Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

I almost never buy e-books, for exactly that reason - if they were cheaper than printed books, I’d see the point of buying them, but to spend just as much money and not have the pleasure and ease of a printed book? It’s just a no-brainer for me.

(Of course, this is why my husband and I have an end room filled with towering stacks of book and never enough bookcases to hold them...but it’s a price I’m willing to pay!)

For me, coming from a graphic design background and doing a lot of publication work, I see why paperbacks are the price they are. There are real hard costs with printed books. The paper. The ink. Press time. Binding. Shipping.

Ebooks have none of those costs associated with them. They are bits and bytes sent over a wireless connection. I agree with you. I’d not want to pay $7.19 for an ebook. $2.19 maybe.

An ebook uses far fewer tangible resources than a paper book. Less fossil fuel burned, no trees cut down, none of the noxious chemicals produced by paper and ink factories produced. So I’d love to go the ebook route, but I agree with you. I’m not sure I want to pay those prices for something that’s intangible at its heart.

If you just knocked all those “tangible costs” off the book price, why wouldn’t you still have enough left to pay the author the same amount she would have gotten for a paperback? Is there some law that says royalties have to be figured as a percentage?

I don’t mind paying for e-books.  I own a Sony PRS, so I’m paying for convenience and the labor of the writer.  I do wish the books were discounted a bit more, as stated before, we’re not paying for paper, etc. 

But really, I own the books.  I can view them in mulitple settings (PC, laptop, PDA or reader) and am freeing up some real estate in my apt, which is always a good thing.

>>we won’t even discuss Connecticut (well past $4.20, if you’re interested) <<

And $4.99/gal for diesel.  Aieeeee!  I’m starting to source local restaurants for waste oil, with an eye to getting a converter and going bio-diesel. 

On the e-books, I keep telling myself it makes sense to buy a Kindle or the like.  If nothing else, it’ll save suitcase space when I travel, and with the airlines charging for a second checked bag, that’s becoming relevant.  And I know it’s better in the green sense.  But I’m still stuck on the smell of paper and the feel of the pages…

My biggest issue with the price of ebooks is that with the current lockdown of DRM… ebooks (without illegally cracking them) are inherently short-term purchases.  For books that require the secure purchases, the DRM is such that you can only purchase the book in one particular format (Kindle’s proprietary format, the Rocket Book proprietary format, Microsoft Reader’s proprietary format, etc).  And if you get a new ebook device that doesn’t read that proprietary format, you have to re-purchase the book in the appropriate format; or, if you have the skill and gumption, illegally crack the DRM and convert the book. 

I purchase ebooks right now, but not of those books that I’m going to reread over and over again.  Just because I know ebook readers are an evolving technology, I’m going to want to get later versions… and who knows which format that new version is going to take.  And I’d rather not be forced into being a criminal just because a workable solution for Digital Rights management has not yet be produced.

I really want to know where in NJ gas is $3.75! It’s four dollars where I live.

No one is mentioning the whole P&E;curve thing. Profits and expenses. To get a return on the time, marketing, advertising, etc. you spend on any book, you need to sell a certain amount. There are costs involved beyond paper, in any book. If you’re only selling 100 copies, you’re not going to cover those costs without offering product at a “higher than the user would like” price. Once those costs are covered, say, at 10,000 copies sold, the price could come down. Now, whether a publishing company would actually bring it down is another matter.

I really want to know where in NJ gas is $3.75! It’s four dollars where I live.

Well, it’s not quite $3.75, but there are a couple of stations out in northwestern Jersey (where I live) where regular is $3.87.  I doubt you’d want to drive out to where I live, though.  ;-)

Like SB Sarah, I don’t do hardbacks.  Cost too much and portability is a problem.  (Who wants to lug a hardback around when you can lug around a less dense paperback?)

That said, I can’t remember the last time I bought an e-book.  Reason?  I stare at a computer screen almost all day long; why the heck would I want to do more of the same when I’m at home or elsewhere away from work?

Plus I also like the feel of the paper; I’m a touch whore when it comes to reading books! :-)

For $359 there has to be an extension of savings for me, and when a book is only discounted $1.50, that’s 240 books I would have to purchase to have the cost balance out.  Even then, you have to remove the money I would get from selling them back to Half Price Books so we can increase the number of books I’d have to read by about 30.  So now we’re looking at 270 books to balance out the cost.

Because of various things, I’m only reading a book a week right now.  In the past when I could blow through 7-10 a week, the Kindle could have paid for itself.  Right now, not just no, but hell no.

Until it becomes cost effective. the Kindle and it’s bretheren are not on my wish list.

For that money I’d rather get a Wii with the Wii fit and use the library.

Like Nancy Beck, I spend too much time at a computer and don’t want to stare at another screen for “fun”.

But this is my biggest beef with ebooks:  I can’t unload them to a UBS.  I’ve bought books that I thought were crap and don’t want to keep.  So if I buy for $8 and sell to a UBS for $2 then my real cost is $6.  Can’t do that with ebooks.  AFAIK I can’t even try to sell them on eBay.

I’m still stuck on the price of the readers.  I’d love a Kindle- I very nearly drank the koolaid last week.  But $350 is still just too high- especially when the Kindle Store is a hotline straight into Amazon.  Drop the price and make it up on book sales.

As far as ebook prices, I agree that they seem high in general.  But if you’re looking at buying hardbacks or trade paperbacks through the Kindle, the prices are quite a bit lower.  $9.99 for a brand new hardback now, or $7.99-8.99 for the paperback a year from now.  I can justify the price for getting my hands on it now.  That $9.99 is less than I would pay for it used, the author still gets their money, and I don’t have to wait a month or two on the waiting list at the library.  I haven’t thoroughly researched the trade paperbacks, but there were a couple DA Bwaha nominees available on Kindle for around $5, when the cover price was around $15.  I’d say that’s a pretty good deal, too.

But not until the reader price comes down.

According to an article in today’s NY Times on BEA and e-books, the publishers are charging Amazon the same thing for e-ditions as for print copies of the books:

Amazon sells most Kindle books for $9.99 or less. Publishers say that they generally sell electronic books to Amazon for the same price as physical books, or about 45 percent to 50 percent of the cover price. For a hardcover best seller like Scott McClellan’s “What Happened,” the former press secretary’s account of his years in the Bush White House, that would mean that Amazon appears to be selling the selling the book for about 25 percent below its cost.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/books/02bea.html

I’m old. I don’t *get* technology - even that which I have use every day. I do well to keep my computer programs updated. I still have to get the kiddo help me with the updates on the Macbook because it’s so different from the PC. (Love those commericals, btw.) I can’t imagine whipping out some electronic thingy and reading a couple of pages while I’m in line at the grocery store or post office. Granted, I’ve barely glanced at any of the electronic readers so have no clue how they actually work but I know I can pull out a book, go to my bookmark and know exactly where I was on the page when I start reading again.

A book is like a cup of cafe au lait - warm, creamy and comforting as my fingers curl around it and I take a sip of the author’s story.

Becky said “if you’re looking at buying hardbacks or trade paperbacks through the Kindle, the prices are quite a bit lower.  $9.99 for a brand new hardback now, or $7.99-8.99 for the paperback a year from now.”

Heh heh. That just exposes the nonsense of the hardback market for me - what you’re really paying for is getting the book earlier than the paperback, not the actual format. I never buy hardback. Haven’t got the space, money or inclination.

I think paperback books have a good Green angle because I only buy what I’ll re-read. People using electronic devices tend to underestimate how much power they take to build and use. Each re-reading of a book uses more power. A paperback can be re-used almost indefinitely at no extra cost to you or the environment. And thats before you get onto passing it to your friends…

I think paperback books have a good Green angle because I only buy what I’ll re-read. People using electronic devices tend to underestimate how much power they take to build and use. Each re-reading of a book uses more power. A paperback can be re-used almost indefinitely at no extra cost to you or the environment.

Hmmmm. I think if you look at it, you’ll see that books use far more resources than an electronic device, in terms of the size of the printing press, the number of hands that must touch it, the acreage of trees destroyed, and the large volume of very toxic chemicals produced as a side effect of papermaking. I’m willing to bet very few books use soy inks either, and regular inks also are extremely toxic.

If everyone bought a single electronic device then read books on it, it would save tremendous resources that are continually expended in more print runs, etc.

I can’t afford a Kindle and I agree the Kindle e-book prices are too high. I will occasionally buy a hardback though, IF it’s 30% off and I have an extra 15% coupon. But I also realize that books do have a huge negative environmental impact.

[Apologies up front for a long comment...I tried to be more succinct, but I gues my feelings when it comes to books are too complex: I couldn’t find any thoughts to cut.]

Perhaps it’s time I adjust my thinking, but I still cling to a personal tiered system when buying books.  There are certain books I find it essential to have in hardback format (my personal “classics") because I believe hardbacks age better and stand up to wear/repeated readings better than paperbacks.  (Or in some cases, I’ll find the hardback version is actually the more convenient format for reading.  e.g. have you tried reading The Guns of August in paperback?  It ain’t easy.)

Then there’s the larger paperback format (don’t know if it has a name, but I’m referring to the format which “chick lit” books debut in).  I rarely buy these books new, either, but there are a few authors for which I find I can pony up the ~$15 cost.

The largest portion of books I buy come in the paperback size.  This not only has to do with the fact that these are obviously the easiest to pop into a purse and take anywhere (which makes standing in line far easier to take), but also the fact that their price fits into my internal scale of what seems a fair cost for the story.  No question, I’d buy something like The Shadow and the Star in hardback if I could because I consider it one of my essentials, but let’s face it: on a percentage-of-the-genre basis, there aren’t many romances that are “essentials”. 

Many romances are the entertainment version of fast food and I’m not willing to pay gourmet food prices for a fast food product.  I obviously like the entertainment version of fast food or I wouldn’t be reading them, but if I had to pay much more for this entertainment I’d be looking for other things to read.  On my internal scale of value-for-cost, paperbacks are priced just about right for the value I put on the story they contain.

On the bottom rung of the tier for me is the e-format of a book.  This is in part due to the fact that my introduction to e-books wasn’t with reading the classics, but stories for which I considered the value to be below that of a paperback and therefore I considered it fair that the cost was below a paperback.  (I’ll say I read books by authors in need of development and leave it at that.) The other element has to do with the tangible aspect of reading.  A good part of the pleasure that I get out of a book has to do with my physical interaction with it.  Perhaps had I grown up reading stories in an electronic format I would feel differently, but the fact is I grew up with all those physical things one can associate with a book: the aspects of smelling them when all together in a library, of touching them while walking past, of taking them off the shelf for a sample read to see if it was what I was in the mood for, of holding them while reading, of making the commitment to find some way to carry them around.  And I’m not certain if this is true or just my imagination, but I swear sometimes my actual understanding of what’s being said is greater when I read it in a physical format.  While I understand that the story of Pride and Prejudice is the same whether I read it in a hardback, paperback or e-book format, I also know that my pleasure is undeniably greatest when reading it in the hardback format.

For these reasons, in addition to the arguments related to the fact that the production cost of an e-book is lower than that of a tangible book and I can’t find it fair to pay the same price for an e-book as for a paperback, I just won’t pay the same price for an e-book that I would pay for a paperback.  I don’t perceive the value of holding a paperback in my hand and reading it as the same as reading it in an electronic format.  The story may be the same either way, but my enjoyment and my perception of value aren’t the same.

At odds with all these thoughts and feelings is the fact that there are always more books to read, but I don’t have unlimited space for storing them.  I need to put more consideration into the notion of going the e-book route for the stories I think are the least nutritous of the fast food lot, but I’ll only do so if the cost per story is less than what I’d pay for a physical book.  After all, a paperback I consider disposable does have some after-market value: I can trade it or sell it or donate it (or throw it against the wall if it pisses me off) and get *something* back if I don’t think it’s a keeper.  As far as I know, there’s no such option for an e-book:  once the price is paid, there’s no net underneath to break my fall if I’m disappointed.

Is there some law that says royalties have to be figured as a percentage?

Not a law, but I’m sure there are contracts, and the contracts probably can be specific enough to have different rates for different formats. I have no actual knowledge, but a strong suspicion that the author royalty system will be something of an ocean liner—it’s possible to turn it in a new direction, but you can’t do it speedly. There’s such an inertia of That’s The Way Things Are Done dragging on it.

I have yet to get into the ebook habit, because, like several have already mentioned, the process of reading from a screen is somewhat uncomfortable. And there’s another compelling reason for me to stick with the comfort of the tried-and-true physical copy—the headache of keeping up with evolving formats. Having just tried to figure out how to convert all my LPs and cassettes to MP3 format so they can be more easily stored (and converted to something else when required) and contemplating the whole analog-to-digital (let alone hi-def) in the TV world, books seem remarkably stable and efficient.

Are ebook readers of whatever stripe designed so that one can “curl up with a good ebook”?

A book is like a cup of cafe au lait - warm, creamy and comforting as my fingers curl around it and I take a sip of the author’s story.

Agreed.  The physical pleasure of holding the book and turning the pages is part of the experience of relaxing with a good story for me.  Paperback or hardback makes no difference when I’m lounging on the couch, but money-wise, only a few authors rate a hardback purchase.  With a reading appetite like mine, one does sadly have to be practical in terms of cost and space.

I’m no technophobe, but I’m not a gadget girl, either.  Yeah, the price of the reader is high, but what keeps me from ebooks and readers is my lifestyle more than economics.  I’ve downloaded a few books, and while it is certainly simple and provides instant gratification, sitting at the computer desk snuggled up with the Mac leaves something to be desired.  With a paperback, I can flip back and forth in the story with ease, I can read in the bath or at the pool, and I can fling a particularly craptacular one against the wall.  I don’t worry about losing a paperback or having it stolen because I’m only out about $7.  I don’t worry about leaving one in my car in the Texas nuclear summer or dropping my tote bag, because a paperback won’t melt or break.

Now, in my previous life before kids, I had a job that required a great deal of travel.  Back then, I would have been all over books that I could download to a laptop or a reader because of the multi-book storage for those endless plane trips and hours spent in hotels in Nowhere USA.

spamword:  nearly39.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Are ebook readers of whatever stripe designed so that one can “curl up with a good ebook”?

Actually, I have a Fictionwise bookreader as well as my pocket PC cellphone with Mobipocket on it.  I find the Fictionwise bookreader a very compatible analog to the ‘curling up with a book’ feeling.  The cellphone/PDA screen is still a bit small such that with as fast as I read, I feel like I’m nearly constantly pushing the forward button.  But there is one GREAT thing about the book ebooks that I LOVE them for… backlighting!  I don’t need much backlight, so that safe power-usage… but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE reading in bed without the lights on which means my significant other isn’t bothered… and I don’t have to reach over to turn out a sidetable light when I finally am too sleepy to keep my eyes open.

Paying $7.00-$10.00 for a pile of pixels is just ridiculous. Particularly when you can get the print thing for about the same price, and especially when you have to pay upwards of $400 for a device to be able to even read said expensive ebooks in the first place.

Like others, I don’t understand why ebooks cost as much as their paper counterparts, when there are no printing, shipping, warehousing, etc costs associated with an electronic file.

All this perplexing pricing is doing is creating an ever growing market for pirated books. I’ve noticed that some of the sites I download music from are also now offering downloads of books. Many of the books I saw weren’t even offered in ebook format, so some very enterprising person scanned the books, put them in multiple formats, and uploaded them for the edification of the rest of us. It’s not older books, either. These are new releases I’m talking about.

Sooo...faced with $4.21 gas and $10 ebooks, or an unlimited supply of free ebooks from my fave authors and still paying for gas...heck of a dilemma. At this point, I buy my books because I like my authors and know how bad it sucks not to be able to pay bills.

My empathy is not infinite.

I travel a lot.  Back and forth from Japan to the US on a regular basis.  Plus I haven’t lived in the same place for more than two years since I graduated from highschool (which was quite a while ago).  I love ebooks with a passion!  They are the only thing that keep my addiction fed.  It would be completely impossible for me to bring my books along with me but ebooks allow me to cart literally thousands of books back and forth across the pacific. 

However I agree with the argument against DRM.  I refuse to rebuy my extensive collection everytime there is a new ebook fad.  I read all my ebooks on my PPC.  The screen is a bit smaller than a typical ebook reader but it still works great.  The HUGE plus is that I can read all the formats of ebooks that I currently own (Microsoft Reader/Adobe/HTML/Mobipocket/eReader/etc) on one device.  I refuse to by an “ebook reader” until they stop insisting on locking the consumer into their exclusive format in order to squeeze out money.

As for price.  I agree with Sarah, I wince a bit when I see ebook prices the same as paperback prices.  The cheapest option I have found is Fictionwise and their Buywise club.  Yes it’s 30$ per year but since I buy so many ebooks I make that price up very quickly and in the end it has saved me lots of money.

Because of my years spent reading fanfiction on the computer (and now my phone, too), I’m used to reading fiction in electronic format. But I haven’t converted to ebooks mostly because the industry lacks a single Format To Rule Them All. I sure as hell am not going to invest money in a reader and a bunch of books, then have to replace them because the reader becomes obsolete and/or the company stops supporting the format. Also, I lack the l33t hacker skillz that would enable me to break DRM to back up copies of books I do buy, so I’m SOL on that score.

As for the pricing, I’m in the camp that believes ebook versions should be cheaper than print versions, since the publisher doesn’t have to pay printing costs. I understand that it costs money to format the text electronically, but surely it costs less than paper/layout/binding/printing?

How amazing that the author of Fahrenheit 451 can’t imagine a future where paper books are collectible artifacts.

Generation Y gets nearly all its information from a device with a screen. Nearly half of them read blogs, 76% use IM, and 97% own a computer. Websites are the primary source of news for a third of them, and the other two-thirds? They’re getting it from The Daily Show, because nothing summarizes the American political scene better than Clusterf@#k to the White House, Mess-O-Potamia, and Indecision 2008.

When the rest of us are in our graves, these people will not be buying paper books.

The paradigm of huge author advances, elephantine gestation periods before a book appears in print (during which time the market has become oversaturated with virgins and vampires), and remaindering 30-40% of a run, isn’t worth a pair of dimes. It’s costly to publishers and horrible for the environment.

I agree that the tangibility of a paperback is seductive, as is the ability to get some money back by selling to a UBS. But I think eventually competition will drive the price of ebooks down, as more and more publishers get on the pixilated train and as e-reader technology improves. 

I haven’t yet drunk the e-kool-aid, but I know that resistance is futile.

Upfront disclaimer and coming out of the closet:  I’m self-publishing.  Like, really, self-publishing and I’m here to tell you:  There’s a helluva lot of work that goes into formatting a manuscript into digital formats, especially if you want to do several (like, in my case, 8) different formats to reach as many people as possible.

Ohtehnoes! Teh hourz! Teh learning kurvs!

I don’t like the DRM thing any more than anybody else and I’ve cracked my share of DRMs.  I will NOT slap DRM on my books.  I also understand the transient nature of the various formats (VHS v beta) and I as a consumer want to know I can have those books always as long as I have some device that can read the information.

I’ve thought long and hard about what to do as a compromise and this is what I’ve come up with:

Choice of

1. Trade Paperback, X price based on industry discounting of 55% (which SUCKS because if I were willing to sell solely from my own site and not also through Amazon’s Advantage program, it’d be a LOT cheaper).

2. A zip file with all 8 formats I offer for $20 cheaper.

3. Individual formats for nearly half of the zip file price.

What I would like to get an opinion on is if the length of the book makes a difference.  For instance, Samhain prices based on number of words, which is, IMO, very smart, fair, equitable, and transparent blah blah blah.  /fangrrl squee

So if you, Ms. Book Buyer, see a price tag of one e-file format for $7.99, does it make a difference to you that it’s 300,000 words (the equivalent of 700+ pages of a trade paperback) or would you notice?

If you, Ms. Book Buyer, see a price tag of 8 e-file formats for $14.99, would that flexibility make a difference to you?

(Naturally, that’s assuming anybody would buy a book that big, even if it is 3 romances in one.  ;) /poke at self)

MoJo

doing89?  No.  69?  Definitely.

The paradigm of huge author advances, elephantine gestation periods before a book appears in print (during which time the market has become oversaturated with virgins and vampires), and remaindering 30-40% of a run, isn’t worth a pair of dimes. It’s costly to publishers and horrible for the environment.

And yet, print publishers appear reluctant to give ebook readers a break by pricing the Kindle versions cheaper than the print versions, as the article Liz linked to says. Why not reward the early adopters, gain their loyalty, and also take the opportunity to slowly feel out how the advent of ebooks is going to change their business model?

Hey folks we just handed the ebook publisher tens of thousands of dollars of market advice.  We LOVE books and read a lot of them.  Come on, previous posters, count up how many books you’ve bought in the last year.  We are obviously a key part of their target market.  How many of us can pass a bookstore without at least pausing to glance at the books on display in the front? (Hey, at least my obsessive purchases don’t cost $400 a pair like Carrie’s shoes!)

I think we could get around the initial purchase costs of a good ebook reader (we can argue if Kindle is that) though I suspect the breaking point of when we’ll flock to buy is closer to $250 than $399 or $349 that a Kindle costs.  BUT we also collect if we can.  We have our “keepers”, we go back and re-read old friends, we search out out-of-print copies in used bookstores.  The idea that something could wipe out our entire collection of “keepers”, those loved and cherished books we’ve kept for year, is horrifying.  Hey, I just re-read a paperback published in 1965! Still a keeper.  It was yellowed, a little brittle but still there!  Still readable.  Will a keeper on my ebook reader last 43 years?  Can my children go through my “virtual” shelves and discover something about what I read and enjoyed and feel a little closer to me for having a few of my virtual books on my shelves like I have a few of my beloved mother-in-law’s books.  Until they can replicate that experience...ebooks won’t replace paper.

I don’t see what the problem is with paying the same price for printed or ebook. To me, it’s not the paper that is valuable or the cover art...it’s the story inside. I think this really comes down to who truly, honestly LIKES the idea of ebooks. Versus those who have an e-reader, but still like the physical sensation of a paperback or hardback book.

I’m one of the weirdos who has NO problem with ebooks or ebook readers. Love the whole idea of it. Would pay the same for an ebook as a ‘regular’ book and not really care.

Personally, I think authors should get paid a HIGHER percentage for ebook sales. That is the part I don’t understand. From what I gather, their percentage is the same.

It’s not just the ‘What am I paying for, exactly?’ notion, nor even the annoyance of reading on screen.  But if presented with an ebook reader, I’m pretty sure I would drop it in the tub, or leave it on the subway, or, y’know, let it fall from a height.  Yeesh.  Small objects that go in my hands are not my friends:  I’ve gone through about a dozen umbrellas this year, and it’s just June.

Makes the loss of a paperback (or even a hardcover) seem negligible.

Well, my novella TABOO is only $3.50, but you can get it for $2.80 to download on Kindle.  ;-) That said, Amazon takes a huge cut of the price for themselves, leaving the author with very little royalty.  Although it may “look good” to have high numbers at Amazon, I can get a higher pay-out from other venues.

But, as a reader, I do see your point.  Cost should be about what it takes to produce a book.  And an ebook’s costs would involve the editor’s pay, artist’s pay and the publisher layout costs and overhead (plus more I don’t know about). Whereas a paper book involves the printer, ink, and paper in addition to the rest.

Then again, when you download, you avoid the costs of either (1) gas to drive to the store or (2) shipping costs to you.  So you’re may be paying more money for the sheer convenience.

The only hard back I ever buy are books I know I’ll keep - such as the HP series!

Personally, I think authors should get paid a HIGHER percentage for ebook sales. That is the part I don’t understand. From what I gather, their percentage is the same.

I suppose it depends on the publisher.  The ones I’ve worked with DO offer a much higher royalty on the ebook sales than the print.  Most epubs offer 35-40% royalty on an ebook, while a print book will get the author under 10%.

So, although I LUUUUUUURVE seeing my book on a shelf in a store or as a print book at Amazon, when someone buys it as an ebook, I make more money! :-)

Leslie, I know that epublishers pay a higher royalty....I was referring to the print pubs. I don’t think Harlequin or Kensington or whoever pays more than the print royalty.  Anyone have knowledge?

Please, no-one take this the wrong way, because it is just my situation I’m talking about here, but…

I think a lot of this is a matter of perspective.  If you can walk into a bookstore and buy a mass market paperback for $7.99 then yes, it may feel like ebooks are too expensive.

I can’t.  If I walk into a bookstore to buy a mass market paperback it’s going to cost me something around $17 and it certainly is unlikely to be in the store on the day of its release.  So for me, buying an ebook is wonderful.  It only costs me that $7.99 and I can get it in a moment.

I know the system isn’t perfect - DRM is a pain in the ass and needs to be sorted out - but it’s a step towards some kind of book buying equality for me.

I read on a PDA and I can curl up in bed with it quite nicely.  It’s a lot lighter than many of the books out there today and, marvellously, I can adjust the text size to something I can read easily.  With books getting longer, it seems to be a frequent trend to squish up the text to fit it all into less pages and make production cheaper.  I have a chronic illness that includes cognitive dysfunction and I just can’t read tiny, tiny print books any more.  My brain goes on strike.

I would love to be able to buy just my “keeper” books in paper and everything else as ebooks but I find to my frustration that not everything I want is available.

As for pirating, I’ll admit I’ve looked at some of those files and they tend to suck majorly.  There are always scanning mistakes, the lines breaks get mucked up, the paragraphing disappears.  I wouldn’t want to read one even though it is free.  I’d rather buy the “real” thing.  Again, the problem is that so many books aren’t available.

I’m not even sure that I have a point here, just trying to offer a different perspective.  Although I admit I certainly wouldn’t complain if ebooks were cheaper.

Chicklet, it does seem that publishers are trying to discourage e-format, and Amazon is trying to outsmart them by selling the Kindle-eversion at a loss (they’re giving away kool-aid for free but the glass it’s served in costs $399). 

Not sure what the publishers are thinking. It’s like the music industry thinking that CDs will keep selling when songs can be downloaded for $.99 each and there’s greater flexibility - you can burn your own mix CD, get your music instantly, etc. AND you don’t have to pay $17.99 when all you really want to listen to is Baba O’Riley (which is not me, by the way, love the whole Who oeuvre; that’s just an an example).

And what is with them letting bookstores offer e-versions when their own websites don’t?  Your Scandalous Ways is available at Powells in several different e-formats, but from Harper Collins you can only buy it in paperback.

One would think the book behemoths would be leading the e-revolution. I honestly can’t see a single downside in it (for the publishers, that is). Maybe they are waiting for the tipping point, at which time the response is likely to be “There go my people! I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.” (Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin, French politician, 1807-1847).

I like the option of e-books for when its the middle of the night, you can’t sleep and you need something new to read, and there’s no bookstore open. Hop online, buy an e-book, and voila! There is a new book at your fingertips! Perhaps its my youth talking but, while I love books and that new-book smell, I’m OK with reading books in electronic format. Like many others, I’m just waiting for, A) All for one format, and one format for all! and B) a lower-priced electronic reader (maybe in the $250 range, like someone suggested.) If the book giants in their collective wisdom (*snorts*) would somehow make a deal and manage the format thing, I think there would be a big jump in e-book buying. And since the overhead is lower, thats profit in the pocket for most of them. Money will win out eventually and we’ll get our one format.

I wouldn’t mind an e-book for some books.  There are books that I read once that I may never read again and have no problem having those on an e-book.  However, some books I do want in paperback or even hardback.  I own all of Diana Gabaldon’s books and the newest are hardback.  I love her books and read them over and over.  I want something that will last.  I also love to display my books.  I love houses with full bookshelves to explore.  I don’t think e-books will ever be able to fully replace paper books for those reasons.

Hmm.  I’ve only got two books out in the Kindle format (which is weird, because they’re first and fourth in a series with the same publisher, but anyway).  One of them is a novella only in e-book, but the other is a full-length, trade-format paperback too.  Direct from the publisher (PDF and other e-readers), it’s $5.50 for the ebook.  The Kindle version is $4.40.  The paperback is $15.  So...that’s a third cheaper than the paperback.  Of course, that’s not factring in the astronomical cost of the Kindle reader.  At least if I buy a PDF format, I can read it on my computer.

It’s really annoying that I’m an ebook author, but e-readers aren’t really available in Europe.  So...for the most part I’m buying paperbacks, which are definitely much more expensive (can’t remember the last time I paid more than £7 for even a thin paperback, which is $14.  I only buy the hardbacks I really can’t wait for).  A $5 ebook is $2.50 at the current exchange rate.  Brilliant...if only I could buy the reader, too!

Oh, and as for Harlequin etc. ebook rights, I may be wrong but I think originally they were offering the same percentage as print books (when ebook publishers usually offer about five times the rate).  I think it’s been corrected since, but for a while a lot of authors unfamiliar with the ebook market were really getting stiffed!

Ack.  I actually meant “the last time I paid less than £7 for a paperback”.

Engage brain, then type.

Engage brain, then type.

But what fun would that be? *wink*

So if you, Ms. Book Buyer, see a price tag of one e-file format for $7.99, does it make a difference to you that it’s 300,000 words (the equivalent of 700+ pages of a trade paperback) or would you notice?

If you, Ms. Book Buyer, see a price tag of 8 e-file formats for $14.99, would that flexibility make a difference to you?

Yes, size of the file makes a diffference, and I think it’s fair to price based on that.

No, I will never pay $15 for an ebook offered in a few formats. I can only read one, maybe two of the eight versions.

Then again, when you download, you avoid the costs of either (1) gas to drive to the store or (2) shipping costs to you.  So you’re may be paying more money for the sheer convenience.

Convenient is downloading for free. The files I peeked at are pdf and lit files, present in their entirety. Not sure what someone who mentioned scanned books were missing lines and stuff looked at, but the ones I saw were fine. 

I’m spending about $5 for ebooks, which is barely reasonable for a novel. I’m ok with that, or it doesnt trip my bullshite meter. Not ok with spending three times that.

Take a look at the Baen Books Webscription model of electronic publishing.They release 5-6 books a month.Buying an entire month’s output costs about $15 a month.Individual ebooks cost about $5 a copy.You can buy subscriptions for several months output,like a magazine.They also sell eARCs at a premium,depending on the book,up to 3 months before dead tree editions come out.The ebooks are available in multiple formats.Oh,and no DRM.None.

I have no idea what the financials are like,but apparently it’s been successful enough that a few other publishers have made their books available through the same avenue.

The advantages,as I see them,are that the books never go out of print,are available to fans in any part of the globe with access to a credit card and an Internet connection,and enable them to keep a higher percentage of the take.

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that most of the people who patronise them also buy hard copies in addition to the ebooks.It’s a situation I expect to continue until readers get much better.

So why aren’t bigger publishers using this model?Or wouldn’t it work outside the SFF genre?

Arduous and lengthy research on the internet - clicking on the first link Google threw up - suggested that out of every $10 a book costs, $4.50 goes to the bookshop/retailer and $1 to the wholesaler.
I’ve no idea if that’s true, but it doesn’t seem impossible.
Equally, you can imagine that there must be costs in having an e-publishing division, and that possibly e-published books would need more marketing.
Still, it just seems that e-publishing ought to be cheaper, and it’s hard to see why publishers wouldn’t want to pass that saving on, and grow the market. Be interesting to know why they don’t.

Haven’t bought an e-book reader yet, but I’d love to own one. I’ve looked at them the last two Christmases. And I’m a complete Luddite, who can’t get my head round the idea of a phone that isn’t attached to a wall.

Yes, size of the file makes a diffference, and I think it’s fair to price based on that.

No, I will never pay $15 for an ebook offered in a few formats. I can only read one, maybe two of the eight versions.

Thank you, Emmy.  That’s extremely helpful.

See I think about book prices the same way I think about movie tickets - is the amount of enjoyment hours I am going to get out of this worth the price I’m going to pay? Add that to a lack of bookshelf space from moving every 2 years and e-books are just fine as the way of the future.

I don’t see what the problem is with paying the same price for printed or ebook. To me, it’s not the paper that is valuable or the cover art...it’s the story inside.

But it’s not just the story you’re buying when you buy a print book. You’re also buying the right to resell the book. With an ebook, you technically aren’t even allowed to share the book with a friend (unless you let them borrow your reader) because every time you send the file, you make a copy, and making copies is a violation of copyright.

So, although I LUUUUUUURVE seeing my book on a shelf in a store or as a print book at Amazon, when someone buys it as an ebook, I make more money! :-)

Yup, when my Samhain books come out in print, they’ll cost more than twice what they do in ebook format, but I’ll make half the money per copy. Every time I see an ebook for nearly the same cost as the print version, I cringe, and wonder whether the author is still making that same 7-10% royalty off of what essentially costs the publisher nothing.

Chicklet, it does seem that publishers are trying to discourage e-format, and Amazon is trying to outsmart them by selling the Kindle-eversion at a loss

How so? It isn’t as if they have to pay for warehousing, or for actual people to pack the books. The entire transaction can be done by computers. I honestly can’t imagine ebooks account for a loss to Amazon. I would rather think that they could mark them up $1-1.50 above what they pay per copy, and still make a profit. Especially since the costs of formatting to their proprietary reader probably fall to the publisher.

I like the option of e-books for when its the middle of the night, you can’t sleep and you need something new to read, and there’s no bookstore open. Hop online, buy an e-book, and voila! There is a new book at your fingertips!

Or if you live a three hour drive from the nearest actual bookstore, and aren’t interested in what’s on the spinny rack at the grocery. Last 15 books I’ve read are ebooks. Out of those, I only felt I didn’t get my money’s worth twice. Ask me how many print books I feel ripped off by, I dare ya.

I’m a very tech savvy person, but I cannot fathom ebooks (except for short stories) and ebook readers.  The fact that the cost is equivalent to a paperback means that the publisher/Amazon is getting more money, not the author.  Also, I don’t find reading a large amount of text on the screen very enjoyable- it is very strenuous on the eyes, and I know many people who have to print long electronic text entries to relieve eye strain.  Also, the addition of yet another piece of tech equipment (laptop, ipod, cellphone, etc.) just seems like overkill.

I’ll pay for a paperback for the convenience that it’s bound, won’t hurt my eyes as much trying to read it, and the fact that I can get something back for it if the book isn’t my cup of tea.

(long post, sorry)

I’ve finally tried about ten e-books, and here are my chief complaints:

1. I don’t know the size before I buy it. Yes, I get a general word count (WTH does “over 30,000 words"- Loose ID novel size- mean? 30,003, or 300,000? no way of knowing till I buy the book), but I don’t know how long the story will be, if they fall on which side of the word count (the min or max), and I can’t flip through and see that those last fifteen pages on file are just excerpts for other books and the first seven were nonsense pages (again, until I buy the book).

2. I’m not buying the Kindle or whatever other e-reader until it accepts ALL formats and I can save the e-books on a USB or something so that I can have more room without deleting books. Also, a laptop is not the most cozy curl-up, though I think I’d be more ok with an e-reader.

3. I want to be able to share e-books or re-sell them. I don’t want to have to loan my friend- who would then loan another friend, and another, until six months pass- my laptop (or an e-reader if I had it). And let me say, sharing creates sales. Take JR Ward for example. I read her book, and (among other things) lent my friend my copy to read. She loved it and bought the series (well, I did as a b-day gift for her, but a new set of books were bought). She lent her copies to another friend, who bought her own set. And etc.

Also, I rarely buy a book without a) already loving the author or b) I need a book and it’s gotten huge reviews and the first chapter totally engrossed me. But normally I borrow a book from the library and if I absolutely adore it, I buy it in paperback. I haven’t figured out a way to test an e-book author, find out if I like him/her, and then buy their books. Out of the ten or so e-books I bought, there was four I liked (I’m taking a trilogy I had to buy in separate pieces as one book, since each story was like *thistiny* and altogether barely made a small book) and none I would have bought in print.

4. I love the feel of books. I like being able to carry them in my purse or take them to the dining hall or read during those extra few minutes that happen between events in your day.

So because I don’t know the size, can’t share or resell them, can’t test the author, and can’t feel them, the only time I’ll be buying an e-book in the future is when I am very, very desperate for something to read and don’t have the energy to pick up a book at the library. Those times will be very, very rare.

develop53: yes, it took that long to develope this post. minutes not really well spent :)

I can’t believe I spelled it “develope”. Bad brain, bad.

activity69: ha! i wish

I am an avid reader, work in technology, but am a bit of a Luddite nonetheless.  The only cell phone I carry is for work, and my last laptop I kept for 8 years before I bought a new one.  I got high speed internet two months ago - I have about 25 free book download sites bookmarked but no eReader.

All that being said, I agree with just about everything said by everyone in this thread - both pro and con.

What’s holding me back....
1. My biggest issue is the sharing issue.  You buy a book, but then can’t lend it to your mom, your sister, your best friend, someone at work. 
2. I’d like to “rent” or check out an e-book from the library (one of my favorite places) for a buck or less.
3. I love both instant and delayed gratification.  Each has it’s place.  There’s nothing like being number 25 out of 100 on the book holds list at the library!  It’s coming, soon now, it’s HERE!!
4. I’m waiting for the chip implant into my brain so I can save every book forever.

;-)

Has anyone considered publication of textbooks??  How about the library?  There are literally hundreds of thousands of people who use the library including myself, I really don’t foresee the public library purchasing hundreds of the Kindles for public use.  On a personal note I’ll probably never purchase a Kindle, I’m a graphic artist/designer.  I love to feel the book in my hand, the anticipation as I turn the page can’t be duplicated by scrolling the screen.  So technically impersonal.  The artist in me appreciates the work that goes into making a classic tome.  I currently have books on my shelves from the early 1800’s that I can open and read without fear of loosing a page.  Though I’m not a snob about my books I’ll give up money for food to purchase my next book if necessary.

Jools, who believes a book in the hand is worth two on the Kindle

And let me say, sharing creates sales. Take JR Ward for example. I read her book, and (among other things) lent my friend my copy to read.

Unfortuantely, there is no way to “loan” an ebook. There is no way to “give” an ebook to a friend without copying it. This is a quirk of the format and is not likely to change, ever. If you email your friend the book, there are now four copies in existence, instead of the one you legally purchased (one on your computer or reader, one in your email sent file, one in her inbox, and one on her computer). And all it takes is one file to be uploaded to a sharing site, and tens of thousands of people could be reading that book at no expense in money or effort to them or the person who put it there, and with no remuneration to either the publisher or author. It isn’t even as if that person had to scan the book page by page, like they would with a print book.

Sharing of ebooks do not necessarily mean more sales. Given human nature and the ease of copying, one could assume just the opposite.

This is one reason why, IMO, ebooks should cost much less than their print counterparts do. As a consumer of copyrighted material, you lose all kinds of rights when you choose an ebook over a physical one, and there should be some compensation for that. The fact that there are no PPB, warehousing, shipping and remaindering costs associated with ebooks means the publisher (and author) can make money (in my case, more money), even considering a significantly lower cover price.

2. I’d like to “rent” or check out an e-book from the library (one of my favorite places) for a buck or less.

I’m fairly certain there are libraries that do this. They give you the book on a secure reader, and when you return the reader, that copy of the book is deleted. Fair for everyone.

I’ve bought quite a few e-books over the last few months and I love the fact that I have 100s on my 3 lbs laptop that fits in my purse to go with me wherever I travel.  That said there are several issues that others have mentioned already (can’t trade, formats will become obsolete, lacks the feel of a book), but my biggest issue is that I get screen fatigue.

I will start skipping, even if I love the book, which means I end up not enjoying it as much.  I really hope all the people who say that paper books will be obsolete soon are wrong.  I’ve loved the instant gratification and I’ve read a lot of books via the TN online library, but I absolutely know that I might loved some of these stories instead of just liking them if I had read them in paper instead.

My second biggest issue is with the pricing by small e-pubs.  I understand that you have to distribute overhead (editing, production) over fewer units so the price has to be higher, but I draw the line at paying more than you would for a comparable paperback.

I’ve seen many many interesting stories excerpted in the last few months that I ended up not buying because I refuse, absolutely refuse, to pay 5 bucks and upward for 20-25k stories.  That is not reasonable and while I’m just one customer I’m convinced the small e-pubs are pricing themselves out of existence.  And it pisses me off, because I’d buy three stories of that length for 5 or 6 bucks with potentially more sales if I like these new-to-me authors.  And now, I don’t get the gratification and they don’t get *any* sales at all, because of this outrageous pricing structure.

E-books should be cheaper, because you don’t have to pay for the paper, ink and shipping. I’m sorry, but that’s an expense that e-books don’t have, and it should be taken out of the equation. Until e-books are cheaper, I don’t think they’re going to take off. I would much prefer to use Kindle and not have to store books in my house, but it pisses me off that they cost more than a paperback. That’s just WRONG. And if they were the price that they should be—probably around the $3 mark, then people wouldn’t mind buying their own copies as much. A used paperback doesn’t make an author a cent. It seems to be a catch-22. We can’t lower the price until we sell more volume, but people won’t buy e-readers when paperbacks are cheaper than e-books. 

It reminds me of the music biz. In the days when cassette tapes and CDs overlapped, people still paid a premium for CDs, even though CDs were cheaper to produce. But the quality of sound and the longevity are better with a CD, so people ponied up.

How amazing that the author of Fahrenheit 451 can’t imagine a future where paper books are collectible artifacts.

Ray Bradbury, for all that he’s considered an SF writer, isn’t much of a futurist or even a technophile.

For that matter, he’s either never learned to or simply never bothers to drive-- and he’s been living in LOS ANGELES since 1934!

I read her book, and (among other things) lent my friend my copy to read. She loved it and bought the series (well, I did as a b-day gift for her, but a new set of books were bought). She lent her copies to another friend, who bought her own set. And etc.

I understand what your saying, and if it wasn’t for one thing, it would make sense.

That one thing is just that it is too easy to abuse the author’s copyright with loaning out books.

If you ‘loan’ her the ebook, she doesn’t need to buy her own.  There are suddenly ‘two’ copies when you’d only purchased one and ebooks are too easily copied, and can be copied indefinitely.  One file can become ten and ten can become a hundred. It seriously adds up to a lot of lost income for the author, especially if it’s one who’s primarily epubbed.

Filesharing sites and pirating have seriously hurt ebook authors over the past year or two.  I know of at least two authors who no longer write ebooks, and this is a huge part of why they stopped. 

The sharing was killing sales because it’s so easy to just ‘loan out’ multiple copies.  Many people will just sadly take the easy way out and keep the ebook, not buy their own.  I know that not all readers are like that, but as with a lot of things, the inconsiderate few can ruin it for many.

Ebooks are too easily abused and until technology and the law can meet up a little more, the only way to handle ebooks is to not allow sharing.  The author has to protect their income-if they aren’t making money, they may not get another contract.

My situation was a bit different, in regards to loaning books.  I would buy the books, because I can’t wait until library gets them, and after I would lend it (them) to a friend; but she would never buy her own.  Since I’ve gotten my ebook reader, she can’t “borrow” them and now buys her own books to read. 

I guess my experience is somewhat unique, though; and really I like being able to carry all my favorite books wherever I go.

Paper, the cheap mass market kind, costs publishers about $40 per pound. That’s A LOT of money. Better paper costs more, natch. Cartons cost money, carton labels cost money, shipping costs money. All of that cost is gone with ebooks.

Also, nowadays publishers send their printers digital files of their books to be printed. PDF and InDesign/Quark files. The printer used to get physical films of books and shoot directly from the films. Now they just use PDF files and create the plates from that.

Since publishers already make PDF files to send to the printer, it’s a built-in step. Why not just make the PDF available for download on the publisher’s website for like a buck or three? Money would actually be made, I think.

That said, I worry about what another poster said, which is longevity. My paperback books, even the cheaply made ones, can last for decades. Can ebooks? I doubt it. Digital entertainment and information is so ephemeral. Nothing on the Internet seems to stay around, and I’m thinking ebooks and their readers are the same. Add in planned obsolescence and I’m not very optimistic about how long these ebooks are going to last. My paperbacks will last much longer, provided I don’t drop them into the tub or, God forbid, my house burns down.

And that’s another issue: like others, I tend to drop things. Dropping my $300 ebook reader and having it crack in two will make me VERY UNHAPPY.

Oh, forgot to mention: the Sony eReader’s screen looks ASTONISHINGLY like an actual page from a book. Seriously, I kept on touching the screen, thinking it was a physical page underneath a clear plastic frame. It’s not backlit, so the eye strain problem is gone, and I cannot stress enough how much like a physical book page it looks like.

What about the Kindle? Do its screen pages look like actual book pages, or does it look more.... digitized?

What about the Kindle? Do its screen pages look like actual book pages, or does it look more.... digitized?

Both Kindle and Sony have e-ink technology. I think that’s one reason they’re more expensive than, say, the ebookwise, but as it gets adopted by more manufacturers, prices will come down.

I’m waiting to see what Apple will come up with.

Down here, a mass market paperback novel will set me back anything from $15.99 (for a romance novel in one store down here) to $21.99, or more. You can get some for $24.99. This is not a hardcover book people - those retail around $40 these days. It’s horrific. I haven’t bought a single book this year so far, and hardly any over the past year. In fact, the last lot I bought was $50 for 10 of them, at a sale at that romance bookshop mentioned above. $5 a book! AWESOME!

So, for me to think about buying an eBook (I don’t have a reader) online, for $5 (US, which is probably about $5.50 Australian at the moment with the exchange rate - it would have been more like $8.50/$9 a few years back) is a bargain. However, I can’t understand why it’s the same relative price as a paperback book is in the States. I might as well buy paperback books through Amazon - buy enough and they’ll give me free shipping! There’s one thing against that at the moment - I don’t have anywhere to put them. And they collect dust. Don’t get me wrong - I absolutely LOVE all my paper books. I adore them. My partner (who has broken himself of this addiction - he used to have a room dedicated to books, kept in a COMPACTUS) pokes fun at me because of it. He also groans when I mention buying some.

I think eBooks SHOULD be less. There isn’t any paper publishing costs that go into an eBook, and the format (and I really don’t know how it works, so I’m throwing this out there) is what the book looks like before it goes to publishing. So take all the post-final-edit publishing costs away from the list price of a book, and that should give you your eBook costs. The author SHOULD get at LEAST 50% of that eBook listed price - because the publisher has limited costs. Yes, they have the editing costs, and (if you’re lucky) promotion costs, but they don’t have the hard costs of producing a paperback book.

$3 eBooks - everyone would be buying them.

(securityword: example41 - let’s make $3 eBooks examples for all!)

2. I’d like to “rent” or check out an e-book from the library (one of my favorite places) for a buck or less.

I’m fairly certain there are libraries that do this. They give you the book on a secure reader, and when you return the reader, that copy of the book is deleted. Fair for everyone.

It can be even easier than that.  My library system lets me download ebooks (for free) over the internet.  I can put them on my home computer, a reader, or a phone.

Most books are available in either Mobipocket or Adobe format.  When the checkout period ends, the ebook won’t open.  Some of the books can even be “returned” before their due date.  Some books are always available (unlimited electronic copies), some are available in limited quantities so there’s a queue like a paper book.

The only drawback is that I don’t own an eInk reader and reading everything on computer or phone really stinks.  If the library would rent me a Sony reader, even as a one-time test drive, I have a feeling I’d get hooked and buy one.

I get about $1.20 royalty on an $8 paperback--before my agent’s commission. I won’t argue cheaper to produce e than paper, as I have no idea of the logistics. But, I’ve put the same sweat, time and creativity into the story however it’s formatted. So I want my buck-twenty per copy.

If the price of e-format was cut in half, let’s say, would that still leave a reasonable profit for the publisher after expenses and overhead? I haven’t a clue.

I’m all for options in reading, so though I’m not going to drink the e-ade, I’m delighted it’s there to be drunk by others who enjoy it.

If the price of e-format was cut in half, let’s say, would that still leave a reasonable profit for the publisher after expenses and overhead? I haven’t a clue.

Maybe not for epublishers and small presses, who have to spread costs over fewer copies sold. But for the major houses making a print book (or out of print book, heh) available in e-format, the investment in editing, cover art, marketing, the whole shebang is already done with. There are virtually no production or distribution costs beyond that. If Samhain (an epublisher with a sizable number of titles also in print) can offer an ebook for about half the cost of the print version, I don’t see why Kensington or Luna can’t do the same. As a small press, Samhain’s profit margin per copy would arguably have to be higher than that of a big house.

And speaking for my little book, cover price on the electronic version is $4.50. The print will be more than twice that, I’m sure. And I’ll make roughly twice the money per copy on the ebook versus the print. And it’s more than $1.20.

I own a Kindle and LOVE it!
I just recently did my 6 month review over at my blog:
http://junklekennedy.blogspot.com/

Ebooks are the future whether anyone really wants to accept it or not.

Economically it will pay off in the end. I’m an avid reader usually consuming roughly 10 books a month, minimum.

I’d rather purchase the Kindle Edition than drive or pay shipping to have the physical book, of which I will then need to find a home for in my house or make the extra effort of reselling to someone.

It’s just easier, faster, and will ultimately be cheaper.

Plus, I get to help save trees! Eventually publishers will start to print less copies as the need for physical books should decrease as ebooks sales are increased.

Again, love the Kindle, love ebooks, and I really can’t wait for the next version!

I would love an e-book reader that would make reading e-books physically comfortable, and would cut down on the huge pile of paperbacks I have to purge regularly, because I have no space.  And I really, really miss my books that are in storage.

I’m just stuck on the whole LP -> 8 track -> cassette -> CD -> MP3 -> ??? thing.  I have to buy new hardware because the old stereo craps out, then I have to buy all my music again in a format that works in the new equipment.  Or I have to buy the new equipment because the music isn’t available anymore in formats that my equipment accommodates.

The thing about paper books is that you DO have a physical object, and you can make notes in the margins and really make the book something connected to YOU.  In a thousand years, some hypothetical archaeologist could discover a cache of carefully or serendipitously stored novels and reconstruct them and learn a lot about ancient people, and start a cult venerating the amazing insight revealed by my marginalia.  Could happen.

What if all they found was a bunch of flash drives?  How would they read them?

In order to read a paper book, the only hardware I need is my brain and eyeballs (and hands, and maybe a lamp.  And some munchies for if I get hungry.  Possibly kleenex if it makes me cry.)

thinking14 - but not really clearly, or anything.

I know of at least two authors who no longer write ebooks, and this is a huge part of why they stopped

Shiloh, I have bad news for you....you dont have to be epubbed to have your books online. I saw LIT and PDF files of nearly all your books, several of which were never pubbed in ebook format.  I saw all of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of TIme series, which I also know was never offered as ebooks. The same holds true of Nora Roberts’ In Death series. Whole thing available online.

But aren’t e-books inevitable?

I remember having the LP to 8 track to Tape to CD to MP3 conversation with my ex who is 14 years older. With each format change he thought that it would never become the new standard and when it did his acceptance was reluctant to say the least. And he wasn’t alone in his thinking.

Now he is trying to wrap his mind around the need for text messages, and he isn’t ready for e-books at all. But I think he needs to figure it out because like all other things e-books too shall become a standard.

I think that we have to remember as someone pointed out earlier in the thread that all of this technology is still relatively young to us but for teens like my daughter (14) it is all they have known.

In a few years schools will require laptops not just for high school (my daughters school is launching a pilot program next year) but for K thru 8 as well, they are already required at the college level at most schools now.

Why, in large part because they want to convert the textbooks to e-books which solves the problem of having to update books, same info less space, cheaper etc.

A generation that would have been raised to read in this medium, I already know people who can’t stand to handle paper, and I can only see this sentiment growning.

So I think that our focus should be on how and when the rest of us are going to adapt because if isn’t really a question.

Pulling out my crystal ball…

I think that most fiction will either be in an audio or an e-book format. I already have seen single MP3 audio book players complete with ear buds for around $15.

I think that the future will be some form of e-book on a SD card that you can buy at bookstores in addition to down loading.

I think that they will develop a standard file format that can be secured and read across platforms and that you will be able to copy the file a limited number of times.

So I’m drinking my kool-aid OH YEAH! ~A

I do wonder why some e-bookers can’t allow that paper books have a place, too.

The fact that I want a paper book doesn’t mean I don’t think e-books are great for those who want them. Same goes for audios. I don’t want to listen to a book either, but I’m delighted people can.

More choice, I say. In fact, I think someone needs to figure out how to combine e and audio. Now that would be something. A reader that converts from text to audio at the reader’s whim.

There you are happily reading your e-book and oops, you have to drive to work. But the book is so good! No problem, just plug your reader into your car and request audio, and it tells you the rest of the story while you fight traffic.

Sweet.

Now that, my friends, is the future.

And I’ll still want my paper book.

NR - I agree that paper books have a place, and that’s on the keeper shelf – half the ones on mine were written by you! But if you read a lot – and I do – ebooks are pretty compelling. Right now I’m packing for vacation and half of my suitcase is paperbacks. (I’m waiting for the new iPhone kool-aid.) And as you observe, the electronic format h