  very small market," then you end up with a very
tiny number.

      The answer to the small-market problem is high quality works - make the
audience come to us! The quality issue is one which electronic publishing has
not addressed.  Serendipity Systems, for example, has been offered dozens of
manuscripts in the past year or so, and only Marian Allen's "Force of Habit"
comes up to the quality of writing that one would exprect to see from a
mainstream publisher such as Knoph or Scribner's in their heyday.  We have the
proper tools - Husted's Dart, Willmot's Orpheus, the various programs from
Jeff Napier, plus numerous others; all permit high quality  electronic
publishing.  What we need now are the writers who can bring forth works which
will attract an audience.

      A CD-ROM can contain hundreds of books.  We would say that we are not
yet ready to jump into CD-ROM publishing because we do not have hundreds of
high quality electronic books to put on such a disk.  If we are to be
successful, then we must place quality over quantity. There is plenty of trash
out there - just turn on your television, or visit the paperback rack at your
corner drug store. If electronic publishing by small publishers is to succeed,
then we must make sure that we have a reputation for the highest quality
products.

==============================================================================

                                    UPDATE

    Apparently the above method of putting various different programs on a
CD-ROM disc, then selectively being able to activate them is being done by one
software vendor.  The most recent issue of the catalog from "The Programmer
Shop," a vendor of languages and software development tools, offers a CD-ROM
containing Microsoft programs.

    The advertisement says:
     - Evaluate and buy software from your desktop
     - View demos
     - Test drive actual software
     - Purchase by phone to unlock the product... then watch it install
       itself.

     My interpretation of this is that the CD-ROM has the programs locked with
passwords and that the phone call (with your credit card payment, of course)
gives you the password to access the complete program.  If this is the case,
then there should be no technical barriers to cooperative CD-ROM publishing.

                                      END
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