“I have to switch back to my iPod, since my audio book is on that device,” Liza Arden told me. “I can listen to it in iTunes and on my iPod, but not on my Android phone because Audible dot com does not provide multiple versions when you purchase a la carte.”

Elizabeth “Liza” Arden is an engineering manager with a long commute, a gymnast, and no relation to the cosmetic maven.

She still likes print on paper but is more likely to read with her ears or on a device.

Liza may be one reason Dorchester Publishing has stopped printing its bread-and-butter “mass market” paperback books as it transitions to e-books and “trade” sized paperbacks.

The typical mass market paperback uses cheaper paper, has few illustrations, and smaller print, all to fit the story into the smaller (usually about 4″ x 7″) book. The larger trade paperback are usually printed on better paper and have font and line spacing similar to a hardcover book.

E-book revenue has gone from 0.5 per cent of publisher revenue about two years ago to nearly 10 per cent now. According to a recent Harris Interactive poll of 2,775 American readers, 8% of the reading population uses e-books already and those reading electronically are reading more books more often. Popular e-readers are available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and applications are available for computers, iPads, smartphones, and PDAs.

I have that gut feel as well although the numbers are probably closer than we think. Typical trade margin ranges between 37% discount and 50%. Most popular books cost the publisher half the cover but reference titles typically run 37%. Wholesalers work on low single digit spreads. Co-op is another 3-5 points at most publishers.

Printing costs (meaning for a physical book) also include the cost of returns and warehousing. There is a non-negligible “warehousing” cost for the server farm and Internet infrastructure for an e-book. The biggest problem with trade publishing and the reason it is a single digit net margin business is returns which can run as high as 40%. These are good numbers:

If you noticed, the publisher’s cost adds up to more than the 50% “take.” The actuality is that some of the fixed costs (like printing) really is fixed based on run size and other constant costs (like , overhead, and editorial) probably are indeed fixed for any issue, meaning it costs, say, $1,000 to edit a book. That’s the reason a mass market paperback now costs $7.95-9.95 instead of $1.50-3.95. Ditto the $6.99 e-book cost.

Let’s consider that from the e-book side. These are made up numbers but pretty accurate:

There’s the potential for actual profit in there.

Founded in 1971, Dorchester is the oldest independent mass-market publisher in the U.S. Their romance line has included Christine Feehan, Jayne Ann Krentz, Katie MacAlister, Lynsay Sands, and more. The private company specializes in mass-market paperback fiction in romance, horror, Westerns and thriller genres. They also distribute pulp mysteries of the Hard Case Crime line and the Family Doctor series.

Dorchester sees the market soaring as more devices, apps, and programs become available. They predict that e-reader and e-book sales will continue to increase. The company will also offer print-on-demand (paper) copies for selected titles through Ingram Publisher Service. Some e-books that sell well will also be released as P-O-D trade paperbacks.

Dorchester’s e-books are available at most major vendors and compatible with most platforms at an average price of $6.99. Trade paperbacks will be priced in the $12 to $15 range.

Romance novels. Science fiction. Textbooks. Mainstream fiction. Are newspapers next?

Four years ago, IFRA — the newspaper trade group in Germany — and The New York Times started looking at De Tijd “e-paper” devices.

What a lousy idea that is!

Let’s imagine, just for a moment, that I’m the typical book-or-newspaper reader today. I have a few minutes here, a few there to read. I might take a little downtime at my desk. I’ll poop at least once for a few uninterrupted minutes in the “reading room.” I’ll stand in line at the grocery store, do 40 flights on the stair climber, and commute to work.

I absolutely do not want yet another device just to read my newspaper on.

“My desk has a computer that I usually stare at; I want what I’m reading right there,” Liza said. She won’t take her laptop to the reading room, so “I want today’s tome on my (waterproof) smartphone for that or for standing in line. Sitting by the pool is a great place for a full size e-book. Drive time isn’t, but that is perfect for an audio book. So is going to the gym.”

Americans once had a love affair with multi-featured gadgets. I have a Shopsmith, for example, that my grandfather built furniture with in the fifties and my father cut two fingers off with in the sixties. I still have all my appendages. The Shopsmith is a lathe-based woodworking tool with a single motor that drives its lathe, tablesaw, drill press, horizontal boring mill, and disc sander. Like MS-DOS, you have to stop using one tool to mount, setup, and use the next.

Most of us today have individual tools, hence our pockets and purses crammed with smart phones, iPods, netbooks, and Kindles™.

A monthly Audible contract would give Liza access to multiple versions of a file but even that offers Mac, Windows, or Linux computer and iPod files, but not for computers, iPod and any additional MP3 devices. Audible also offers a monthly subscription to The New York Times Audio Digest.

The book publishing and the newspaper industries can make both the Shopsmith owner and Liza happy.

Bundling.

Dear publisher:

I can nuke my TV dinner or cook it in the oven. Surely you can do the same.

When I buy my next book, I want a printed book on actual paper. I want an e-book in the three major formats. An audiobook on CD, AAC, and mp3. And a cross-platform app for my computer and my PDA or smartphone. All in that one package.

Theng yew vedda mush.