No longer buying printed novels

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Luffy

It's strange to see so many people to have 'gone digital'. It's sadly not representative of the general public. Many people are proud not to have succumbed to the e reader 'craze'.

That's fine. I know people who are proud that they don't read.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Luffy

It's strange to see so many people to have 'gone digital'. It's sadly not representative of the general public. Many people are proud not to have succumbed to the e reader 'craze'.

'Representative?'
'Many?'
On what you base this belief? Ebooks, according to some reports, are on pace to out sell print within 4 years. Libraries can barely keep up with eBook demand.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by ApK

'Representative?'
'Many?'
On what you base this belief? Ebooks, according to some reports, are on pace to out sell print within 4 years. Libraries can barely keep up with eBook demand.

I can only speak of what I observed. Mainly at Goodreads, where I keep meeting people prejudiced against e-books. Many of the fast/hardcore/prolific readers don't care for e-readers. It's anecdotal only. And yes, those who I met having this prejudice aren't exactly part of the general public.

[Lusitanic]

Ever since I was a kid that I loved to carry my things around with me. Gameboy, MP3 player, Nintendo DS, Magazines, but not books.

As a kid I didn't read much. Actually, I only started reading avidly one year ago. When I got my Kobo Glo.

First, even now, I associate real books to studying. I associate ebooks to pleasure. Take it as you will, it's how my mind works. As a kid I was often obliged to read books against my own will, so I developed a hatred for books. Books were a punishment. Books bored me to death. Now, ever since I've gone "digital" that books are a pleasure.

I can take as many books I want everywhere! Just like I did with my handheld videogames. My ereader is to me now, what the gameboy was when I was a kid.

But got to admit though, I've been seeing a lot of bookish stuff online lately and eventually I will start every now and then reading physical books.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by Lusitanic

Ever since I was a kid that I loved to carry my things around with me. Gameboy, MP3 player, Nintendo DS, Magazines, but not books.

As a kid I didn't read much. Actually, I only started reading avidly one year ago. When I got my Kobo Glo.

First, even now, I associate real books to studying. I associate ebooks to pleasure. Take it as you will, it's how my mind works. As a kid I was often obliged to read books against my own will, so I developed a hatred for books. Books were a punishment. Books bored me to death. Now, ever since I've gone "digital" that books are a pleasure.

I can take as many books I want everywhere! Just like I did with my handheld videogames. My ereader is to me now, what the gameboy was when I was a kid.

But got to admit though, I've been seeing a lot of bookish stuff online lately and eventually I will start every now and then reading physical books.

It's great to hear someone from Japan. Do you read One Piece? If yes, is it physical or digital?

[Anthem]

I never had a space problem and still don't: I prune my books occasionally and donate the ones that I don't want anymore to charitable foundations or causes.

Sadly, I can't do that with my digital books.

But I don't let my digital books get out of hand either. Every so often I prune them as well to keep my digital shelves in order. I only keep books that I am reading/going to read on my devices. Everything else lives forgotten on the cloud or in a dusty backup file.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Luffy

I can only speak of what I observed. Mainly at Goodreads, where I keep meeting people prejudiced against e-books. Many of the fast/hardcore/prolific readers don't care for e-readers. It's anecdotal only. And yes, those who I met having this prejudice aren't exactly part of the general public.

We are meeting very different fast/hardcore/prolific readers. I tend to move in genre circles mostly, F/SF, mystery, romance, YA etc - and ebooks are embraced by many. I've mostly encountered paper prejudice amongst exclusive capital-L Literature circles, and they're snobbish and insular about everything.

The hardest of all hardcore readers are romance readers, and they've embraced digital with an absolute vengeance.

[Lusitanic]

Originally Posted by Luffy

It's great to hear someone from Japan. Do you read One Piece? If yes, is it physical or digital?

Hey there.
I live in Japan, but I am not japanese.
I never read it, but I guess you can read it digitally too.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by meeera

The hardest of all hardcore readers are romance readers, and they've embraced digital with an absolute vengeance.

They have to, if they read romance published by Harlequin.

In The Netherlands we have about 500 releases a month, they're about 200 pages and cost around €2.50. (If it's still the same as 20 years ago, when my mother read them by the score.) If you keep them all, you'll run out of physical space within a year.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by Lusitanic

Hey there.
I live in Japan, but I am not japanese.
I never read it, but I guess you can read it digitally too.

Cool, cool. Hope you've adapted well there. See you around.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by meeera

We are meeting very different fast/hardcore/prolific readers. I tend to move in genre circles mostly, F/SF, mystery, romance, YA etc - and ebooks are embraced by many. I've mostly encountered paper prejudice amongst exclusive capital-L Literature circles, and they're snobbish and insular about everything.

The hardest of all hardcore readers are romance readers, and they've embraced digital with an absolute vengeance.

I tend to prefer genre over literary, but so much of it is throwaway stuff, enjoyable but no lasting value, and not aspiring to lasting value. No surprise that digital is popular with genre readers.

But books I really care about, I want to see sitting on my bookshelf, preferably in hardcover.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I tend to prefer genre over literary, but so much of it is throwaway stuff, enjoyable but no lasting value, and not aspiring to lasting value. No surprise that digital is popular with genre readers.

I find that to be equally true of "literary" and mainstream fiction, that which is assigned no genre for some strange reason.

I'm struggling to think of examples of contemporary litfic that I want to keep on my physical shelves - but plenty of F/SF!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by meeera

I find that to be equally true of "literary" and mainstream fiction, that which is assigned no genre for some strange reason.

I'm struggling to think of examples of contemporary litfic that I want to keep on my physical shelves - but plenty of F/SF!

Oh, I agree a lot of "literary" stuff is garbage, but it's trying to be "important." That's exactly why I prefer genre--it just tries to keep the reader interested and entertained.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by meeera

I'm struggling to think of examples of contemporary litfic that I want to keep on my physical shelves - but plenty of F/SF!

A lot of fantasy I now have is throw-away: nice to read, nice to have, good for some fun with a bag of crisps on the couch, but hardly so good that I'd remember it after a few years.

Of course, there is some fantasy that I've read which left a feeling of: "Wow... Epic." Lord of the Rings, and the Drizzt "The Dark Elf" Trilogy come to mind. (These were actually written and published after the original Icewind Dale trilogy; so they are prequels, even though they now have been repositioned as books 1, 2 and 3 in the Drizzt Saga.) Others were "The Elfstones of Shannara" (Shannara 2), The "Neverending Story," and "The Erevis Cale Trilogy."

In the Historical Fiction category I have Shogun (up until now), Musashi, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Promised Land, Saul Brooks: Doctor in the Promised Land (by Donahue Ellis), Rifleman: Timothy Murphy (by John Brick). The last three are not available as ebooks, and I have them in Dutch only... I must reacquire them in English. One of the few Horror books I've read that really stuck was It.

I've also given away all (ALL) of my paper books, except those last three, and decided that I will add hardcover versions of the books that really "wow" me in one way or another... that is, of which I remember the story from start to finish after a year or so.

I've started with The Lord of the Rings, which also started my DVD collection in 2001; which will be culled in due time, leaving only the epic movies, classics (I like), and the ones I really like for whatever reason. The "they're nice for an evening" movies will all go.

[Tarana]

I got rid of my pbacks a long time ago because I could no longer read them. Today, I only buy used out-of-print ones occasionally to scan so I can make the print large enough to read. I still get craft or cookbooks which have typestyles that are still easier for me to read.

My sister vowed never to give up her books, but arthritis forced her to reconsider this. She can't even hold some of the books any longer long enough to read. So, she now has my old Nook ST and is using my collection as well as the library's. My other sister lives in a very small house with the bookshelf space now at its limit. If she buys a pback, she has to get rid of one, so she's much happier getting an ebook.