Does an ebook sale represent, to you, a lost print sale?

[rling]

We stock up on pbooks whenever we visit the US. Last trip, B&N packed all our purchases into boxes (2 of) so we could take it back to Australia. Any books bought on-line has cost prohibitive postage to Australia.

Now that I have my ebook reader, all this hassle is no longer a factor. If the books are not available as ebook in stores, then there are few reasons to buy it in pbook form.

[jes1]

It depends on the type of book. A lot of what I buy is cook books and craft books, so I will not be buying those in ebook format anyway. For fiction, I will continue to purchase hard cover books of a small number of authors, but for most of the others I will only purchase the ebook. Since I started buying ebooks, I have almost doubled my monthly book spending. Impulse shopping is so much easier now. The purchase of ebooks may represent a lost print sale, but in the end the publishers and authors are getting much more money out of me.

[Barcey]

An ebook sale does cannibalize the paper book sales because if I buy an ebook I won't also buy the paper book.

Not offering an ebook or offering it an insulting price does cannibalize the sales of that particular offering. If the publishers don't offer an ebook somebody else will. If they don't understand the difference between gross profit and net profit shame on them.

I worked for computer dealers that sold both IBM and Compaq servers. IBM used to limit the technology they would put in the low margin servers because they were afraid it would cannibalize their high end server sales. Things like RAID controllers, hot-swap drives, redundant power supplies. Compaq put these features in their servers and won over a lot of long time IBM accounts because their servers were more reliable. It took IBM a while to realize that if you don't do it right somebody else will.

[Mare of Earth]

I switched over to ebooks completely a few years ago, with the exception of cookbooks and books on witchcraft - and some of those are becoming available as ebooks, so I anticipate migrating those collections in the next few years.

I used to have boxes upon boxes upon shelves of pbooks - at one point I had over 3000 books in my bedroom alone. Then I discovered ebooks through Baen's Webscriptions and Free Library in 2001.

I have never looked back.

I have had many different devices - my first device I read ebooks on was a Palm M105. This led to a M125, then an M515, then a Tapwave Zodiac, then a Palm Lifedrive, then a Palm TX, then an HTC Wizard, an HTC Kaiser, and my current combination of a Sony 505 and an iPod Touch.

I do not buy paper books anymore.

The last exception I made was Harry Potter book 7, which went into the yard sale bin as soon as I finished it the next day.

I love going into bookstores. The smell, the aura - all things I adore. But I don't buy anything other than coffee there, and I browse the shelves with a pad of paper to write down the books I like the looks of to look for as ebooks when I get home.

Ebooks do not develop broken spines and dogeared pages. They do not have questionable substances appear on the pages like many library books I have had the misfortune of borrowing. They do not lose pages, get ripped pages, get water damaged (although the reader can - but that is what backups are for).

All in all, they are a much preferred format (although I am the first to admit that there is no used ebook market, as no one has to make the choice between storage for old books vs. storage for new books. I do miss the hunt for an out of print pbook - I used to haunt used bookstores.)

There have been a few trade offs. But I regret nothing!

Mare

[queentess]

I rarely buy pbooks because I'm out of shelf space and I'm tired of moving boxes and boxes of books every time I move. I'm also not likely to spend $15 (trade) to $28 (hardcover) on a book or author I haven't read before. I typically get it from the library first, and then purchase the book if I decide I want to read it again.

Edit to add: 75% of the pbooks I do purchase are used. So I'm actually spending more on books overall, but they're all ebooks.

I'm much more likely to buy ebooks because (so far) they're cheaper and don't take up shelf space. If I don't like it, well, I'm out $5 and I don't have to figure out what to do with the book I just hated. I still get some books from the library if I judge the ebook to be too expensive or if it's something I don't plan to reread. For example, I'm reading a bunch of pregnancy-related books right now, and I get all those through the library.

I have mostly converted to ebooks just because they're so much more convenient, and I love being able to hold Giant Fantasy Novels in one hand while laying in bed. And not have to worry about losing my page or trying to turn a page from an awkward sitting position.

[Lemurion]

The more I think about it, the more I consider the mindset fundamentally flawed.

When I buy a hardcover, I don't normally buy the paperback.
When I buy the trade paperback, I don't normally buy the hardcover.
Ebooks are no different.

Most books I buy once; regardless of format. Occasionally I re-buy books I already own, usually as replacement copies, but that's not common.

It's the "bird in the hand..." problem.

Yes the person who buys an ebook may buy it instead of the hardcover; but they may also buy it instead of a five-shot caramel macchiatto at a hundred and seventy-five degrees from Starbucks.

Not selling something because someone might have bought something else is stupid.

J.K. Rowling doesn't allow electronic editions of the Harry Potter books. All I think it's done is make sure that the electronic versions people do have aren't making her any money. I think she's lost more in ebook sales because they aren't legitimately available than she would have lost in hardcover sales from people who bought the (hypothetical) ebook version.

Ebooks should be counted as just another edition - no different than the various paper editions. People normally only buy a book once - let them buy it the way they want it.

[Deb]

Since I'm buying new books as e-books, yes, it means I'm not buying them in pb. However, since I've spent probably close to $1,000.00 on replacements for my pbs, they're getting twice the money from me. Also, since the e-books cost as much as the pbs do in most cases, they're actually making a higher percentage of profit from me, since they don't have printing, storing, transportation, return costs, etc, etc... As for hardbacks, I'm still buying Pratchett in HB, as well as other series that I get in that format. I'm actually buying new HB releases at discount that normally I would wait for the pb version so that I can get them now. All in all, more money from my pocket to theirs.

[PennyPie]

When I buy a hardcover, I don't normally buy the paperback.
When I buy the trade paperback, I don't normally buy the hardcover.
Ebooks are no different.

Ebooks should be counted as just another edition - no different than the various paper editions. People normally only buy a book once - let them buy it the way they want it.

Abso-tively right!! Very well said!