Lately, everywhere I look people seem to be taking the temperature of the digital publishing world. The questions range from the very straightforward "do you read ebooks" to the more complicated questions of when you read them, why you read them, what types of things you would and would not read on them, whether you see a qualitative difference between books that are published *only* in e form vs. traditional print form...
A couple of publishers have asked whether people would want a coupon in the print book for money off the e version of the same book. If I haven't mentioned it before, that seems backwards to me. If I buy the ebook and like it, I might want to pick up the print version. That's how the coupon should work, it seems to me. After all, ebooks, generally, aren't going to be the "keepers."
(NB: I only buy fiction for my Kindle--non-fiction I need to pore over with a pencil. [Sorry, librarians, but I buy research books so I can mark them up.])
That said, this is how I buy books:
I rarely buy anything that's only published in e form. Partially, that's just because I don't read much of the genres that are published that way, but it's also true that I've found a distinct quality difference when I try the e-publishers. A certain percentage of what's out there in any form is drek, but that percentage is higher in the e-pubs I've tried than in the print pubs I've tried. I'd love to see that change in the future, since buying ebooks is so easy and inexpensive, but at the moment the quality just isn't there.
Right now, there are only two authors I buy in hardcover. It takes me a while to get through them, because hardcovers just aren't that portable. But they're keeper books.
There are a few authors whose books I buy for my Kindle when they come out in hardcover. I don't feel like waiting, but I also won't pay hardcover pricing, nor do I want to carry the hardcovers around. And they're not keeper books, so I don't care about the format.
Mass market paperback releases I would rather read in print. Generally, if I know an author's work, and like it enough to buy it, I will buy the mass market paperback because that's by far my preferred reading medium.
However, if I don't know an author's work, or if I am not sure how I am going to feel about a particular book for some reason, I will download it. The ebook version is cheaper and if I am going to throw the book away because it's awful (which does sometimes happen), at least I haven't killed any trees.
What about you, dear readers? Obviously, since you're here, you have some electronic capability. Do you have an ereader, or read things on your computer? Are there differences in genres in what you read on screen vs in print?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Ebooks, Print Books, Quality, Quantity, Poll Data
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On Publishing,
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11 comments:
I still haven't gone the ereader route yet and still don't feel compelled to do so. Maybe I figure they are still in the 8 Track or cassette stage and I'm waiting for the CD. Not sure.
Can't tell you how this will settle out, but I love my brand new Kindle and find that I'm reading much faster than usual. For some reason it helps me to focus, I don't have to move my eyes much (which is a problem when you have dry eyes which I do), and I can change the font when my eyes get tired. In response to your mention of reference books...my first book actually is a ref book, and I'm finding the ability to search it and link from the Table of Contents extremely helpful. Making clippings is fantastic. Writing notes not so much, but at least I can highlight...not so quickly as with a highlighting pen though. This is all new to me, and a lot of fun.
I'm like you, Laura. A few hardcovers, many more mass market in pulp. Sometimes, I'm buying cheaper e-versions of things I don't want to spend full price on or have to deal with as debris later. Publishers/authors should be happy, because some of these things wouldn't get bought at all without that option.
I do buy some e-non-fiction, usually wild topics that aren't available in print. Though I have a couple bigger references in Kindle, I'm a page flipper who remembers the approximate location how far in and where on the page, so, looking for remembered things is harder in digital than pulp form, I find. The labor of making notes and clippings, etc., is too much for my impatient self. I know where it is, let me see it!
David- They're getting better, definitely to VHS or BetaMax at least, not 8-track : )
I've just entered the ending section of my first Kindle book, a novel. I decided long before getting the Kindle that I would use it just for fiction. I too need to have my ref books in paper format because of the way I use them.
First thing: I'm a devourer of music. For a long time, I bought CDs by the box. Now, I download, legally from iTunes, just about everything I listen to. More and more iTunes 'albums' have a digital PDF that includes the liner notes, etc. I'm cool with that. I've made the music paradigm shift already in that I don't need the physical CD anymore. I'll certainly buy a boxed set but for your standard 'album,' I'm all digital.
I'm an audiobook reader (yeah, I'm using that term; whatever) and I read at least half my books in that format. Of the books I listen to, a large majority of them are from Audible.com. Thus, like my iTunes albums, I don't have a hard copy of those books. I don't need them.
Now, to ebooks. I don't have a Kindle. I'd prefer a device like the iPhone that serves multiple functions. However, I still have my Palm Pilot. I have a Palm app that can transfer a .txt file to a file my ereader can read. And I read many public domain books on the Palm. And when authors post, say, a few chapters of a book I'm interested in online, I'll capture the text, convert it, and read it on my Palm. I can make notes and highlight on my Palm and can export the notes into a separate file. I did that recently: I listened to Treasure Island and made notes on my Palm version of the book. How's that for tech savvy?
At the same time, I love the feel of a book, the smell of it, the pleasure of holding one in my hand or putting a paperback in my back pocket and going wherever. Many of the older books I want (pulp, westerns, etc.) are not available in electronic form. And, besides, I love the cover art, something missing from most ebooks today.
Anyway, for me, the story, the words are what matters to me. I know I'll shift to an entirely electronic book future because I already have with music. That doesn't mean I'll get rid of my books or stop buying them. But I can certainly see a situation where, say, the ebook version of Stephen King's next book will be available before the hard copy version. It's a changing world. Most of us will never truly embrace ebook culture because of how we grew up. In the coming decades, my son might chuckle at my love of books like some folks still love cassettes or CDs.
The times they are a'changing.
I think all of us love the weight, feel, and smell of paper books. The New Yorker cover got that absolutely right. But I get anxious when my unread stack of books piles up so high that it topples, when the books spill out of my bookshelves or I lose one. I'd rather have a number of them digital just to keep things in order. (Watch me get anxious about unread digital books.)
I agree with David, I don't feel compelled to do so just yet. I'm waiting for the dust to settle. I still have tons of books to read, it may take a lifetime to get to them all. I certainly love the idea of the e-reader - so cool looking, lightweight, convenient, etc. It's the wave of the future -- I'm just not in a rush. I know I'll eventually own one, just not yet.
I agree with Scott, Lois, and others who have mentioned the feel, weight, smell, etc. of books. There's nothing like it!
Nice post, Laura!
In some ways I'm the opposite. For research material, there are times I want to have it in digital format. For people researching the Holy Bible, al Qur'an al Karim, Shakespeare, or technical material, the search, analyze, and copy features could prove invaluable. That said, I have a LOT of research material in hard copy form.
My brother and I (to a lesser degree) frequent eBook sites where classics can be found. I would prefer a musty book in hand, but it's not always possible.
The only time I purchase digital fiction is when I want to send it as a gift.
I like the feel of a hardcover book, but digital appeals to me because I will be able to take "all" my favourite books with me wherever I go. Currently, I just read the pdf copies on the laptop, and will wait until a reader drops in price before purchasing.
There are a couple of authors where I buy the hardcovers to sit in an easy chair to savour the words along with a cup of tea.
I really do not care for reading anything in e-form - though I've never handled a Kindle to see if it would work for me. Reading on a computer screen is just open to too many distractions. When I read, I want to curl up in the chair, sit on the porch, and feel the pages under my fingers.
Thanks for the input, everyone! I've been unexpectedly further from the keys than I thought--I thought I would have at least some computer access this week and it turned out I didn't--so it's been very interesting coming back to everyone's thoughts!
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