I haven’t spent a lot of time talking about ebooks despite the fact that it’s a hot topic in publishing circles at the moment. Sally, my mother and writer on this blog, got a Barnes and Noble Nook and I know she has enjoyed reading some ebooks on it.
But with the recent news that several publishers are moving to an agency model for pricing (this basically means different prices for different ebooks), I’ve been thinking more about it.
In the past, I considered that the advantage of an ereader would be the ability to store several books without having to worry about actual physical storage space. Additionally, I must admit the idea that ebooks themselves would be cheaper made the idea of paying a lot of money for an ereading device more attractive.
But with the reality that publishers can’t actually afford to make ebooks much cheaper, I’m reconsidering the advantage. I can’t help but wonder how often I would rather just spend that money on a physical book to hold in my hands. I think I would still find advantages to it, but I wonder if old habits die hard?
Do you have ereader? If so what kind? Do you find you use it more and more often? How much are you willing to spend on ebooks?
This post was written byAmy and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 6th, 2010 at 1:24 am
I’ve got a Kindle which I got from Amazon for participating in the ABNA last year. It is cool, and I can definitely see the advantage if you are travelling (especially overseas) but it will never replace paper books for me. Ideally, I’d like to get Kindle access to any physical book I buy- I like the convenience of being able to read the e-book under certain circumstances, but I definitely want to own the paper copy, and I’m definitely not paying for both versions!
February 6th, 2010 at 11:02 am
I got a Kindle last year for Valentines Day. What I like best is the ease of reading. I read mostly at night, so no page turning, no moving a book light around. The fact that I could get new releases and best sellers less expensive was an added bonus.
I don’t think that ebooks will replace regular books. For me, I get the cheapest option available for the book that I have to read NOW. With paperback trading websites and ARCs from other websites, I have enough free books to read for awhile. And I can sometimes get a bargain book or used book for less than an ebook copy.
I don’t keep my books unless I really love them, and I have only a handful over the last 15 years that I kept. That being said, 5 of my favorite books from last year were read on the Kindle.
February 6th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Oh, I’ve come to the point where I think both are good for different purposes. My nook had quite a few problems with it that seem to have been resolved (bookmarking didn’t work and furthest point read didn’t work). B&N just downloaded and upgrades that should take care of these issues, since these problems were not mine alone. A quick look at my nook shows that what they did is promising. Not all books I want to read are available as ebooks, however, but the next book I review is a review copy I got online – that is cool! It’s easier to read an ebook in bed and it’s much easier to store books on a ereader. The judge is still out. Currently I’m reading an old fashioned page-turning book. I have lots to learn about ereaders – it’ll take time!
February 6th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
1. I feel you.
2. I own a Kindle 2.
3. Price is always a concern to me to too. BUT I’m proud to say that I have yet to pay for a book. I download free promotional ones from Amazon.
4. If and when I get low on those I figure I will download discount books from epublishers like The Wild Rose Press or White Rose Publishing.
February 6th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Last week I got 3 Christian fiction books for free from Amazon (Talk of the Town, Peculiar Treasures, and the Apothecary’s Daughter).
February 6th, 2010 at 11:10 pm
If someone had told me nine months ago that I would primarily be reading electronically today, I would have said they were crazy. But my husband surprised me with a Kindle when I was preparing to visit my daughter’s campus ministry in Germany last summer, and I have grown to love it. It’s light and easy to hold or prop up…it holds more books than I could ever possibly want and frees up shelf space at home… I can pull it out of my purse no matter where I am and read whatever I’m in the mood for at the time. But one of my favorite features is the font size option. Print size in paperback books, especially mass market, is often too small for me to comfortably read, yet I’m not ready for large print.
Another feature that I love is the ability to highlight and make notes, then transfer them to my computer if needed. I also use the dictionary and search feature a lot. I even have my one-year Bible on my Kindle, as well as devotional books. I’ve started and stopped yearly reading programs more times than I can count, but reading on the Kindle seems to help me stay on track.
I almost totally used the library pre-Kindle, but now I often buy books that are reasonably priced. Publishers may not like e-books, but they are making money from me, thanks to the Kindle. One thing I dislike about the agency model is that book retailers become agents of the publisher and a book will cost the same, no matter where we shop.
I could be wrong, but I believe the e-book market will continue to grow and I’d like to see publishers embrace it, rather than be forced into change like the music industry was. More e-readers are being developed with improved technology, so the next couple of years will be very interesting for readers. I’m not a writer, but I can appreciate the magnitude of work that goes into each book, and I want to see authors treated fairly.
September 6th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
I was just looking for this information for some time. After six hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your site. I wonder what is the Google’s problem that doesn’t rank this type of informative web sites closer to the top. Normally the top websites are full of garbage.