Ask HN: Why are paperback O’Reilly books never printed in color?

1 points by Cwizard 3y ago ↗ HN

I regularly buy technical books from O’Reilly for which I pay anywhere between 30-60 euros. The print quality is ok (not great I would say) and the images are always back and white. I recently got a free pdf o’reilly book and the images where in color there. I found this to be a big improvement. Some images are much clearer and it gives the book a more premium feel.

Why are the print versions never in color? I usually pay between 40-60euros for these books which I don’t consider cheap. I assume the majority of the price of these books goes to covering fixed costs and that the cost to print one book is only a few euros. Why not spend a few euros more to get a more premium product while barely increasing the price?

2 comments

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gardenfelder 3y ago ↗

Printing color images is expensive. You want to keep the book cost down, you don't use color.

Cwizard 3y ago ↗

Yes but how expensive? The color range in technical diagrams is extremely small ( I would say less than 10 colors, never? gradients). How much extra would it cost to print $5? On a $50 book I would argue the increase is negligible while the apparent quality increases by quite a bit (to me at least).