Dear all,
Guy Leduc wrote:
Note that the price of IFIP-LNCS is 30% more expensive than regular LNCS due to royalties paid to IFIP (according to Alfred Hofmann), ... ... although IFIP does not get 30 / 1.30 = 23.1 % of royalties on the books, as far as I know.
Any explanation?
Not really, but: If we compare the "relatively tiny" proceedings cost with the huge registration fees then .... a simple calculation shows the following:
Suppose the cost per proceedings is 100 EURO (for 650 pages) and this might cost 30% less, i.e. 70 EURO i f you approach Springer directly
and if we see that we get 50 free copies (worth 5.000 EURO or at least 3.500 EURO) and that we get nevertheless some royalties
and if we now compare that with the enormous registration fees in the order of 500 EURO (even for conferences in Morocco!)
then: what's the heck with book prices which might be perhaps 2 or 3 EURO lower per unit (if we count everything).
Also, the fact that IFIP-LNCS is more expensive than regular LNCS is a problem in itself, because some organizers may be tempted to contact Springer on their own (without IFIP sponsorship) to try and get cheaper book prices... as the 30% increase can be considered as unfair.
If the organisors want to do that we can't stop them. Usual practice shows that they better increase their registration fee by 10 EURO (480 or 490 EURO makes no difference at all) and then the problem is solved.
Therefore, it is essential that Alfred Hofmann be well aware of the conference series that regularly publish in IFIP-LNCS, so that he can apply the IFIP-LNCS contract and price.
I agree.
Best regards Otto