Science book series rip off

[Trurl]

 

I purchased this book back in December. There was online five star review. It had an equation with a Python program. Not difficult to understand but only brief explanations.

It turns out Chat GPT wrote the entire book. There are no references or bibliography.

But the rip off is there is an entire series of books written this way. They sale for $40 and are printed on demand.

I don’t know how this turns a profit but there are 6 books in the space series and more in the mechanical engineering series.

This spoils the field for legitimate authors. And readers. If you believe that foreign actors can influence the election or TikTok influences teens, is this book scam a way to undermine legitimate authors and readers?

[swansont]

2 hours ago, Trurl said:

They sale for $40 and are printed on demand.

I don’t know how this turns a profit

If print-on-demand costs less than $40, that’s how they profit.

[Trurl]

2 hours ago, swansont said:

If print-on-demand costs less than $40, that’s how they profit

Yes, but why write a book in A.I. and not declare you did so?

When you write a book it is supposed to signify you are an expert. Why a 6 book series?

I don’t like ai already. The information I the book is true, but overall it degrades the entire system. (That is the print media system.)

Well printing is extremely expensive. I don’t know how printing on demand saves money. Someone found an automated process where every step of the process from creation to distribution is automatic. You set it up in 2 hours and it makes money for you.

After all a book on rocket equations is geek porn. A book that cost $40 that talks about space has potential to make thousands and it took 2 hours to make.

[zapatos]

2 minutes ago, Trurl said:

Well printing is extremely expensive.

I buy books all the time that cost less than $40.

[Trurl]

14 minutes ago, zapatos said:

I buy books all the time that cost less than $40.

Is that print on demand? Ten or fifteen years ago average price for a computer programming book was above $20. Today a similar book is about $35.

So I paid $40. Amazon takes say 40%. Say it cost $20 to print. I don’t have the real numbers.

But you’re right $40 is pricey for a book. So even after print there is plenty of profit.

This guy is at a great time in the market. That is just before the market is saturated with ai books and when the technology exists to set up a business in hours.

We could do the same business but it would ruin our reputations.

[swansont]

43 minutes ago, Trurl said:

Yes, but why write a book in A.I. and not declare you did so?

When you write a book it is supposed to signify you are an expert. Why a 6 book series?

I don’t like ai already. The information I the book is true, but overall it degrades the entire system. (That is the print media system.)

Do you see a connection between people not liking ai and a publisher not declaring that a book is ai?

 

43 minutes ago, Trurl said:

Well printing is extremely expensive. I don’t know how printing on demand saves money. Someone found an automated process where every step of the process from creation to distribution is automatic. You set it up in 2 hours and it makes money for you.

Traditional printing is cheaper per book…if you print a certain number of books. There’s overhead to the process.

Say it costs $10000 to print 1000 books. (that’s $10 a book, but there’s a setup cost, so the first book costs, say $5000, and then it’s $5 a book after that.) You need that money up front, and you need to sell 100 of them to break even, which takes some time. You could print more books and the cost per book drops, but you’re betting you sell them all. If they don’t sell, you lose money.

Print-on-demand could cost $20, but you profit $20 from the very first copy.

[zapatos]

2 hours ago, Trurl said:

Is that print on demand? Ten or fifteen years ago average price for a computer programming book was above $20. Today a similar book is about $35.

 

What does that $35 have to cover in expenses? Presumably the author gets a chunk. How much has to be paid out to the AI system that wrote your book?

I can buy a brand new copy today on Amazon of Treasure Island (now in the Public Domain so no payment to the author) for $3.25.

[Trurl]

On 1/4/2025 at 11:12 PM, zapatos said:

On 1/4/2025 at 8:39 PM, Trurl said:

 

What does that $35 have to cover in expenses? Presumably the author gets a chunk. How much has to be paid out to the AI system that wrote your book?

I think the total price of the book is to maximize profit. I’m saying $35 is about the average price of a tech book. Books tend to be based on market value. Like in the old days when college students complained about the price of textbooks. And if you bought used the book was missing something essential. But that is a problem of the past. There is emerging new was to screw us when we buy books.

As of now I don’t think ai owns intellectual property. So writing the book is free. But that is a scary thought though. That we would have to pay ai for thoughts.

But would we ever write books again. The author would spend a year researching with the end result of thousands of ai clones on the day it was published.