Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
Which, if publishers believe, would explain why they think ebook sales are lost hardback sales. I'd love to know where that information comes from; the people I know who have ebook devices weren't buyers of mainstream hardcovers before they got them.
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I wasn't, for several reasons. One was the expense. I read a
lot of books. I couldn't afford to buy them in hardcover. (and besides, waiting for the paperback gives me some time to hear whether or not the book is worth reading anyway; I've been saved from a couple of real turkeys that way). Another was the sheer cubic footage. One hardcover equals about three mass market paperbacks. That was actually the deciding factor in us both getting ebook readers: we don't have a lot of space, and we
already have a lot of books. With a few very rare exceptions, we couldn't buy HC because we had no blessed
shelf space for them (or any space for more shelves -- we even have a bookshelf in the bathroom, conveniently located for ... long visits). On very rare occasions, maybe once a year, we'd buy a HC we'd been very, very much anticipating, as a special treat -- and sell it off (for pennies on the dollar, of course) to the used bookstore as soon as the paperback came out.
The most avid readers have space problems. Individually, a book is small; collectively, thousands of them will drive you out of your living space.
I'm sure we're not the only people whose primary reason for buying an ebook reader was just to be able to read without having to find a place to put all those books! (even with that, you
stil have to move a stack of books to find anywhere to sit down here)