You see, when everyone is talking about electronic books -- is that what they're called? -- and about books-on-demand (see Rodney Rothman's experience with those, page 47), and about the future of books and all, we think that the direction we should be going is obvious and is in some ways the opposite of the way most people are talking about going. Out theory holds that a) People like hardcover books. They like them because they are good to look at, and are permanent, and are decorative, and can be given as gifts, and kept until one dies; b) However, hardcover books are often unaffordable; and so c) People reluctantly wait to buy certain books in paperback form; but d) Given how accessible the technology -- not just the typesetting technology, butt bookselling technology (for instance, Amazon.com, on which anyone can sell any book), just about anyone can (or should be able to) easily print a book in a hardcover way, and still charge what they're starting to charge for paperbacks -- $14! -- and thus expect nice sales (see a & b above), while bringing home a much greater net proceed. Does this make sense? In short, we are talking about smaller and leaner operations that use the available resources and speed and flexibility of the market (i.e., the web and other consumer-driven methods), to enable us to make not cheaper and cruder (print-on-demand) books or icky, cold, robotic (electronic) books, but better books, perfect and permanent hardcover books, to do so in a fiscally sound way, and to do so not just for old-time's sake, but because it makes sense and gives us, us people with fingers and eyes, what we want and what we've always wanted beautiful things, beautiful things in our hands -- to be surrounded by little heavy papery beautiful things.