Cost of eBooks vs dead-tree books

[Apache]

I feel that any personal library in which the books match and everything is neat is a library that is never used.
Apache

[DNSB]

This discussion would be more useful if all mass market paperbacks or trade paperbacks or hardcover books were the same height and width. Sadly, I'm looking a shelf filled MMPBs and the tallest one is about 2cm taller than the shortest. A group of 6 trade paperbacks show size variance as do several shelves full of hard covers.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Apache

I feel that any personal library in which the books match and everything is neat is a library that is never used.
Apache

I remember one time when my son resorted my lower bookshelves by book size and color. I thought he was playing a video game but boredom set in.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by DNSB

This discussion would be more useful if all mass market paperbacks or trade paperbacks or hardcover books were the same height and width. Sadly, I'm looking a shelf filled MMPBs and the tallest one is about 2cm taller than the shortest. A group of 6 trade paperbacks show size variance as do several shelves full of hard covers.

Who would have ever guessed that humans have trouble with making anything in one standard size or format.
Apache

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by DNSB

This discussion would be more useful if all mass market paperbacks or trade paperbacks or hardcover books were the same height and width. Sadly, I'm looking a shelf filled MMPBs and the tallest one is about 2cm taller than the shortest. A group of 6 trade paperbacks show size variance as do several shelves full of hard covers.

One of the shelves I use for larger books looks like an utter disaster because apparently publishers can't decide on a standardized size for hardbacks. The only books on it that are the same size are a couple of (softcover) Prima guides.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I remember one time when my son resorted my lower bookshelves by book size and color. I thought he was playing a video game but boredom set in.

My father forced me to sort my books by mass, with the most massive on the ends and the least in the middle so as to minimize shelf sagging.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Apache

I feel that any personal library in which the books match and everything is neat is a library that is never used.
Apache

My personal library has all books fitting very neatly in one shelf, 159 mm high

[ownedbycats]

Does anyone else end up double or triple-stacking their shelves with books to make the most of limited shelf space?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Does anyone else end up double or triple-stacking their shelves with books to make the most of limited shelf space?

I used to but as I added ebooks and weeded out the matching pbook, that need has decreased. I will admit that weeding has not been applied to my autographed pbooks. Some of those I literally bled for.

[Cedros]

Originally Posted by hobnail

You don't think the author should be compensated?

On Amazon the Kindle books are rarely more expensive than the printed books.

Also, with printed books the publisher controls the price, with ebooks I think the price is more under the author's control.

As far as I know the publisher sets the price of the e-book, but the author receives a higher royalty rate from the sale of e-books. At least, that's been my experience, and it would apply to any vendor's sales. Details of the author's royalties for both print and electronic books are in the standard contract between publisher and author.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Hardbacks are a terrible book format, I would never buy a fiction hardback, and I do have my shelves set to fit MMPBs. Trades are an annoyance, I either have to separate them out to separate shelves or put them on their sides.

Many years ago I bought MMPBs because they were affordable and took up (relatively) little space. But I quickly realized that for me, I was throwing my money away. Too often the spines were damaged after the first read and certainly after the second or third read. Covers tore easily, almost as easily as a dust jacket, and the pages tended to deteriorate rapidly. MMPBs were great for books that I wanted to read and then give away and never see again, but not for books that I might want to reread or have in my library for others to borrow and read or for my children/grandchildren to inherit.

I have hardcovers that I bought in the 70s and 80s that I have read more than once but that still appear to be new. I have hardcovers from the 50s and 60s that show minimal wear. The biggest wear on the older books occurs on the dust jackets, extra care is required to preserve them.

A good example is my set of the Saga of Recluce books by L.E. Modesitt Jr. I have the complete series in hardcover and even the first book (published in 1991) is in near-new condition after having been read by several times by several people.

I would also note something else that hasn't really been touched upon in any depth: future value. First edition hardcovers can be valuable on the resale market years down the road. For example, the Magic of Recluse, which is the first book in the "Saga" series, in "like new" condition can sell for more than $100 on the used book market largely because it is no longer available. In contrast, I can buy the MMPB edition new for $10 because it is still in print, which means that it has no resale value to speak of. Of course, ebooks have little to no resale value because they are always available.

As others have indicated, whether the ebook, the trade paperback, the MMPB, or the hardcover is the preferred format is wholly up to the reader. It depends on what the reader wants from a book. For me, if I just wanted to read a book and then "toss" it, an ebook would be ideal, but I have other wishes which make the hardcover my preference.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I used to but as I added ebooks and weeded out the matching pbook, that need has decreased. I will admit that weeding has not been applied to my autographed pbooks. Some of those I literally bled for.

The problem is a good chunk of my books have never been re-published as eBooks.

I was actually pretty excited to find the Open Library scanned a bunch of out-of-print books (and be able to re-read a couple that I lost in a mold infestation a few years ago) but if some of the big publishers have their way that site will be sued out of existence.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Particularly annoying is when you have a series that's of mixed book sizes. Keeping them together just looks awful.

And looking at creased or torn or broken spines of a MMPB that has been read is aesthetically pleasing?

I have thousands of hardcovers and not once have I thought how ugly it is that books in a series are of mixed sizes. I have thought, however, how terrible it is that the newest book is not nearly as well written or interesting as earlier books in a series or how the dust jacket artwork is not as good as it should be, but never size.

Books are like people -- they come in different shapes and sizes, which helps make life more interesting. But then each to his/her own .

[ownedbycats]

I've got a few hardbacks with broken spines and torn corners. Missing dust jackets, too—the perils of buying used.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Does anyone else end up double or triple-stacking their shelves with books to make the most of limited shelf space?

Yes, I do, and that is my fault. It occurs because I buy too many books and my book library competes for wall space with my wife's art collection and our daughter's photography. In addition, I need to devote some wall space to the handiwork of my grandchildren (oldest being 8 years). If they only realized how much more worthy my books are, I wouldn't have the problem.

When my wife saw my preorder list (ie, my spreadsheet showing the books I have already preordered and scheduled to arrive in 2021), she ordered 4 more bookshelves. But I fooled her -- I set up the bookshelves and put the books I had in piles on the floor on them. Unfortunately, that still leaves me with books in piles on the floor, books on top of cabinetry, and no bookshelves for the forthcoming preorders.

I guess the joke's on her -- she'll just have to buy more bookshelves