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When we published our first book together, Match, Cinder & Spark, Volume I: Nymphomania and the Single Girl, it was quite literally a novel experience. We had never done anything like that before and we both delighted in the editorial process — rereading the stories, selectively choosing sexy photos to accompany the tales, deciding on the font size and type. The entire experience was a sensual exploration on so many levels.
After Marxism, “materialism” became a bad word. But now that the world has gone digital, I find that I indulge in the material universe: Books made of paper with pages that you can turn with your thumb and index finger; Magazines that are glossy and clearly have had thought put into the layout design; Oil paintings and marble statues. All these mediums of reproduction that are tangible delight me, perhaps because, in the age of the internet, they are becoming endangered. There is the possibility of pixels putting print out of business.
However, during that maiden voyage into publishing, there was something we did not consider nor realize until the long and arduous work was over: price. After compiling twenty-nine chapters and an introduction, organizing the 221 pages and including numerous full-color, glossy photos, when we finally hit the “publish” button, the entire project weighed in at a whopping $74.95! That was far more expensive than we ever…