e-Books Outsell Hardcovers

[R. Richard]

At least for Amazon. An interesting trend. Comment?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...72723652734.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

 

[sr71plt]

That's no great surprise. Hardcover sales have been diminishing for decades. The competition for e-books are paperbacks. Although the e-book market is differentiated enough from paperbacks that there's only a limited amount of win-lose competition between those two markets. As the article says, the e-book market may, at least to some degree, help the paperback market as it keeps books visually "out there" longer than before Internet marketing existed.

 

[Lady_Fiona]

I would be more interested if ebooks outsold paperbacks...Hardbacks are cumbersome and take up a lot of room, most people wait for the paperbacks so its not really a surprise that ebooks are outselling them.

 

[litfan10]

I will always love my physical books. But I love the idea of the ease and capabilities of e-readers. So I have decided to jump aboard the e-train.
I am debating between the Kindle and the Kobo. Any thoughts on those two?
Thanks and thank you R. for starting this timely thread!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I don't think the ebook format is mature, yet. I'm waiting for one that combines all the benefits of the Kindle, the Kobo and the iPad. It needs to be readable in daylight, have a USB port, have a page-turning app., etc. If it also would include a wifi keyboard and table stand so that it could be used as a 'knee-top', I'd buy one in a minute. Rumor has it that such things are in the pipeline. Can anyone confirm?

 

[Weird Harold]

I think there is probably a strong element of Time involved here. I can imagine that people who order hardbound books are often too impatient to read a new release that downloading an e-book vs waiting even 24 hours for overnight delivery is a deciding factor.

I know some Wheel of Time fans who will order the next book due in November for delivery on the release date, but will also buy the e-book within minutes of the book's release so they can have it read before the UPS/Fedex/USPS delivery of their pre-ordered hardbound arrives.

In the current economic climate, there may well be a Thrift element driving e-book sales; once you've got a way to read them, most e-books are priced closer to paperback than hardbound

 

[sr71plt]

I don't think the ebook format is mature, yet.

I agree. E-book readers have been developing and been on offer for more than a decade now. (My first e-book was launched in 2001.) What has characterized these readers is nonuniformity and early obsolescence. And I don't see either changing in the near future. It's kept me from ever buying one. The Kindle at least has a downloadable program to put your e-books on either your PC or your Mac.

 

[sr71plt]

In the current economic climate, there may well be a Thrift element driving e-book sales; once you've got a way to read them, most e-books are priced closer to paperback than hardbound

E-books retail for under paperback prices, not between paperbacks and hardcover.

And e-books can include a paperback option now (most of mine do), with the paperback version being only slightly more expensive than a comparable paperback. (And the POD CreateSpace paperback process in Amazon.com is slightly less expensive than Lightning Source, which is what most previous-generation POD producers use.)

 

[sadangel]

I will always love my physical books. But I love the idea of the ease and capabilities of e-readers. So I have decided to jump aboard the e-train.
I am debating between the Kindle and the Kobo. Any thoughts on those two?
Thanks and thank you R. for starting this timely thread!

The one thing I know even though I don't have an e-reader is that Kindle you are pretty much limited to Kindle downloads. That's why many consider the IPad which will read Kindle format and many others. Just something to consider while comparing e-readers.

 

[spankableBelle]

I know people that read on the iPad. One friend said she was trying to read one night before bed and it was just so awkward to hold, so she went back to reading on her iPod touch.

I myself read on an iPod touch and have all kinds of reading apps, including the Kindle app. I love it. I buy all ebooks now from small erotic press publishers and Kindle until it's for research. Then and only then do I buy paperback. I rarely read NY published books anymore. And since I publish with small epubs, I prefer to support them and the ebook division of the industry with the purchase of ebooks...

At the same time, I'm not surprised at all that Kindle is outselling hardcovers. The price difference is one reason. Convenience is another. With all the android phones, the ereaders, the Apple products (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad)...why carry a book around with you? With my touch I can carry around 200 books around with me in one little device and with the amount I read... it's good to have such flexibility and variety.

Just my two cents...

~belle

 

[Liar]

The money, Lebowski. Once you have something to read them on, e-books are cheap.

Also, I can buy them naked and start reading immediately. I can buy paper books naked too online, but I'll have to wait til they arrive to read them.