Did anyone actually defect to ebooks from hardcovers?

[worxland]

Never bought hardcovers. Never will. I bought and will buy paperback. Also what I read on my device (mostly English and American books) is not on sale as real book in my country, and what is on sale (Hungarian novels) I can't find in electronic format. So for me this myth is busted

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by artemisblossom

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.

wow! thanks for putting it that way! that reflects exactly how I feel about books! way too many have lingered way too long with me. not out of any malicious intent, but knowing that I will be overly challenged to return it. because of this I avoid libraries like an alcoholic avoids the free beer tent!

[Rootman]

I bought mostly paperbacks and some hardcover, preferably used from Amazon dealers. Otherwise new if I wanted it bad enough.

I have a full collection of an authors books, mixed paperbacks and hardcover that are 40+ years old and found they were starting to get delicate, one cover came off as I was reading it. It was then I decided to take the plunge and get an ereader. I will ONLY buy ebooks from now on unless the title is just not or WILL not be available.

My ereader has made me fall in love with reading again. I slacked off when my mother came to live with us and started up again after she passed away. My reading time was spent taking care of her.

[rhadin]

Unfortunately, the poll results will be misleading because the choices are skewed. I had to choose Other because none of the other choices fit my buying habits.

In 2009, I bought more than 200 ebooks. Of those ebooks, only 4 were nonfiction and I bought those 4 as an experiment to see if nonfiction ebooks could replace my pbook purchases. They couldn't.

In 2009, I also bought approximately 150 hardcover books, of which (approximately) 20 were fiction. None were remaindered; all fiction were new releases generally as released. The nonfiction, largely history, biography, religion, and language genres, were new releases or special orders.

Finally, in 2009, I bought more than 60 paperback pbooks for my wife. She doesn't currently read ebooks and finds hardcover books too heavy and bulky to hold.

I do not buy "bestsellers" -- no Stephen King, Dan Brown, and the like -- so publishers neither gained nor lost a sale in that regard.

So for my buying habits, ebooks have replaced only fiction purchases. But even then they really haven't because the fiction ebooks I buy are from unknown authors (at least unknown to me and to bestseller lists), they are $6 or less in cost, and they are DRM-free. The Baen, Tor, and other fantasy/scifi authors that I discovered via ebooks who I have come to like and want to read, the publishers have lost my ebook purchases and gained my hardcover purchases -- that is, ebooks got me to buy hardcover books by authors that in the past I never would have bought or read, for example, David Weber.

Publishers -- and pollsters -- seem to miss the idea that there are several distinct bookbuyer markets that occasionally overlap but for the most part do not. It simply isn't concludable that the sale of a Stephen King ebook means a lost hardcover sale, nor is it concludable that the sale of the hardcover is a lost ebook sale. Without understanding why people buy what they buy in the format they buy it in, it is impossible to draw these conclusions, and no one has really researched the whys.

[omk3]

Originally Posted by artemisblossom

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.

That's exactly how I feel too. I don't even like borrowing books from friends for the same reason. I need to see the books I've read in my library (physical or digital), and I certainly prefer digital, as I have already had to give away boxes and boxes of books to make room (having first made sure that I have digital versions of them of course).


@rhadin:
I took this poll to imply "fiction". There are books that you just have to have in paper form, and maybe specifically hardcover, such as art and photography books, some reference books and of course children books. I don't think anyone is afraid of ebooks of those "cannibalising" hardcover sales, at least for now.

[kindlekitten]

[QUOTE=omk3;696223]That's exactly how I feel too. I don't even like borrowing books from friends for the same reason. I need to see the books I've read in my library (physical or digital), and I certainly prefer digital, as I have already had to give away boxes and boxes of books to make room (having first made sure that I have digital versions of them of course).

QUOTE]

haha! who knew we were such an odd group!

[Daithi]

I bought new books from Amazon in the past, and I rarely buy hardback books anymore, so it has definately caused hardback cannibalization in my case. However, I also buy a lot more books now than I did in the past.

[charleski]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

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?

The author's advance.

There's certainly profit to be made at the low-end, but it's just not as much on a per-book basis. A lot of Genre fiction goes straight to video and debuts in paperback (this has been true of Genre fiction for decades). The publishers and authors adapt by pumping out large numbers of titles a year, which is easy if you're basically just writing from a template. Some Genre writers manage to produce excellent work despite these conditions, but there's still a lot of formulaic drek.

I certainly wouldn't like this to become the norm for the book industry as a whole.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by charleski

The author's advance.

The author's advance is a cost to the publisher. It's a subsidy to the author.

There's certainly profit to be made at the low-end, but it's just not as much on a per-book basis.

Correct. So MMPB editions are expected to make it up on volume, and sell a lot more copies. Sometimes they don't. and most books never ":earn out" their advance.

A lot of Genre fiction goes straight to video and debuts in paperback (this has been true of Genre fiction for decades). The publishers and authors adapt by pumping out large numbers of titles a year, which is easy if you're basically just writing from a template. Some Genre writers manage to produce excellent work despite these conditions, but there's still a lot of formulaic drek.

I certainly wouldn't like this to become the norm for the book industry as a whole.

You can argue that it already is.

People used to talk about "mainstream": and "The Great American Novel", but I don't think the former really exists these days, and in consequence, I don't think the latter is possible.

Increasingly, the industry is genres - SF/fantasy, mysteries, thiller, chick lit, paranormal, family saga... There has always been a lot of formulaic drek, with Harlequin Romances as the archetypal example. But there are also enough books that manage to transcend the boundaries of whatever formula they are written to to provide more than enough things worth reading.
______
Dennis

[alecE]

In my pre-liseuse days, I'd periodically have a pbook buying binge, but was always constrained by a lack of space for my books. For that reason, as well as the cost, I very, very rarely bought hardbacks. Now, publishers are getting a *LOT* more money from me as I'm buying a minimum of three ebooks a month, as well as various free downloads. If I've cannibalized anything, it's the paperback purchases and library loans I'm no longer making. On the other hand, I'm now making more purchases of old 2nd-hand paperbacks, but solely with the intention of making ebooks out of them. On balance, my reading habits have been transformed and I'm able to spend more money on newer titles than before.

[BearMountainBooks]

I hadn't really thought of it until I read through this thread. I buy probably as many ebooks as used books now. Ebook buying has ramped up in the last year. I never bought hardbacks--I can think of one that I bought at a slight discount when it first came out. Other than that, it was used, paperback (I like the Amazon 4 for 3 deals) and library for me.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by kazbates

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.

Correct. Publishing a book is like greenlighting a film or releasing a record album. The publisher is making a bet the book will sell. How big the bet is depends upon how great the sales potential is perceived to be. Hot titles go to auction, and the hungriest publisher offers the best deal and wins.

Well, when you place bets, sometimes you lose. In publishing, you lose more often than not, but you are making a larger bet that you will win big enough on the winning bets to cover the loses on the losing ones. Unlike films, publishers don't normally go belly up if they make wrong bets. Films are so extraordinarily expensive to make that a studio can go out of business if they have too many bombs. The last publisher I recall doing that was Lyle Stuart. They published "unauthorized biographies", exposes and the like, printed a lot of them, and promoted them heavily, gambling that a few would become bestsellers and cover the losses on the ones that tanked. They got away with it for years, but finally hit a bad patch where none of their picks sold and had to fold.

The CEO of Thomas Nelson had me chuckling bitterly not that long ago, wondering why no one was upset at all the authors ripping off publishers because their books didn't earn out their advances? Gee, fella - it's not like someone held a gun to your head in contract negotiations. Why did you offer advances that high? Don't blame the author for your bad bet...

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.

What you describe is why MMPB editions are released a year after the HC. And MMPB editions are sometimes discounted, but not by as large an amount. The discount is applied by the retailer, who chooses to accept a lower margin to spur sales. With MMPB books, there isn't as much room to discount without leaving yourself with no margin.

The "however long it remains on the shelf" is the sticky part. Shelf space is finite, and older books must be cleared to make room to hold new titles. Generally, unless they fly off the shelves, MMPB editions are not reordered. the initial order is it. The shelf space is needed for newer titles.

Another issue bedeviling publishing is that it has traditionally been a "100% returns" industry. Unsold books can be returned for full credit. Hardcovers are actually returned. Paperbacks have the covers stripped off and returned while the body of the book is (theoretically) thrown out in the trash to become landfill. (Many such volumes actually wind up being sold by enterprising street vendors at a fraction of the retail price, to folks who just want to read the book, and don't care about the missing cover.)

It's like the issue of "too many books chasing too few readers". Everyone knew too many books were being published, but no one wanted to be the first to trim their lines. They were all afraid they'd lose display space. Likewise, everyone is aware that 100% returns is deadly, and the retailer really should be expected to know their market and accept some responsibility fo0r how much of what they order, but no one wanted to be the first to try to change the terms. Now we are seeing publishers offering deeper discounts to retailers in exchange for not being able to return unsold copies.

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

It's not really original to me. I was shown something like it as an example of what could be done by Paolo Defendini, who runs Tor.com.

The underlying question is "How do you add value to an ebook to provide something the reader will pay a higher price for?" What I mentioned is a possible approach.
______
Dennis

[dmaul1114]

I didn't buy many books period, and seldom every a hardcover unless it was in the hardcover aisle. Not worth the price otherwise for something I'll probably only read once.

I buy more e-books since they're cheaper and I don't have to hassle with storing them or selling/donating them etc.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The CEO of Thomas Nelson had me chuckling bitterly not that long ago, wondering why no one was upset at all the authors ripping off publishers because their books didn't earn out their advances?

Publishers can still make a profit on books that don't earn-out their advance.

Say: Advance of £5,000
Say RRP of £15, with 10% royalty
Print run of 5,000, costing £15,000
Final sales of 3,000, at 50% wholesale margin. The unsold 2,000 copies are remaindered at half printing cost - £3,000 or £1.50 each.

Author royalties: £4500, didn't quite earn-out.
Publisher income: £22,500 + £3,000 = £25,500
Publisher costs: £5,000 + £15,000 = £20,000
Publisher's profit: £5,500



(These figures are made up, but aren't far off what might actually happen.)

[Xenophon]

I voted "other." In what follows, I'm talking about buying fiction; eBooks have not yet invaded my non-fiction purchases (especially professional reading), because the formatting, displays, and UIs are not good enough for seriously non-linear use of the books. For fiction, on the other hand...

Before eBooks, I used to buy a few new hardcovers -- only new books from my very most beloved authors. For everything else I waited for the paperback, checked it out from the library, or bought it used. I bought roughly one hardcover a month, and a dozen or so paperbacks.

Since eBooks, I still buy about the same number of hardcovers for exactly the same reasons. I prefer buying eBooks ahead of paperback, however, and would gladly stop buying them. In fact, eBooks have entirely supplanted my purchasing of paperbacks from Baen (who wind up making more money from my eBook sales anyway!). I buy paperbacks only when the eBook is either unavailable, available at a totally unreasonable price -- that is it costs as much as the paperback or more -- or when the eBook comes with DRM that I cannot remove.

I've also tripled my spending on books. All of the extra money is spent on eBooks, not paperbacks. Note that I happily purchase the eBook of as well as the hardcover for those few hardcover purchases -- hardcover for keeping and reading at home, ebook for all the rest.

For me, the net effect of the move to delay the e-versions is simply to delay my purchase of the book (always assuming that I still remember to buy it four months later, that is). It certainly WILL NOT cause me to buy a hardcover that I would otherwise not have purchased. So they won't get more money from me, what they do get will come later, and they risk my forgetting to buy the ebook at all because I've forgotten that I ever wanted it. Not a good way to get a share of my book-buying budget.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Xenophon