"You can't do an instant book when you don't have a beginning, a middle and an end," he said.

"With an instant book, interest will subside in a matter of weeks, if not days," he said.

By other accounts, instant books first appeared after the Chicago fire of 1871.

And there is nothing that can charge up a company like an instant book.

And long-range projects sometimes suffer from the attention given to an instant book.

For speed, publishers often ship instant books by air, which is expensive.

If such costs continue to rise, analysts say, most publishers will become even more reluctant to attempt an instant book.

It is too soon to tell how serious a threat to instant books these tapes pose.

Is there anything the man won't write an instant book about?

Many are paperbacks, instant books and spoofs, but most have made money.