Comments on:

By: Janeen

Janeen — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:44:18 +0000

I have a different perspective on Jill's comments about a comparison between the fluctuation of music and movie format and the stability of the book format. I think this comparison demonstrates that the future of books may not follow the same path as music and movie formats.

For one thing all forms of music and movie media referenced require a device to allow you to experience them. Books do not require the same mediation, and I think that means they have an inherent efficiency that ebooks lack.

I'm not against ebooks, and I think they will become more and more popular, but I don't think that real books will go the way of phonograph cylinders - at certainly not at their current price point.

By: Jm Diaz

Jm Diaz — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:38:07 +0000

i love my iphone, my Ipod, my laptop(s), and all other sorts of techie-nerdphilia. But you cannot tell me that a kindle (or whatever) is better than a book. I love the real deal, and there is no replacing it. Another thing that electronic media buyers need to keep in mind is that there is still no standard. You can buy a kindle, and load up with all your favorites, but who's to say that tomorrow, apple or microsoft won't come out with their own version of it, that will not read the kindle format. A few months (years?) later, it becomes the standard, and now you are stuck with the equivalent of a Betamax library.

By: Falen

Falen — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:21:27 +0000

I actually suggested to my mom that she might want to consider saving up for an e-reader. She has arthritis in her hands, so large books (ie Stehphe King's Under the Dome) are very difficult for her to hold and read.
But, saying that, i know she would never give up her love of mass market romances and crime fiction.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:40:53 +0000

Have to agree. The publishers would seem to be shooting themselves in the financial foot in this instance. Those with ebook readers will be wedded to their machines. They ain't gonna go to the store to get a newly released book. They will wait for the ebook release. Those who prefer physical books in their hands will buy those just as they always have. To think ebooks will necessarily siphon hardback sales if they are available simultaneously is akin to whistling in the dark, clicking your heels three times or crossing the street to avoid the black cat. All of it is a bunch of hooey. And those are current sales they are missing. And they wonder why they are losing money on books. They need to come into the 21st century. Eventually they must come to embrace the inevitable, but how many publishers will still be left standing when they do? To hesitate is to flirt with fiscal eviceration and eventual death…be not so proud, publishers. Wake up.

By: Mary Witzl

Mary Witzl — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:02:11 +0000

Last year, I'd have disagreed with this. My teenagers, and weirdly enough, most of their friends, are all against the idea of e-books. Like the second-to-the-last Anonymous, they buy music from i-Tunes and download it on their i-Pods, but they want REAL books. The students I teach are a different story. Show them a book and they flinch, open up a laptop and they perk right up. This is a huge market, and it is growing every day.

And has anyone has mentioned the fact that a lot of real books are pirated, especially in Asia?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:56:14 +0000

The piracy problem is going to explode in a few years time when home printers will do what Lulu does now – bind nice glossy covers on things. For the moment, it's more like pirated movies on VHS – you just don't get the same experience with a pirated ebook as you do with a physical book (and the cheapest way to buy a book is still, easily, to just to buy it).

Movies on DVD now routinely come with digital copies. Some books have done similar things – the tenth book in one Star Trek series came with a CD-ROM of the previous nine. Hardback books should routinely come with a digital download code – if it expired after a year, that's even an incentive to buy now and not wait until it's remaindered. It costs the publishers very little, it's added value, it's a simple way to get the reader over to their website to see other titles and to collect their email address.

By: DGLM

DGLM — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:37:02 +0000

Thanks for all the great responses. I love all these thoughtful and intelligent arguments. My main point above was that instead of shutting the door on eBooks (even temporarily) in order to try to stimulate already stagnant sales for hardcovers, publishers should be looking at how they can work with and profit from this new technology and the business opportunities it offers. I wish that they would devote more energy to figuring out how to make the pricing work for both the authors and themselves and how to deal with the piracy problem (which is different from that in the music business but no less a threat)instead of merely taking away an option for consumers — a move that I feel is punitive without being effective in the longrun and which might actually encourage the kind of piracy that all of us who are looking out for authors' best interests are afraid of.

By: Majo

Majo — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:53:36 +0000

I love, love, love books! Their smell, texture, everything. I read about eight books a month but I don't buy them. As a would be author with a tight budget I can't afford them. I have two library cards and live in Brooklyn where you can get books on stoops for free. If someone gave me a kindle, I wouldn't be able to help myself.

There are many great books out there I want to read and I have to patiently wait for chance or the library put a copy in my hands. I can't afford the $25, but I would splurge on the $6.

Miriam, I'm with you on this one.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:35:49 +0000

Uh, as part of that iPod generation? I find it incredibly amusing to read, over and over and over again, that my generation isn't as attached to physical books because of the technology we grew up surrounded by. The only people my age who read ebooks that I know of are the ones who read pirated copies, and they're only choosing pirated copies because they're free.

You know what's great about my iPod? (Because yes, I do have one, as do many of my friends.) All those CD's that I have lying around my house? I can copy them onto my computer and move the songs onto my iPod. When my favourite artists come out with new CD's, I can buy them and then have both the physical CD and the digital version. So while buying the iPod does take a decent chunk of cash, I can buy music however I want to. This goes beyond formats; it's about both physical and digital copies. I can play my physical CD on my old CD player, then go out of the house and listen to it on my iPod. (I can also download songs from iTunes and burn them onto a physical CD. Handy, that.)

The problem I have with the whole e-book/physical book thing is that it's not the same as iPods vs. CD's. It's just not. It's either/or, not both. I prefer physical books, but I understand why having an e-reader would be handy. But right now it's either/or, and I'll choose physical books any day because I like the way they feel, the way the smell, the process of going to the store and looking at them. I don't want to pay for an expensive new e-reader if I can't read the books I want physical copies of on it without paying twice. If I could get my physical copy as well as an e-copy when I bought a book, I might buy an e-reader. But right now, it's not worth it for me.

By: Jill Edmondson

Jill Edmondson — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:22:02 +0000

I should do my homework before looking at blogs, but I recall reading a great article about changes in publishing. I think it was in the November issue of Walrus Mag, and I think the author was N. Richler.

Anyhow, the point of the article was to compare movies & music to books.

In the last century, music has gone from old gramaphones to 78, 33/13, 45s, 8-track, audio casette, reel to reel, CD, and now digital.

Changes to meet demands and to embrace technolgy.

In the last century, movies have gone from silent flicks to blu ray and all those things in between (remember VHS versus BETA?)

Again, changing to meet needs and to adapt to new technolgy and new delivery modes.

Books have been paper, paper, paper. Hardcover or paperback. That's been it for many years. Too many.

Like it or not - changes happen. Embrace, adapt, suck it up, whatever... but don't get left behind.

As your post said, we now have a generation who have grown up with iPods. If they want their books the same way they want their music, I say go for it!

Cheers, Jill
"Blood and Groom" is now in stores!
www.jilledmondson.com