are you ever going to buy a paper novel again?

[Talldog]

Last night I discovered another reason why I'll never go back to paper novels. I was reading a "Cat Who" novel in paperback because I had no choice, and I came across a phrase that I think was in French. Without even thinking, I pressed the word. Needless to say, the translation feature is disabled in this book, but it made me realize how dependent I've become on the Kindle's dictionary (and now translation) feature. I never pass by an unfamiliar word without looking it up.

[M.P. Jones]

Part of me would rather still pay 15 bucks for a "real book" than say, 9 bucks for an ebook - so I will still be buying novels!

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I also sometimes buy favourite novels as p-books, so that I can lend them out to friends. I buy quite a few reference p-books as well, regardless of whether or not they are available as ebooks, even if I already have an ebook version. While reading PDFs on my iPad is remarkably comfortable, I still prefer the paper versions of books for non-linear reading (grammars, dictionaries, etc.)

I agree with this for non-linear books. I try to have all the reference books I use on a normal basis in paper form. I have about 30 sitting on a shelf next to my desk. For references I use very rarely, e-books or PDFs are fine though. It depends on both how I use it and how often I use it.

I also have some product catalogs that I prefer in paper form to electronic, but only 3, and they are the ones with products that don't change often. For any other products I go online since the paper catalogs will be out of date too quickly to rely on them.

Other than work related books, I plan on only buying one more paper book (and I may get the e-book in addition to that to actually read) just to complete the series.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by no.guru

It depends on how much I want the book and how much the author and/or publisher doesn't want it available as an ebook.

This. Although in my case, they get sent directly to 1DollarScan for format-shifting to PDF (after which, I do the OCR and conversion to EPUB).

[BeccaPrice]

i have two pbooks coming to me tomorrow from Amazon, both by authors I collect.

I ordered from Amazon because I know I'll get them on release day, and I'd rather not have to spend my time driving to a bookstore and hope that they'll have them. this way I know I'll get them.

[Lirillo]

Yes, if they're not available in digital. I just bought an out-of-print book, and plan to digitize it for my own consumption.

[Fozzybear]

I've got enough books on my reader to probably outlive the device and then some but apart from the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo e-book (bought when it was 20p) they're all freebie books and I still buy paper novels or borrow them from the library. I bought two yesterday, Game Of Thrones and The Girl Who Played With Fire, which were in a 2 for £7 offer in my local supermarket. In fact although I don't buy e-books (well, bar one!) the e-reader has led to me buying more books as I've also bought quite a few reference books recently as well - bought a copy of the Collins New Naturalist Library book on Wildfowl this week as well as an old copy of a Bloomsbury reprint of the British Mammals book from the same series. Superb books, they're very detailed and fascinating to look through - rather concerned I'm going to get hooked on buying those as am heading out to a nearby town today to look for one on British Thrushes in a second-hand bookshop and am considering buying a new copy of the Dragonflies book too! Going to need more bookshelf space!

[AlexGrama]

Not a chance but maybe someday I will feel the need to have a paperback in my hands.

[Yapyap]

Yes. But only in specific circumstances.

In other words, I will keep buying my favourite series in ebook (so that I can read the next book the moment it's out) as well as hardback (which takes two weeks from release to get to me but looks oh so much nicer in my shelf than the ebooks ) and paperback (different cover art; some of the paperbacks have had extra short stories in the end).

I will also buy the occasional paper book when it's a book I think I really want but isn't available as ebook, or the occasional paper book when there is no legal ebook but I've acquired the ebook by other means (and consider it a "keeper", not a "library trial"). (And in all of the above-mentioned cases, I buy new if new is available to buy, both because new is generally cheaper with BookDepository's free shipping than having to chase down a used copy and pay considerable shipping charges, and because I prefer the author & publisher to get paid.)

And then I imagine there will be the occasional, extremely rare case where I know I want the book but not necessarily the moment it's released and the ebook is essentially as expensive as the hardback - case in point, after some deliberation, I've pre-ordered the hardback of JK Rowling's upcoming novel for ~15 € instead of the ebook for $20. If the ebook had been considerably cheaper, I might have opted for that, but I have a feeling this is one of those cases I'll want the physical book in my shelf anyway.

But in general, I expect my paper/ebook purchase/read ratio stay around where it's been since I got my Kindle ... I don't think I read more than five paper books last year, compared to over 100 ebooks, and this year I've bought or pre-ordered 107 ebooks vs six paper books so far and I've yet to read a single paper book, as opposed to 62 ebooks since 1 January.

[sabredog]

Doubtful, but I nearly purchased 1930's hardcover editions of three Edgar Rice Burroughs Venus series novels last weekend. They were $65 each, but in fine condition.

[brianj6]

I truly enjoy a physical book, but e-books are generally cheaper and more convenient.

[MAT160]

I have and will continue to buy "Paper Books"

I love to read and there are times when for whatever reason I am unable to use my ereader

Thus, my paper books to the rescue!

[Rylon]

Funny you should ask. I recently got World War Z in paperback and read it. I also just finished reading The Hobbit in hardback from a library. I don't have a lot of money, so I can't buy a copy, and the physical version was the easiest to get a hold of.

Now I'm reading The Lord of the Rings on my Kindle via Overdrive, the public library's vender for ebook loans.

[flipreads]

I buy books all the time

[yukii]

Definitely. I will always love the smell of a paperback.