About Thom Hogan ebook

Estuardo said:

I thought the shipping price was high only since it came by U.S.
Mail (if I remember right). If it came by UPS or other third party
carrier, I could easily understand the higher shipping cost.

Click to expand...

The book costs me $3.85 to mail via Priority Mail, and that doesn't account for my extra costs for labels, etc. $4.95 is about equal to my costs for shipping and handling, actually (and, yes, I've run the numbers). If your post office sends Priority Mail for less, let me know, I might move there.

Personally, I'm always amazed at the folk who think that a niche market book would be priced at mass market prices. You have to remember that I have real costs in creating and producing them. I don't get free cameras from Nikon, and it takes real time on my part to learn the nuances and underpinnings of the products, since Nikon doesn't help in any way. And when counterfeit copies are sold on the open market by others, it's me that's paying the lawyer to shut them down.

But the bottom line is this: if you think I charge too much, buy something else. But I can't make a living by charging $9.95 with free shipping and "making it up with volume."

--
Thom Hogan
author, Nikon Field Guide & Nikon Flash Guide
author, Complete Guides to the Nikon D100, D1, D1h, & D1x and Fujifilm S2
http://www.bythom.com

$3.85 for a 1 ounce package is a scam by the US Postal Service. Priority Mail is nothing but First Class Mail and is only a good* deal when the package weighs over 12 ounces.

A good deal for US Mail, not compared to UPS or FedEx Ground where tracking and insurance are automatically included.

Thom Hogan said:

Estuardo said:

I thought the shipping price was high only since it came by U.S.
Mail (if I remember right). If it came by UPS or other third party
carrier, I could easily understand the higher shipping cost.

Click to expand...

The book costs me $3.85 to mail via Priority Mail, and that doesn't
account for my extra costs for labels, etc. $4.95 is about equal to
my costs for shipping and handling, actually (and, yes, I've run
the numbers). If your post office sends Priority Mail for less, let
me know, I might move there.

Personally, I'm always amazed at the folk who think that a niche
market book would be priced at mass market prices. You have to
remember that I have real costs in creating and producing them. I
don't get free cameras from Nikon, and it takes real time on my
part to learn the nuances and underpinnings of the products, since
Nikon doesn't help in any way. And when counterfeit copies are sold
on the open market by others, it's me that's paying the lawyer to
shut them down.

But the bottom line is this: if you think I charge too much, buy
something else. But I can't make a living by charging $9.95 with
free shipping and "making it up with volume."

--
Thom Hogan
author, Nikon Field Guide & Nikon Flash Guide
author, Complete Guides to the Nikon D100, D1, D1h, & D1x and
Fujifilm S2
http://www.bythom.com

Click to expand...

XP said:

$3.85 for a 1 ounce package is a scam by the US Postal Service.
Priority Mail is nothing but First Class Mail and is only a good*
deal when the package weighs over 12 ounces.

Click to expand...

Thom:

Since the $4.95 represents such an outrageous profit center, I suggest you contract wtih Mr. XP to do all your shipping and handling and let him pocket the obscene profits. It'll free you from the tedium of the process and make him a bundle of money.



-Loren

Do you mean the tedium of putting a CD in a small envelope and dropping it in a mailbox? The whole process could easily use up 20 seconds of your life, per $30 CD sale.

20 cent CD + 3 cent envelope + 37 cent stamp + printed address label + mailbox, clearly a tedious process worth $4.95. You could condense the postage and addressing steps by using an electronic postage provider such as endicia.com, and even add Delivery Confirmation for an additional 12 cents.

LorenDJones said:

XP said:

$3.85 for a 1 ounce package is a scam by the US Postal Service.
Priority Mail is nothing but First Class Mail and is only a good*
deal when the package weighs over 12 ounces.

Click to expand...

Thom:

Since the $4.95 represents such an outrageous profit center, I
suggest you contract wtih Mr. XP to do all your shipping and
handling and let him pocket the obscene profits. It'll free you
from the tedium of the process and make him a bundle of money.



-Loren

Click to expand...

I still think that the Thom's e-book is a fantastic value - with the shipping mine came to $34.90. One of the cheapest accessoires for the D-100 I have purchased. After having it for only about two weeks, I am amazed at how much I have learned about a camera that I have had since Aug 2002.

Put it in perspective, have you replaced the LCD cover or eye cup yet?

Ralph U
Seattle

XP said:

Do you mean the tedium of putting a CD in a small envelope and
dropping it in a mailbox? The whole process could easily use up 20
seconds of your life, per $30 CD sale.

20 cent CD + 3 cent envelope + 37 cent stamp + printed address
label + mailbox, clearly a tedious process worth $4.95. You could
condense the postage and addressing steps by using an electronic
postage provider such as endicia.com, and even add Delivery
Confirmation for an additional 12 cents.

Click to expand...

If you ever start a business, remind me not to buy stock in it. You have no concept of costs and don't value time.

FWIW, there was a time when I first started that I charged less for shipping and did it via first class mail. The wonderful US Postal Service lost 2% of all such shipments (tracked over a two-month period). That adds even more to costs, adds to my time in re-doing everything and handling a disgruntled customer. I tried four different ways of shipping after that experience. Priority Mail doesn't get lost (go figure) and gets there faster than UPS Ground. And despite your repeated accusations, I do not make an obscene profit on shipping.

--
Thom Hogan
author, Nikon Field Guide & Nikon Flash Guide
author, Complete Guides to the Nikon D100, D1, D1h, & D1x and Fujifilm S2
http://www.bythom.com

I've shipped more than 10,000 packages by US Mail over the last 5 years, and believe me, Priority Mail is nothing but a marketing gimmick for First Class. I ship anything of real value by UPS, but I wouldn't hesitate to ship a 20 cent CD by First Class Mail. If you want to know when a CD has been delivered, spend an additional 12 cents on Delivery Confirmation.

You may also want to consider some disk space on a server, and offer your eBook as a download as well. Disk space is much less expensive than you might think and more people have Cable Modems and DSL than you might realize.

Thom Hogan said:

XP said:

Do you mean the tedium of putting a CD in a small envelope and
dropping it in a mailbox? The whole process could easily use up 20
seconds of your life, per $30 CD sale.

20 cent CD + 3 cent envelope + 37 cent stamp + printed address
label + mailbox, clearly a tedious process worth $4.95. You could
condense the postage and addressing steps by using an electronic
postage provider such as endicia.com, and even add Delivery
Confirmation for an additional 12 cents.

Click to expand...

If you ever start a business, remind me not to buy stock in it. You
have no concept of costs and don't value time.

FWIW, there was a time when I first started that I charged less for
shipping and did it via first class mail. The wonderful US Postal
Service lost 2% of all such shipments (tracked over a two-month
period). That adds even more to costs, adds to my time in re-doing
everything and handling a disgruntled customer. I tried four
different ways of shipping after that experience. Priority Mail
doesn't get lost (go figure) and gets there faster than UPS Ground.
And despite your repeated accusations, I do not make an obscene
profit on shipping.

--
Thom Hogan
author, Nikon Field Guide & Nikon Flash Guide
author, Complete Guides to the Nikon D100, D1, D1h, & D1x and
Fujifilm S2
http://www.bythom.com

Click to expand...

Dear All:

I'm a bit saddened to read discontent about shipping etc.

Thom Hogan's D100 book is super. I ordered it by Pay-pal--no problem & secure. It came to Canada in 4 days--no hassle or duty.

I would like to add that it is remarkable that Mr. Hogan is avaiable in this forum, answers dozens of questions each month, nurses non-pros like me, exchanges frank views on what he knows and what he isn't sure of, all while, I presume, he's trying to get a D2H book out. I think he's an unbelievable resouce for many of us--if he wasn't here, we'd want to invent him.

Put another way, imagine we had access to the ghostly Nikon engineers; imagine one of them really cared about us, answered questions straight forwardly, and was also ready to show his pics like Mr. Hogan. So simple and so logical for a huge international company to show real interest--but they don't seem to care. (The endless 'D2H firmware' speculation thread is a rediculous and unnecessary waste of time. This isn't a CIA upgrade!)

So as Duncan C and others noted, Thom Hogan seems to offer the most expert, generous, and patient sharing of his expertise here--always pro bono--and offers a book not more expensive than so many other inferior digital camera efforts.

Thank you Mr. Hogan.
--
dzl

. . . Thom is a heck of a resource and a book at that price with so many serioulsly useful insights is a great deal.

By the way, how should I pronounce "dzl"?

Mike
----------
coupla cameras
some lenses
three bicycles
used Jeep
the love of a good woman

Michael Worley said:

. . . Thom is a heck of a resource and a book at that price with so
many serioulsly useful insights is a great deal.

By the way, how should I pronounce "dzl"?

Mike
----------
coupla cameras
some lenses
three bicycles
used Jeep
the love of a good woman

Click to expand...

The Canadian way, Mike.
--
dzl

. . . the "Canadian" way. My wife is from Montreal, and has one idea how to pronounce it. Her mother, who is visiting at the moment, has a lot of the old country in her speech, has another idea. My wife's sister, who is in Montreal as we speak, but who has lived in Ottawa for extended periods, has no idea. The neighbor across the street doesn't care and thinks I'm strange for asking. Okay, I made that last part up. In fact, I made up most of this. Except that my wife is from Montreal and her mother is visiting. Both of them think I'm in here working or something. If you've read this far you need to go buy a lens or something.

Mike

Michael Worley said:

. . . the "Canadian" way. My wife is from Montreal, and has one
idea how to pronounce it. Her mother, who is visiting at the
moment, has a lot of the old country in her speech, has another
idea. My wife's sister, who is in Montreal as we speak, but who
has lived in Ottawa for extended periods, has no idea. The
neighbor across the street doesn't care and thinks I'm strange for
asking. Okay, I made that last part up. In fact, I made up most
of this. Except that my wife is from Montreal and her mother is
visiting. Both of them think I'm in here working or something. If
you've read this far you need to go buy a lens or something.

Mike

Click to expand...

Sorry--didn't mean to mean to be offhand. First, (with DPR and Thom's patience) 'dzl' is not 'diesel'; just my three initials. I meant only that the "Z" in the Commonwealth is pronounced "zed" vs the US "zee". I know more about Mtl and Ottawa than you can imagine, and also lived in the US for several years as well. Best wishes to you and yours. David 'zed' L.
--
dzl

. . . and no offense taken at your first response. I hope I didn't offend too much with my attempt at a clever reply. I really was making all of it up, except for the part about my wife and her mother being from Montreal. (And my mother-in-law really is visiting us here.) Thanks for your patient response.

Mike

XP said:

You may also want to consider some disk space on a server, and
offer your eBook as a download as well. Disk space is much less
expensive than you might think and more people have Cable Modems
and DSL than you might realize.

Click to expand...

Thom was right...you are a bit stunted in your business sense. The disk space is the trivial issue. It's the bandwidth that costs! And unfortunately, DSL and cable are not nearly as wide-spread as some like to think. It's still a tiny fraction of all Internet users. But even if everyone did, that would only exacerbate the bandwidth issue.

-Loren

You just can't please all the people all the time. If $5 is too much for shipping and handling, consider it a $35 book rather than a $30 book... still a heck of a deal by any measure, from everything I read. (I just ordered my copy, so I have to take everyone's word for it!)

--Loren

XP said:

Do you mean the tedium of putting a CD in a small envelope and
dropping it in a mailbox? The whole process could easily use up 20
seconds of your life, per $30 CD sale.

20 cent CD + 3 cent envelope + 37 cent stamp + printed address
label + mailbox, clearly a tedious process worth $4.95. You could
condense the postage and addressing steps by using an electronic
postage provider such as endicia.com, and even add Delivery
Confirmation for an additional 12 cents.

Click to expand...

Terrific! Thom, looks like you have a new shipping department! XP, start thinking about what you'll do with those windfall profits.

-Loren

that Americans quibble about $5 postage (calling it a scam) and yet on another thread people are talking about buying a cable release fo $60 and $90 just because it is made by Nikon?

Where is the priority?

If buying something, be it knowledge or a gadget will improve my work significantly, I would pay for it regardless. If it adds to my bag of already branded stuff so that I feel honored to lug around, I rather soon forget about it.

I have not bought Thom's book but from what I read on this forum and from his web site, I would judge the man as with great integrity and care. I do not doubt his ability or dedication to doing a good job in coming out with his books or ebooks. Therefore, I find it most strange and somewhat put off by people using comments like "scam" so lightly. Perhaps they lack the correct vocabulary to describe their frustrations, with themselves.

My best wishes to all here and especially to Thom, :^)) please keep contributing your valuable insights here. Thanks.

Henry Goh

--
Still learning....

XP,

Think of it this way, the guy is making almost $0. He has to buy the camera. Thats $1500 us now and he bought it at $1900 when it first came out. yeah a business expense but, that is 200 books not including shipping. Shipping is a 0 profit part of business. Priority Mail is $4, $0.95 for the gas to go to the post office and the label and the envelope the post office charges $1 for. He is losing money on shipping.

Ignore the above and think of this, its the cheapest thing you can buy after you get the camera and it will help everyone that reads it shoot better. Its worht the money at $50!

Then again why am I argueing with someone stupid enough to use a nic name that represents the worst OS that Bill Gates ever made? Talk about over priced!

One last thing:

Get a clue, get the book and then decide if its worth it. I did and I LOVE the book!

--
Magick Michael
Trippin' The Light Creative
http://www.zhounder.com

XP,

You are clueless to the cost of doing business. You sound like some brides, "you can just retouch that photo, after all it's digital" then not want to pay for the time it takes.

Time is money, period. $4.95 is a trival shipping cost to pay for Thom's product. It cost me more money than that to drive to the bookstore, or to type this response....

Brian McDermott

XP said:

20 cent CD + 3 cent envelope + 37 cent stamp + printed address
label + mailbox, clearly a tedious process worth $4.95. You could
condense the postage and addressing steps by using an electronic
postage provider such as endicia.com, and even add Delivery
Confirmation for an additional 12 cents.

LorenDJones said:

XP said:

$3.85 for a 1 ounce package is a scam by the US Postal Service.
Priority Mail is nothing but First Class Mail and is only a good*
deal when the package weighs over 12 ounces.

Click to expand...

Thom:

Since the $4.95 represents such an outrageous profit center, I
suggest you contract wtih Mr. XP to do all your shipping and
handling and let him pocket the obscene profits. It'll free you
from the tedium of the process and make him a bundle of money.



-Loren

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

It's hard to be attacked personally, even when you know the attack is from a clueless fool on the internet. It's especially hard when you know that you absolutely do not deserve the criticism.

Thom Hogan is a wonderful asset to the Nikon community. His books are worth twice what he charges for them!