US Publishers Loonie over the US exchange rates

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Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Reader

US Publishers seem not to take notice of the rising Canadian Dollar and refuse to recognize the exchange rate between Canada and the US, mandating US/Canadian Book and Magazine costs a full 6 months ahead of the publishing date, therby making a handsome profit. With Internet publishing as an emerging giant, much like the music industry, Print Publishers are not too happy being left out losing money to the internet. Internet publishing not only save trees, but allows writers and readers (consumers) substantial profit/cost savings by using the internet.

Being a voracious reader, building an impressive library of hardcover
books, it is easy to see why Horrormiester Stephen King and other
Writers choose the one medium in which to keep more profit for
themselves by cutting out the middle man and publish their books
online, instead of paperbacks. Needless to say Mr. King's former Print Publishers are not too happy about this. Perhaps all books and media should be a thing of the past, a paperless society would do more for the environment bar none.

The internet is the ultimate environmentalist. It would be nice if all schools, especially Colleges and Universities, whose curriculum demand students purchase really expensive course Text Books. It only makes sense to have all prerequisite course text books be published on the internet and CD, which can also allow for instant updates, year to year. This would allow students on a Kraft Dinner budget a cheaper resource instead of collecting new and expensive hard bound text books every year and in most cases cannot be reused by other students in future who will take the same courses.

Final Thought
With Kyoto, Greenhouse gases, Carbon Footprint, Global warming being the catchphrase in the media, it is easy to figure out all the above catchphrases are an integral part on how many trees, industrial plants, manufacturing ,publishing processes,chemicals and transportation are used in getting books to market.

With environmentalists lambasting the automobile and the pollution it generates, a car has never directly killed a tree, unless you drive into one. Trees assist in cleaning our air, prevents erosion, beautifies our planet and other sustainable aspects. So perhaps what is good for the goose, should be good for the gander as well and attention should also be directed at our dependancy on paper. After all we already have the solution and it seems to me it is not being utilized to it's full potential. A Paperless Highway is the way to go and a start towards a cleaner planet.

University and school bookstores knowing full well which side their Dust Jacket is ISBN on, certainly do not wish to change to internet totally. One can only assume profit over environment seem to be the School Districts and Universities Mantra. Funny, I notice these issues and Dr. Suzuki doesn't force the issue, perhaps he should, though his publishers may remind him which side his bread is buttered on.

One thing that can be said is NOW PUBLIC MEDIA's time has come.