E-reader owners still buying as many print books

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by cromag

I go to the Old Book Shop in Morristown. It's on John Street, which is not in the business/downtown area -- it's near the county jail, bail bonds offices, and inexpensive bars. It's just off Ridgedale Ave., by all the car dealers.

I'm pretty sure they don't do business over the internet, but I was surprised to find they have a Facebook page.

Thank you very much. I'm in Monmouth County so it would be too long of a hike for me

[dkb]

I rarely buy paper books. I only buy paper when the book is selected by my book club and it's not available in e-book form or the ebook is over t $10. Then I either get it from the library or buy it used.

[Hellmark]

Excluding school books and comics, I've bought a grand total of 2 paper books since I've gotten into ebooks. Both times, had gift cards, and couldn't get it through the store I had gift card from as an ebook.

My girlfriend has bought decent amount, but pretty much just on series that were important to her, or were not available as ebooks.

[LivelyWriter]

I had pledged to refrain from buying print this year, but I did cave and purchased a biography of Keith Moon that is not available in eBook.

I do also buy cookbooks, but now that I have a larger reader I might experiment in e with my next cookbook purchase.






_______
Kathryn Lively, author of Dead Barchetta
Only $2.99 for Kindle, Nook, and Sony

[Jcas]

I have only purchased 1 paper book since i got my Kindle and that was a copy of
The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser, which i purchased yesterday after searching high and low for the digital copy.

[shortywriter]

I still buy print books if certain titles interest me enough to buy them.

[hgwlackey]

I used to buy new trade paperbacks and the occasional hardback. Now I buy ebooks only. I buy more ebooks than I did pbooks, but I pay less for ebooks, so it's a wash financially--finances always being the constricting factor.

I do put books that aren't available as ebooks (but that I really, really want) on my wish list, so once in a while I receive one as a gift, but I don't actually buy any myself anymore.

[DuskyRose]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

So what "wrong questions" are being asked here?

I'm not sure about the original question, but I'm assuming by 'print books' they mean -new- print books? And did they ask about Hardback or Mass Market Paperback?

And are they sure their book market, for the new books anyway, isn't also going other places beside ebooks, but places like the on-line book swaps?

There's some that do a lot of traffic, and have Wish List lines of new releases that get read and passed around fairly quickly in some cases. IIRC, there were over a thousand in line for the last new Harry Potter book a few years ago, and within a few months the lines had dropped down to double digits.

When you can find pretty much anything in the second hand market, for media mail rates, those new books can do some serious traveling in a couple of months.

Or do they not think about those?

[BearMountainBooks]

I pretty much buy all ebooks, even the last two cookbooks (But those were freebie downloads so I probably wouldn't have bought them except for that.) I keep thinking that IF 4 of the paperbacks I want are on Amazon for 4 for 3 with free shipping, I will order the paperbacks. The thing is, Ace ebooks are a dollar less than the paperbacks. So I tend not to wait for the 4 for 3 to fill up like I used to. I just buy the one or two that I really want.

Like someone above said: I used to get most of my books from the library, so in some ways with ebooks, they've gained me back as a customer. But I do buy a lot of Indie books and books when they go on "sale" or promo--I'm still spending about the same, but my buying habits are a bit different.

[shanghaichica]

I don't buy physical books anymore. I know nit all books are available in ebook format but, there are so many already in ebook format that I want to read I doubt I will ever run out of reading material. A book would have to be really special to make me buy it physically if not available digitally.

[June]

H have had an e-ink device for about two and a half years now, and have not bought a single paper-book in that time (and about 400 ebooks) What's more, I discovered that I do not like reading paper books, the one I got last summer is still unread - keeping the pages open and fitting the book into my purse is too much of a hassle. I prefer my ebooks and a good cover with built in stand for easy reading! Sometimes I cannot find the book I'd like to read in legal ebook format, but then I just move onto another book, there is so much available, I've decided to ignore paper books and illegal suff. But it is a touch annoying that sometimes the only electronic version of a book that would be available (because of geo restrictions etc) is a dark net one, and I will not touch those... When will the publishers get to an agreement on rights so that people regardless of location can buy their books? oh well, I still have about 100 unread books on my reader!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I think it's been 3 years since I last bought a printed book... and only because I was convinced it wouldn't come out as an ebook at all.

Since I started reading regularly on PDAs (almost 10 years ago), and then my smartphone, I've curtailed my print buying incrementally each year. Now I'm on my second year of 0 printed books, and no interest in looking back.

I'm now transitioning to magazines, cutting back my print subscriptions one by one as I move them to Nook Color. This is even more significant than my book collection, as for years I've collected more magazines, through subscriptions, than books per year.

Reading devices work well, and will get better. I think availability of e-titles (or lack thereof), coupled with the earlier availability of titles in print form and the ease of obtaining them, are the main reasons ebook readers still find themselves buying so many print books. But if ebooks start being released at the same time as printed books, as opposed to months later or never, I expect that dynamic to change.

[BearMountainBooks]

Don't get me wrong; I've nothing against print-books, but generally I'm able to find the ebook cheaper and it's*always* faster where delivery is concerned!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

1) Companies are not omniscient.
2) There is a limited amount of data any single entity can grab. E.g. Amazon won't know what's happening with small indie booksellers; indie booksellers will be in the dark about a lot of things.
3) Smaller companies in particular won't have the funds to run their own market research.
4) In some cases, it's better anyway to get info from a source outside the company.

If you read the post to which I was responding, you'd have realized that my question was intended to be a bit sarcastic.

So what "wrong questions" are being asked here?

They're figuring out that people who buy ebooks still buy paper books. They suggest that an indie bookstore's customers may be willing to provide an email to receive promo info. They point out that people think more about indie bookstores than they actually buy stuff there.

If you were running and indie shop, wouldn't you want to know stuff like this?

And would you really want to focus your limited resources on people who don't want to buy books?

They should be asking why. Are the respondents buying paper books because the e-book isn't available? Because the paper copy is cheaper? Because of an actual preference for paper? Are they buying new books or used books when they buy paper? Are certain types of books preferred in paper (e.g., cookbooks) or digital (e.g., romance novels). How long have they had an e-reader, and how have their purchases changed over time?

[OtterBooks]

I have a crazy notion that ebook readers will actually revitalize interest in paper books. This is based entirely on personal experience, but as a solipsist that's good enough.