From what I hear from readers, the vast majority are fine with the present version. Let's say 10% aren't, which is a far higher percentage than we've heard from even after asking here. Any sort of manufacturing (including printing books) always results in a lower cost the more units are made in a single run. If we took 10% of our average print run and had it spiral bound, the cost would be hiugher per book.
We decided early on to get our books printed in the U.S. rather than overseas, even though it costs more, and to offer a delivered price up-front, rather than adding "shipping and handling costs" afterward, as so many Internet companies do. We've also been printing and selling books for more than a decade now, and haven't raised prices. Both printing and shipping costs have gone up considerably, to the point where we're going to have to raise prices sometime in the next couple of years.
Am pretty sure that if we offered spiral-bound copies AND raised our prices to adjust for the past decade's cost increases, spiral-bound of copies of GACK would have to be priced around $45-50 delivered, a big jump over our present price of $32.50. So most likely we'll keep printing them the same way, though with a larger back-margin to leave more room for customers who get them spiral-bound.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
