We have resources that have been languishing in community pricing for 6 years now. Many of these resources I bid the highest amounts possible, because I learned the value of them. A lot of Bible students today are enamored by the latest scholarship, such that so many books are now deemed outdated. Others are superseded, because all the new books have mined everything of value out of the old ones.
Whether or not you see any value in these older books, it's not a hard thing to get these books out of there and into the hands of those who want them.
I suggest that we put a time limit for books to be in that system. The system of everybody paying the same low price has worked very well for a very large number of resources, but it hasn't worked for all. I suggest that a decision be made to move a resource out of CP. Any bids at that point must match the leading bid. Those who have bid more are willing to pay more. They want that resource. Let them pay that. They said they would be willing. See if that puts the resource over the threshold. Or just let us know how much more dollars need to be bid, and maybe somebody would just step up and get it done.
You're in the business to sell books. I know you are a ministry, but if you don't sell, you don't minister. Please try harder to make more books available to your users.
Thank you.
Somehow you seem to be missing the point of community pricing. There is not enough people at the highest bid to cover the costs so I don’t see how your plan of moving them out of community pricing is going to all of a sudden make them pay for themselves through the bids of the small number of people willing to pay the highest bid amount for that resource. Very few people bidding a low price would be will to turn around and pay a significantly higher one. This would result in very few titles if any going into production. You have already identified they don‘t value these resources so why would they turn around and pay more?
Larry Craig: Whether or not you see any value in these older books, it's not a hard thing to get these books out of there and into the hands of those who want them. I suggest that we put a time limit for books to be in that system. The system of everybody paying the same low price has worked very well for a very large number of resources, but it hasn't worked for all. I suggest that a decision be made to move a resource out of CP. Any bids at that point must match the leading bid. Those who have bid more are willing to pay more. They want that resource. Let them pay that. They said they would be willing. See if that puts the resource over the threshold. Or just let us know how much more dollars need to be bid, and maybe somebody would just step up and get it done. You're in the business to sell books. I know you are a ministry, but if you don't sell, you don't minister. Please try harder to make more books available to your users. Thank you.
I understand well the point of community pricing. I don't understand the point of having books sit in there for 6 years. If people are willing to pay a higher price, then after a while let them do it, if it means these books can finally see publication. You say there aren't enough people who bid higher to cover the costs. I don't know. If you don't do the math, you don't know.
On a number of CP resources, I bid the highest bid possible. But not all. If I were told that a particular resource could make it with a little help, I would weigh the possibility of finally getting these resources or forever doing without. Yeah, I might go higher if I could.
There are an enormous amount of really good books in there. I was compiling a list of books to suggest to Logos and was surprised how many were sitting in there. If you don't think my ideas are good ones, then maybe you can suggest some ways we can get more of these books published. I think the first way is obviously to work with those who have already shown an interest in them.
Please, make some other suggestions!
Thank you