Did anyone actually defect to ebooks from hardcovers?

[FlorenceArt]

I don't buy hardbacks because I think they are ugly and unpractical. I did, however, buy the higher priced paperbacks. I'm afraid I am much more conscious of prices when I buy online. In bookstores I never looked at the price of the book I was buying, just at the cover (front and back) and content. But I mostly browsed the shelves for paperbacks, simply because they are more practical to carry in a handbag.

When I buy online, the price is much more visible than in a bookstore, and I tend to delay buying if the price is above $10, and not to buy at all if it's above $15.

So I guess I did change my buying patterns with e-books, but this is true not only for books but for all products I buy online.

[MickeyC]

I used to buy hard and paperbacks but the cost and space issues just got to be too much. Now I buy eBooks exclusively and the publisher makes plenty of money since he doesn't have to print, transport or store the thing. When publishers are whining about the price of eBooks, they tend to forget that bit.

[Blue Tyson]

Nope, got rid of most of my hardback books. Australia not a hardback country, prices are ridiculous.

With ebooks, actually was buying more new, as opposed to secondhand. Georestrictions have put a stop to that to a fair degree, though.

[macminer]

I am just thinking of "digitising" part of my library, which is something very close to "canibalising" it. The books will get cut into single pages and be fed into a scanner with an ADF. Space is really at premium at my home, so the reason is not so much my preference for e-books generally as the simple fact that e-books take less space.

However, I am only going to do this to paperbacks, mostly novels and textbooks. A large part of my library is reference works, atlases etc. Before I can get an e-reader with a screen the size of an open atlas (or paper encyclopaedia) there's no way I could dispose of paper reference books or refrain from buying them.

So, while I have bought some ebooks that stopped me from buying hardcovers (mostly language dictionaries), I still consider many hardcovers indispensable and will certainly continue to buy them.

[JSWolf]

I have bought hardcovers in the past, but rarely. Now I don't buy any at all at full price. The last hardcovers I've purchased have been from a library sale.

[kazbates]

You've got to wonder if the publishers ever actually listen to the consumers. One recurring theme here has been the lack of space people have in their homes. I would think people who are "space challenged" (which seems to me to be more the case than not) would be more likely to wait until the paperback version is released even though they would love to buy the hardcover. The other point this and other similar threads bring out is that once someone gets hooked on ereading they are less likely to return to paper reading if it can at all be avoided. Even to the point of foregoing hardcover purchases in favor of waiting for the digital edition.

[charleski]

I think the question that publishers really want answered is, 'What are some of you willing to pay more for?'

Every market faces the conundrum that some purchasers are willing to pay more than others, and the vendor has to determine a strategy that will extract a higher price from those willing to pay more while still making a profit from those willing to pay less. In the past, hardbacks represented the 'premium' version and, together with release dates, constituted the means by which the market was stratified. Hardback sales have been in decline for several years now, so Kindle-pricing isn't the only problem, though it doesn't help.

I agree that heavy, bulky hardbacks are actually undesirable in many cases and though I've bought many of them, I'd have preferred the option of a Trade paperback. The question is, 'How does this translate into the world of ebooks?' Is there a way to distinguish a 'premium' ebook from a mass-market version in any way other than release date?

Some may say that publishers should just drop stratification completely and move to a flat-pricing model. They're ignoring the fact that this will mean higher prices for books at the low-end, as the mass-market would no longer be subsidised by those willing to pay more to get the premium version.

[artemisblossom]

I used to buy a lot of hard cover books. If a book came out by a favorite author or a book in a series I was reading came out in hardcover I would buy it. If there was a paperback version I would buy that instead but I never waited for the paperback version. I haven't checked out a library book since I was in school for the simple fact once I read a book it becomes mine and I have a very hard time giving it back. I became aware of ebooks about 9 months ago and bought a reader. Since then I have purchased more books than I normally would (about 6 a month ) and never looked back. I love ebooks and have only been in a bookstore maybe twice since my reader came and that was to purchase books for other people.

[rebarnmom]

Originally Posted by kazbates

You've got to wonder if the publishers ever actually listen to the consumers. One recurring theme here has been the lack of space people have in their homes. I would think people who are "space challenged" (which seems to me to be more the case than not) would be more likely to wait until the paperback version is released even though they would love to buy the hardcover. The other point this and other similar threads bring out is that once someone gets hooked on ereading they are less likely to return to paper reading if it can at all be avoided. Even to the point of foregoing hardcover purchases in favor of waiting for the digital edition.

This would be me. I rarely bought hardcovers, only if the book wasn't available as a paperback, after waiting long enough to find out. Now, I rarely buy any book, except if it's something I need right away and an ebook isn't available. Then I always write the publishers to ask if and when it will be available in a widely accepted ebook format, strongly suggesting, urging them to get with the program!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by charleski

I agree that heavy, bulky hardbacks are actually undesirable in many cases and though I've bought many of them, I'd have preferred the option of a Trade paperback. The question is, 'How does this translate into the world of ebooks?' Is there a way to distinguish a 'premium' ebook from a mass-market version in any way other than release date?

Sure, and we'll see if anyone tries it.

The ePub format seems to be becoming the standard, though there is still some way to go. ePub is a container, and the container can hold more than just the text of a book.

Consider a premium ePub edition with the book itself, plus a video interview with the author, an audio copy of the book, a portfolio of art inspired by the book... It might need to be issued on a DVD, but it's entirely possible, and I've already seen something like it.

"Director's Cut", anyone?

Some may say that publishers should just drop stratification completely and move to a flat-pricing model. They're ignoring the fact that this will mean higher prices for books at the low-end, as the mass-market would no longer be subsidised by those willing to pay more to get the premium version.

I'm not sure the mass market is subsidized by the higher priced spread. There are still any number of books that don't get hardcover or trade PB editions. What subsidizes them? MMPB editions need to be profitable in themselves. Not all will be - some books just don't sell very well, and the author soon finds herself without a contract - but books that do sell well enough make money.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by kazbates

You've got to wonder if the publishers ever actually listen to the consumers. One recurring theme here has been the lack of space people have in their homes. I would think people who are "space challenged" (which seems to me to be more the case than not) would be more likely to wait until the paperback version is released even though they would love to buy the hardcover. The other point this and other similar threads bring out is that once someone gets hooked on ereading they are less likely to return to paper reading if it can at all be avoided. Even to the point of foregoing hardcover purchases in favor of waiting for the digital edition.

I certainly count as "space challenged", with books multi-rowed on shelves, books in boxes, and more books in an offsite storage facility. But I'm a collector with a larger than normal library. And I've actually been gradually replacing some paperbacks with durable hardcover reading copies. (I'm a big fan of Science Fiction Book Club anthology editions of books that were issues as a series of paperbacks.)

But I'm not someone unlikely to return to paper reading. For me, ebooks are an additional format, not a replacement. I still buy paper books, and some of what I buy either isn't available as an ebook, or would lose too much in the translation. (Art books, for example, that need color and a large display area.)
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Dennis

[Flub]

I buy ebooks wherever I can and hardcovers (reluctantly) if I can't. I don't like buying the hardcovers but until the publishers get into gear often I don't have a lot of choice.

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Sure, and we'll see if anyone tries it.

The ePub format seems to be becoming the standard, though there is still some way to go. ePub is a container, and the container can hold more than just the text of a book.

Consider a premium ePub edition with the book itself, plus a video interview with the author, an audio copy of the book, a portfolio of art inspired by the book... It might need to be issued on a DVD, but it's entirely possible, and I've already seen something like it.

"Director's Cut", anyone?


I'm not sure the mass market is subsidized by the higher priced spread. There are still any number of books that don't get hardcover or trade PB editions. What subsidizes them? MMPB editions need to be profitable in themselves. Not all will be - some books just don't sell very well, and the author soon finds herself without a contract - but books that do sell well enough make money.
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Dennis

Isn't that the risk a publisher takes when they choose to publish a book? It's kind of the same as producing a movie. Even a movie made by a proven director, actor, screen writer can bomb for any number of reasons. I think the same can be applied to publishing books. A proven author with a strong following could very easily write a book that doesn't appeal and doesn't sell as well as expected. Publishers and editors are supposed to be experienced enough to know what will sell but if they are off the mark, they have to accept the consequences of poor sales. It hardly seems fair to a successful book sales to be expected to support the unsuccessful ones.

As far as HC subsidizing MMPB, I would think the increase in volume sales when the MMPB is distributed would easily over take HC sales. Not to mention that once the MMPB is released, the HC is seriously discounted while the bookstores are able to keep the MMPB at the same release price for however long it exists on the shelf. MMPB are rarely, if ever, discounted. Thinking from a consumer's viewpoint, the whole thing seems completely backward and arcane. Trying to apply the same archaic thinking to the release of something as innovative as ebooks shows me that publishers have no foresight.

By the way, Dennis, I like your idea of a "Director's (or Author's) Cut. Now that's innovation and forward thinking.

[Diedrupo]

I did in the sense that 99% of my book purchases from now on are going to be ebooks to be read on an ereader.

The only books I will buy from now on will be rare ones, collectors items, or books that will never have ebook versions.

[sminarovich]

Ironically, I buy more hardcovers now that I have my ereader, because when I buy a book it is because the hardcover goes with a series I have or I want to physically hold a specific type of book ie one with pictures.