USAToday on publishers' backlash

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by basschick

they wish.

most of the folks i know in person who read ebooks were the very folks - like me - who avoided hardbacks because of space issues. when you buy a lot of new books, and tend to buy those you're likely to want to keep, you're pretty limited. add to that the wonderful, cheap and often otherwise unobtainable books in used bookstores, 'cause i used to run into lots of regular readers in our local used stores who rarely bought new books at all. and in this economy, their sales were bound to drop. regardless of anything else, a lot of people can't afford $25 books anymore.

Nice points about space issues, even for those who can afford HB editions. One thing too is at one time a HB edition was a real work of fine craftsmanship as opposed to the recycled paper pulp covers used today. Do they still bother to actually stitch the binding? Really, it has been that long since I bought a HB book. My favorite format is the trade PB...I actually have been known to pop for the $15 or so for those because they are well put together and seem better designed for reading using a higher quality, or just different, grade paper than MMPB's...

As far as affording a $25 HBE, at one time in life I would never thing twice, but now at my age it comes down to healthcare or books or other things like food...so I haunt the used book stores, estate sales, yard sales, thrift shops, whatever instead. Even better I can say I have not personally purchased but four dead tree novels in the past five years and those were used/remaindered trade editions for under $5/ea including shipping and could not be had in ebook format. So, the publishers lost at least $25 in sales. Granted that is not much but were all of the books to be had in ebook format, I would have bought even more.

Originally Posted by rhadin

Unlike JSWolf and basschick, I bought a lot of hardcover books before I bought my Sony Reader and I continue to buy a lot of hardcover books still; in fact, my buying of hardcovers has increased, not decreased, since I bought my Sony.

What has changed in my buying habits is now, in addition to buying the hardcovers, I also buy a lot of ebooks. My ebook purchases are of authors and genres that I would not have previously bought in any form.

The failure of the publishing world is that it hasn't undertaken any comprehensive studies of book buying habits to determine what effect ebooks really have on the market. In my case, inexpensive ebooks has increased the amount of money I spend on books and expanded the field of what I would buy, without diminishing my hardcover purchases. In fact, ebooks have increased the number of hardcovers I buy. For example, until I got my Sony I had never read a single book authored by David Weber. I always found the cover artwork and the dust jacket descriptions off-putting. But I was willing to give him a try from the Baen free library and discovered that I really like his style. Now I buy his books in hardcover as soon as they are available.

A comprehensive study of book buyers and book-buying habits would be money well spent by publishers. If nothing else, there would be at least facts from which to work rather than anecdotal evidence.

Other than the issue I mentioned above, that I've never been one to buy modern HBE's, I am the same way as you in my book buying habits, the publishers are actually getting MORE sales to me because of ebooks. Previously it was always used books whatever the source. Each of those books represented a lost sale for the publisher/retailer. I wish that simple concept would be driven home for publishers, or at least some reporter with half-a-wit would really consider that aspect of buying habits and how it would impact profits if more back-catalog titles were out there alongside new titles. I do not paying $5-$6 for the convenience of the ebook but will not spend around $10 for a new MMPB. One of my favorite sections at our Borders is their sections with the TPB's...I find they are often nicer than the HBE's for half the price.

Of course I often also buy audiobooks for both my favorite novels or even when I just want them...