Print vs. EBooks

[Speaking Mute]

We engage with music and video formats much more passively than we do with books though. I'm just old enough to have lived through all the major transitions in audio and video media: none of these changes has ever really effected how I listen to music or watch movies - it's pretty much just been one box or another where I hit a button. Ebooks, however, change how we physically go about reading text, and it seems to me very few people actually prefer the new way of reading, they just settle for it because ebooks are more accessible and slightly cheaper. I thus don't see a universal adoption of ebooks - I think that readers who can afford it will continue to buy print. I saw such a divide starting back when I was in college, which was several years before ebooks came along: there were the poorer kids who were scanning and/or sharing pdfs of textbooks, then there were the wealthier kids who would buy the textbook new if they thought they would keep it for reference or used if it was just for the class.

[ToALonelyPeace]

It's true that bibliophiles and decorators will still buy print books, but I think the general readers have already moved on. They like the convenience and convenience runs the world. One click and you've the book, why bother moving from the couch to go to the store or library? The book can also be deleted with a click, no hassle.

I actually hear most people praise the e-book reading experience. You can change the font, search the entire book, sync different devices, and it being much lighter for those who prefer to hold sleek and thin object also helps.

[Nemonymous]

Book and Ebook are two different experiences (with different concomitant meanings and effects), even if the raw underlying text each time is identical. Also between two different versions in book form. Paperback or hardback, etc. You choose.
Weighing the electronic convenience against the complex complicity of paper pages that can be still read after, say, a hurricane..

[Shadenuat]

Quote Originally Posted by ToALonelyPeace

My guess for the rise in book prices is the problem of e-textbooks. Publisher makes absurd money from printing textbook editions. Hence students opt for e-textbooks which they most likely pirate. To cut losses, publisher raises academic book prices. What used to be $20 is now $44. More piracy...the downward spiral continues.

Assuming that every single book available in electronic form will be pirated (which is apparently universal assumption in this thread). As someone who has extremely limited funds on his disposal, I admit to having having combed the net for certain textbooks. I failed to track down any of them and to cash out for used paperback copies. Also, if you take a look at reddit's piracy board, extreme difficulty/impossibility of tracking down specific textbooks online is a rather common "complaint" among that jolly crowd.

Anyway, for folks in the contemporary weird fiction community who believe that print-only releases are perfect protection from piracy, I will just leave this here:

(I've decided to remove the images of that site, for obvious reasons. Those who saw them, got their point.)

Take from it what you will. As people in the software industry learned long ago, there is no such thing as permanent protection from piracy.

[Speaking Mute]

I don't see much indication that readers have moved on from physical books - more telling then the recent decline in ebook sales is market research showing that younger readers prefer print books for the same same reasons as older readers:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...-uk-book-sales

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/bookm...textbooks.html

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/13...er-e-books.htm

[Shadenuat]

Honestly, I prefer print books too. But, at this point in my life, price and accessibility are of utmost importance.

[Robin Davies]

I'd go for print books every time - if storage space wasn't an issue!

[ToALonelyPeace]

Quote Originally Posted by Shadenuat

Assuming that every single book available in electronic form will be pirated (which is apparently universal assumption in this thread). As someone who has extremely limited funds on his disposal, I admit to having having combed the net for certain textbooks. I failed to track down any of them and to cash out for used paperback copies. Also, if you take a look at reddit's piracy board, extreme difficulty/impossibility of tracking down specific textbooks online is a rather common "complaint" among that jolly crowd.

Reddit and google are not the most resourceful sites for textbook piracy. I'm ashamed to admit this but I contributed to the e-textbook problem myself. About 60% of the time, I could find an earlier edition of the required textbook.

Quote Originally Posted by Speaking Mute

I don't see much indication that readers have moved on from physical books - more telling then the recent decline in ebook sales is market research showing that younger readers prefer print books for the same same reasons as older readers: https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...-uk-book-sales http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/bookm...textbooks.html http://www.techtimes.com/articles/13...er-e-books.htm

Maybe my fear is feeding itself. I'd like to be optimistic and say print is coming back because of the reading experience but I'd say the decline in e-book and the rise in print is due to Amazon's rental policy (for textbooks) and holiday sale. Amazon cuts back its loss by raising e-book prices.

More here The Myth About Print Coming Back (Updated) | Jane Friedman and I quote:

Quote

"But note that’s an average across all genres and categories; if you look at fiction alone, sales are about half digital for traditionally published books. Once you factor in the nontraditional sales (self-published titles and Amazon Publishing titles), it would be within reason to expect about all fiction sales to be about 70% digital."

[Zaharoff]

Over the years, I have argued with book friends about mass market presses going quiet.
To me there will come a tipping point when ebook releases outnumber print releases.
Then supply n demand economic forces will magnify.
Prices for actual will increase, publications will decrease.
I shift around whether paperbacks or hardbacks tumble first, but right now I lean toward paperbacks sinking with drowning polar bears.
Print won't disappear entirely, much as physical music is still available as are movies on DVD. Still, audiences for all three dwindle.
Specialty presses will survive, as I think will print on demand.
Fairly soon, the thought of buying printed copies of the newest Sue Grafton, Danielle Steele, or John Grisham (current NY Times bestsellers) will seem as quaint as 5¢ candy bars.

[tartarusrussell]

Quote Originally Posted by Zaharoff

Fairly soon, the thought of buying printed copies of the newest Sue Grafton, Danielle Steele, or John Grisham (current NY Times bestsellers) will seem as quaint as 5¢ candy bars.

I don't think so. As far as I am aware, sales of physical books have continued to grow year after year, even at the same time that ebooks appeared to take off exponentially. Ebooks serve a useful purpose for some readers, but sales have levelled out.

Actually, print on demand strikes me as the most interesting innovation in the last twenty years. It has made the publication of really niche books possible.

My concern is not for publishing at all, but for smaller, local libraries. Almost everything they offered in the past has been made redundant by the digital revolution. Local libraries are still essential for families with young children, and they are often an important social hub, but it is very hard to see a future for them (love them though I do).