Does it really make sense to judge a product based on the number of pages, or should we judge it on the quality of the content? Especially when the majority of the books and PDF's released these days have a bloated text size in order to achieve their page numbers. If you look on Lybrary, it says that Origin is a 37 page PDF, but with the word count being over 10,000, it would typically be 40 standard pages. If you then look at some other PDF's, you'll see them advertised as a "30 page PDF", but it's made up of 3,000 words, which is more equivalent to 12 pages. I've never tried to be deceptive that way with my products.

Page numbers aside, I've seen PDF's sell for $100. I own multiple hardcover books that cost over $100, and I maybe use one or two or NONE of the items from those books. Hamburgers used to cost a nickel and gas prices were once under a dollar. I can go to a high-end restaurant and buy a dish that barely fills the plate for $40, or I can go to a buffet and eat all the crap I want for $12. Economics of the world are always changing, and I believe value should be based on the quality of the content.

Hello Stef,

Please forgive me for replying, but I felt like giving my opinion on this. Do you really think that the medium is important in such matters? What would you choose if you were given the choice between a DVD (production cost: a couple of cents) costing $200 but would provide you with a killer technique that would change the way you perform, and a beautiful A4 hardbound book looking great, smelling nice, feeling good, on nothing special and costing $50? You'd go for the book because you'd feel ripped-off by the DVD's cost?

Speaking of DVD I bought Dan Harlan's Speakeasy $100. Crazy price for a DVD uh? Well... it was worth every penny. Never complained. Speakeasy served, serve, and will serve me well for all my life. $100... Well spent.

I think $25 for a tool like Origins is a very good bargain actually. I don't know Matt, I have no cut in his sales. I just speak my mind. You're buying a tool that can change, if you want, the way you perform anagrams forever. Not for a gimmick that might break. For something that you'll keep with you anytime, anywhere. So... PDF, DVD, book, parchment... is is THAT important...?

Just saying. Be well, always

Phedon

Here are some general remarks from somebody who has been in retail for almost two decades. I should mention that I am one of the retailers who sells Matt's ebook, but my comments are not specific to Origin. My experience has been that price is totally subjective. No matter what the price some will feel disappointed and others will feel it was a bargain. In my early years of retailing magic I had a case where I removed a product, because several people complained it was way overpriced. I refunded everybody only to have several folks complain that they want to buy it regardless of others complaining it was overpriced. This taught me that price is completely subjective. One person's trash is another person's treasure.

That is why we at Lybrary.com try our best to have honest and accurate product descriptions so that customers can make an educated decision. That is also why we state the page number, count the number of words, and recalculate this to a 'standard' page count. This is not to say that price should be a reflection of number of pages, but it is one aspect some customers use to gauge the size and extent of the product offered. More important are customer reviews and other feedback which we gather and make available to everybody. A forum like this here is also great to first ask and then buy.

(BTW, I feel anybody interested in anagramatical methods would be foolish not to read Origin. It is a very interesting ebook and I consider it essential reading on that subject.)

Hi guys,
just felt like adding my 2 cents to this subject as someone who buys too much uses too little. 😀
Besides I have a very strong opinion on this matter.

Everything revolves about value. Value is measurable in the so called value stick. All participants have apiece of this stick. The company producing things, creator, the reseller and the customer. The top of the stick is the wtp, the willingness to pay. Above that nobody will buy it. The larger the difference between the wtp and the price, the bigger the customer value. The same for everyone in the chain. It is just being redistributed. The longer the stick, the higher the value.

This value is something very individual to the customer. So as Chris said, there is not right and wrong, just give them all the information and le them make their decisions.

We all get carried away and buy things we do not need or have buyers remorse. But unless we are lied to we should not seek the fault in others. What happens if you buy something that delivers more value than you thoughtbit would. Do you then go back to the seller and demand to pay more?

So quit whining, buy the thing or not!

Take care
Stefan

Sorry, my comment was not toward Origin but toward pdf in general. I remembered that back in the day, books published was a long process, process to wrote the book from professionnal repertoire but also long because you have to find a publisher willing to go foward with your book! Most of the books came from notable performers, that deceided to share their secrets from years of performing experience.

Now, we see on the market book in pdf format, poorly writing, non tested material, something done to fast just to publish something! Now, if you published something, you re hot!

To much material is just rewriting old material with a personnal twist or pattern...nothing really new. Just my thoughts on this subject but I think I should start a topic on that!

Having read, published and bought PDFs for almost two decades I can state that you are absolutely wrong. Yes, there are poorly written PDFs, just as there are poorly written printed books, or poorly made DVDs. There is certainly more material being made available these days, but digital publishing also enables products which would not have been possible otherwise. Here are a few examples:

"Ask Roberto" by Roberto Giobbi. https://www.lybrary.com/ask-roberto-giobbi-p-11669.html
This ebook grew and was extended by every new question asked over a period of years. We had no idea where this would go and in what remarkable ebook this would develop. It was only printed after the ebook phase and would have not been possible without the digital format.

"Secret Twitter" by Robert Giobbi https://www.lybrary.com/secret-twitter-p-559912.html
This was first distributed via Twitter, one tweet every day. Now it is a PDF. Again, would not have been possible without the digital format.

"Her Majesty the Magic of Cards" by Benedykt Krajdener https://www.lybrary.com/her-majesty-the-......766.html
The topic of this ebook is so specific and so difficult that it was from the very get go only targeted to a handful of people. As PDF doable, as a printed book it would have never seen the day of light. What a loss that would have been.

Or take works which are periodically updated like the "Who's Who in Magic" by Bart Whaley https://www.lybrary.com/whos-who-in-magic-p-17829.html This would be exceedingly expensive to do in print.

And these are just a few examples of the top of my head. There will always be good stuff and bad stuff. That's life. It has nothing to do with the format. You have to dig for and find the good material. And since 'good' is subjective you have to put in your own effort to find the stuff that is good in your opinion. Ask people, read reviews, learn who are the authors and creators you like, and then buy their stuff. A general "PDFs are garbage" simply shows your ignorance. And by the way, for somebody who makes a grammatical or spelling error every second sentence you shouldn't be complaining too much about typos. There are typos in every printed book I have read - and I have read many hundreds of books.

Always felt like I've gotten great value for the $ with Matt's work.

Thanks for all of the posts, guys! I appreciate it!

I also received a couple more quick quotes on Origin:

"I think Origin is your most brilliant work! You have taken this to the outer limits!" - Marc Salem

"Matt has taken the anagram plot to a fresh place that's less convoluted and fun to use. And it works. Great job!" - Bobby Motta

This was pretty underwhelming. A let down for me. Really surprised this survived 2 pages on here, that too with some big names.