E-Books out sell Hardbacks!

[JackLuis]

Given the lovingly detailed descriptions of early-2000s computers and technology the late Stieg Larsson peppered into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, we're pretty sure he'd love to know that he's just become the first author to sell over a million Amazon Kindle e-books -- and we can only imagine what kind of trouble Larsson's Lisbeth Salander would have gotten into with a Droid X or an iPad.

See the sidebar "Kindle's digital book sales overtake hardcover, device purchases triple after price drop"

While Amazon is being as coy as usual when it comes to an actual number (still keeping to the vague "millions" figure), the company has revealed that sales of its Kindle hardware has tripled since the price took a plunge from $259 to $189.

Ah but further down is mention of an "agency pricing model."

Amazon agrees to agency pricing model with two more publishers, Jobs prophecy coming to pass

So take away the paper and printing, and you get PROFITS for the Publisher!

 

[Bebeslut]

Of course, there are those of us who aren't mass-market forces, especially in the erotica field, who charge a lot less than $14.99 or whatever.
My problem is that Amazon wants to take so much of the low price I'm willing to set.

 

[amicus]

Curious as to why there is so little interest in ebook discussion here...I mentioned the Kindle advertisement on television in a thread a few weeks back and didn't get a single comment, as I recall.

I personally think it heralds a monumental change in book purchasing and reading, with the mainstream, brick and mortar bookshops and also the traditional publishing houses as more ebook publisher come on line.

Change, change, change....

ami

 

[oggbashan]

Paperbacks outsell Hardbacks!

Visit any new bookstore, and paperbacks form the vast majority of the stock. Hardbacks have become much more difficult to sell, a trend of the last thirty years. Why buy an expensive hardback of a book which you might only read once or twice and will then take up too much space on your shelves?

Paperbacks are cheaper, last long enough, and most modern fiction is a disposable artefact anyway - read once and then discarded.

Hardbacks are sold and promoted through mail-order book clubs e.g. Readers Digest, Folio Society and many others. In the UK they end up in charity shops within months. I help out in a charity bookshop. It is easy to tell what the Editor's Choice of a book club was several months ago, because we get multiple copies donated within a period of a few weeks.

I have books on my shelves from the 17th, 18th and 19th Century that are still suitable for reading any time I want to take them from the shelf. How many upgrades of E-Readers will be necessary to read today's E-Books in the 22nd or 23rd Century?

My old books will still be readable in one or two hundred years.

Og

 

[Songcatcher]

And the President pushs the "killswitch".

 

[sr71plt]

I have books on my shelves from the 17th, 18th and 19th Century that are still suitable for reading any time I want to take them from the shelf. How many upgrades of E-Readers will be necessary to read today's E-Books in the 22nd or 23rd Century?

Good point, in that e-book readers are obsolescing as quickly as anything else in the Bill Gates world. (Anybody still have a Rocketbook? Or anyone know where a microfilm or microfiche machine--which were once and consecutively the answers to data storage for all time--can be found/used? Or how's your eight-track player doing in working and finding new content?)

A kicker, though, is that e-books can easily move to paperback now. Many of my e-books have been released in paperback as well, so the choices for a reader/buyer are quite broad.

 

[Miss_Pixie]

Books need to stay ink and paper objects.

 

[litfan10]

Books need to stay ink and paper objects.

tell that to the shrinking forests

 

[Miss_Pixie]

If more people would recycle it wouldn't be such an issue. I LOVE books, the smell, the texture, the weight of them in my hand. It needs to stay that way

 

[oggbashan]

No one can delete my books.

They are still readable during power cuts, need no batteries, need no power lines and are instantly available.

Most of my books have a resale value. Would you buy a secondhand e-book? Can you buy a secondhand e-book without infringing the vendor's licence?

Og

 

[Miss_Pixie]

Thats why books need to stay books

 

[oggbashan]

tell that to the shrinking forests

Sorry. Paper producers actually use less forest material than they replant. Softwood forests are increasing in area. Even toilet paper makers plant more trees than they cut down.

Hardwood and Rain Forests are declining - but they are not used to make paper.

Og

 

[litfan10]

Before I get thrown out for blasphemy I love books with a passion as well. I have a huge library, well not as big as VM's or probably Og's but movers do hate when I move.

But ebooks can coexist nicely. If you don't believe me where is even the remotest shred of paper with this very site you are reading now?

 

[litfan10]

Sorry. Paper producers actually use less forest material than they replant. Softwood forests are increasing in area. Even toilet paper makers plant more trees than they cut down.

Hardwood and Rain Forests are declining - but they are not used to make paper.

Og

yeah I knew some one as going to nail me on this one. As a resident in the largest paper producing state in the U.S. which certainly isn't losing its forests thanks for keeping me honest.

But it did sound good!

 

[oggbashan]

Before I get thrown out for blasphemy I love books with a passion as well. I have a huge library, well not as big as VM's or probably Og's but movers do hate when I move.

But ebooks can coexist nicely. If you don't believe me where is even the remotest shred of paper with this very site you are reading now?

Nor is there paper at Project Gutenberg, a site I use frequently.

Og

 

[litfan10]

Nor is there paper at Project Gutenberg, a site I use frequently.

Og

I was going to get the Kindle ebook version of Scarlet Letter. a favourite of mine that my copy has long since vanished, for the whooping price of 0.00 but then saw a paperback copy at my local library sale for fifty cents. Gee guess what is sitting on one of my bookshelves right now.

 

[trysail]

No one can delete my books.

They are still readable during power cuts, need no batteries, need no power lines and are instantly available.

Most of my books have a resale value. Would you buy a secondhand e-book? Can you buy a secondhand e-book without infringing the vendor's licence?

Og

Amen. Amen. Amen.


We've seen this movie before.

1-Sheeple bombarded by media reports of new "gee-wizardry" product,
2-Sheeple, suffering from massive co-dependence, feel compelled to join the bandwagon,
3-Sheeple discover considerably lighter wallets and suffer severe buyer's remorse as product fails to make them happy, brilliant, young, rich and good-looking.

 

[sr71plt]

Hey, folks, Literotica is an erotic story site and this part of the forum is titled "Author's Hangout." Why the moldy head-in-the-ground attitude here?

E-booking is a gold mine for erotica. Erotica is probably the biggest reason e-booking is surging ahead (comparatively) all other forms of publishing. The books can be ordered and read privately, you won't have to worry about whether or not to put them on your family bookshelf after you've read them, they are comparatively cheap,they are portable, they accommodate lengths print books do not--short story, novellete, novella, supersized--and (when folks catch on to it) they can cheaply include visuals in comparison with print books.

And, as I posted above, e-books can conveniently be made available in paperback.

For the erotica author, e-booking opens opportunities that don't exist for them in print (see the above), it's far, far easier to find a publisher than for print (or to do it yourself), on-line book stores are becoming as popular and accessible as brick-and-mortar bookstores (those little buggers who were raised on computers, prefer them. Go figure), AND the author usually makes more money, per unit, off an e-book than a print book.

So, get with the genre and century--and get your heads out of the ground.

(Or not. I don't mind having fewer people riding the wave with me because they aren't flexible and can't see the opportunities slapping them in the face.)

 

[trysail]

This morning comes the hideous news that the 3rd edition of The Oxford English Dictionary will not appear in print.


This is, of course, a sure sign of the end times. The apocalypse is upon us. My suspicions that the world has gone to hell in a handbasket are confirmed.

 

[oggbashan]

This morning comes the hideous news that the 3rd edition of The Oxford English Dictionary will not appear in print.


This is, of course, a sure sign of the end times. The apocalypse is upon us. My suspicions that the world has gone to hell in a handbasket are confirmed.

Not so. Significant reference books have been moving to websites for some years. The cost of updating print editions had become unsustainable for any data that needs to be current.

I used to get "British Books In Print" annually. The first alphabetical edition, (previously the books were listed by publisher with NO index) still on my bookshelves, was 1936. That was a fat single volume. The last edition I bought was eight massive volumes with another six volumes of quarterly supplements. They changed it to a set of CD-ROMs and then a website accessible by subscription. Both were far easier to use than the heavy volumes.

The OED in print is unwieldy. I have a photographically reduced volume that needs a magnifying glass but the book is very heavy. The full printed edition is nearly twenty large volumes. Not many people can afford the cost, nor can they spare the space for the OED.

A subscription to the OED isn't cheap but most university libraries will pay it.

Og

 

[trysail]

Not so. Significant reference books have been moving to websites for some years. The cost of updating print editions had become unsustainable for any data that needs to be current.

I used to get "British Books In Print" annually. The first alphabetical edition, (previously the books were listed by publisher with NO index) still on my bookshelves, was 1936. That was a fat single volume. The last edition I bought was eight massive volumes with another six volumes of quarterly supplements. They changed it to a set of CD-ROMs and then a website accessible by subscription. Both were far easier to use than the heavy volumes.

The OED in print is unwieldy. I have a photographically reduced volume that needs a magnifying glass but the book is very heavy. The full printed edition is nearly twenty large volumes. Not many people can afford the cost, nor can they spare the space for the OED.

A subscription to the OED isn't cheap but most university libraries will pay it.

Og

Og-

It is the end of civilization.

I don't object to the availability of the O.E.D. on-line or any other format. What I do object to is its lack of availability in a print version. Oxford University Press' decision not to produce a print version of the 3rd edition represents a reduction in choice for the consumer and an example of the tyranny of the majority. It is the end of an era. It is not progress; it is a shame. One wonders if the publisher is attempting to convert the business into a "razor blade" proposition requiring the payment of annual fees in perpetuity in contrast to a one-time purchase representing perpetual ownership.


I, too, own The Compact Oxford English Dictionary ( the micro-graphic version of the O.E.D which you reference ) as well as the 3rd edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English beautifully bound by my grandmother and:

A New English Dictionary
on Historical Principles

Edited by Sir James Murray, L.L.D.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscriber Edition​

(original fascicles, 1884-1928, gathered and bound into 12 volumes )


Deaccessioned and purchased from the library established by the subscriber.​

 

[sr71plt]

Not so. Significant reference books have been moving to websites for some years. The cost of updating print editions had become unsustainable for any data that needs to be current.

I used to get "British Books In Print" annually. The first alphabetical edition, (previously the books were listed by publisher with NO index) still on my bookshelves, was 1936. That was a fat single volume. The last edition I bought was eight massive volumes with another six volumes of quarterly supplements. They changed it to a set of CD-ROMs and then a website accessible by subscription. Both were far easier to use than the heavy volumes.

The OED in print is unwieldy. I have a photographically reduced volume that needs a magnifying glass but the book is very heavy. The full printed edition is nearly twenty large volumes. Not many people can afford the cost, nor can they spare the space for the OED.

A subscription to the OED isn't cheap but most university libraries will pay it.

Og

But, but, I thought you were one of those on this thread would saw no use in e-books at all--just wouldn't read anything that you couldn't stroke with your hand and flip the physical pages on.

(I have Webster's dictionary on my computer, but I admit I have never consulted it--still use the paper edition sitting next to me on the desk.)

 

[michchick98]

How many upgrades of E-Readers will be necessary to read today's E-Books in the 22nd or 23rd Century?

Good point, but those of us who own an electronic reading device now won't be around to worry about it.

My old books will still be readable in one or two hundred years.

Og

True enough, but the pages will probably be so brittle, you'll have to turn them really, really carefully.

I like my Sony Reader, but I like paperbacks too. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, as does anything.

I do notice, however, when I search online for a book I want to buy, I usually find it electronically before I find it in paperback.

 

[michchick98]

Before I get thrown out for blasphemy I love books with a passion as well. I have a huge library, well not as big as VM's or probably Og's but movers do hate when I move.

I've got two paper grocery bags full of paperbacks waiting to be donated to either the local library or the local used book store. Can't donate an e-book in the same way.

There's nothing like the smell of a new book, or the weight of it in your hands, I'll agree. I like paperbacks better than hardcovers.

But ebooks can coexist nicely. If you don't believe me where is even the remotest shred of paper with this very site you are reading now?

What I like about my Sony is that I can carry tons of books with me at a time and always have something to read. Can't do that with a paperback. You also can't adjust the text size with a paperback either.

Much easier to read in bed, if you have to shift yourself, you have to find your bookmark or flip the book over, open. With an electronic device, just set it down and it keeps your page.

If you drop a book, you have to search for your page. With an electronic device, if dropping didn't damage it (I'm talking dropping it off the side of a bed or something - I've dropped my plenty without any damage to it), you don't lose your place.

Also, with an e-book, when you're done reading it, you can delete it off your device without getting rid of it permanently. So if you want to go back and read it again, just put it back on the device or read it on your computer. With a paperback, once you get rid of it, you have to buy it again or find someone to loan it to you.

So yeah, they both have advantages and disadvantages as I said.

 

[ishtat]

Og-

It is the end of civilization.

I don't object to the availability of the O.E.D. on-line or any other format. What I do object to is its lack of availability in a print version. Oxford University Press' decision not to produce a print version of the 3rd edition represents a reduction in choice for the consumer and an example of the tyranny of the majority. It is the end of an era. It is not progress; it is a shame. One wonders if the publisher is attempting to convert the business into a "razor blade" proposition requiring the payment of annual fees in perpetuity in contrast to a one-time purchase representing perpetual ownership.


I, too, own The Compact Oxford English Dictionary ( the micro-graphic version of the O.E.D which you reference ) as well as the 3rd edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English beautifully bound by my grandmother and:

A New English Dictionary
on Historical Principles

Edited by Sir James Murray, L.L.D.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscriber Edition​

(original fascicles, 1884-1928, gathered and bound into 12 volumes )


Deaccessioned and purchased from the library established by the subscriber.​

No you are quite wrong Trysail. There have been only three editions of the OED since it was published in 1928, 3 in 82 years. Thus it is always out of date even though the editorial staff have been working constantly since 1878 or 9.

It is perfect for computerisation because it can be constantly updated.

If however you can get hold of a copy of the two volume 'Shorter' OED that will deal with 99% of your requirements particularly with respect to derivations.