John Grisham on e-books

[K. Molen]

Originally Posted by CNN

CNN: As an author who has sold millions of books, what do you think about the emergence of eBooks? Have you tried using an eReader?

Grisham: Amazon sent me a Kindle two years ago as a gift. I read a couple of books on it. It was an enjoyable experience. There are so many advantages to doing it, but then I sort of gravitated back to the old hardback. I love to collect books.

My wife and I are big readers and we have thousands of books stacked up all over the house. That's just what we enjoy doing.

The emergence of eBooks is phenomenal. A year ago, my last book, "The Confession" was published. It was the first time we released the digital version of the book the same day as the hardback. After one year, my total sales are 40% digital and 60% hardback and the numbers have gone up. That's obviously good news for me because more people are reading the books.

The question is -- and no one can answer it -- is where are we going to be in five years? Five years ago no one saw this coming. Maybe Jeff Bezos at Amazon did, because that guy can see around corners. I think he's the smartest guy in publishing today, but it's changing all the time and no one really knows where it's going.

It's not all bad, there's a new generation of young people in publishing and they understand the technology, they understand social media and they are very excited about the future. They think there will be more and more outlets to find new readers to market the books. It's changing awfully fast, but I can't worry about it. All I can do is go and write the next book.

There's nothing more on e-books, but the complete interview is available here: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/28/living...html?hpt=hp_c2

[covfam]

Thanks that was an interesting interview ... and i appreciate its not one of those yet another author thinks e-books are an abomination that i see far to many of these days.

on the other hand he wasnt mindlessly gushing over it either like some. what i get out of it is that its the future in story telling with goods and not so goods... but its the future.

[Ken Maltby]

This is interesting, especially because; If there is any author who has had their books
"Pirated", it would be John Grisham. And yet he is seeing increased sales.

"The emergence of eBooks is phenomenal. A year ago, my last book, "The Confession" was published. It was the first time we released the digital version of the book the same day as the hardback. After one year, my total sales are 40% digital and 60% hardback and the numbers have gone up. That's obviously good news for me because more people are reading the books."

Another factor would be that his books would be among the most often "Casually pirated"
or "Shared", the thing that DRM is intended to prevent. And yet, he is seeing increased
sales. Kinda makes you wonder what his sales would be without DRM?

Luck;
Ken

[monkeyluis]

I think it's interesting that he says "five years ago" then says "in five years". No! It's happening now! There is no more waiting. Lol. I haven't bought a physical book in a while. I use to say I still want to buy reference books in paper. But no. Now I don't want that. My shelves are pretty bare now & I let amazon handle my digital shelf.

[soulfuldog]

Yep, quite a balanced view. I like his comments about collecting books... I only have a single book case, and it's probably half full of books I'd never read again, but e-books do take some of the fun out of collecting books, the digital shelf is far easier to browse, but just not the same!

[GeoffC]

You are right, it's not the same, but some of us are happy to not clutter up bookshelves with fiction and, instead, leave them for the quality factual hardbacks ....

[sabredog]

We have no more room in our house for fiction books, paperback or otherwise. I still buy reference books for my hobby and still purchase paperbacks for our youngest daughter (18), but no more for my wife and I.

Our ebook library on the other hand is growing rapidly. My goal is to have an ebook copy of every fiction and reference book in our house.

The challenge is on

[RainingLemur]

That was an interesting read. I do tend to agree with the "collecting" books, somewhat. As much as I like looking for ebooks before physical books, there are still some that I'll get in a hard-copy regardless.

[MV64]

I agree with his sentiments, but I hate hardcovers. Clunky and uncomfortable things.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

You are right, it's not the same, but some of us are happy to not clutter up bookshelves with fiction and, instead, leave them for the quality factual hardbacks ....

Originally Posted by sabredog

We have no more room in our house for fiction books, paperback or otherwise. I still buy reference books for my hobby and still purchase paperbacks for our youngest daughter (18), but no more for my wife and I.

Our ebook library on the other hand is growing rapidly. My goal is to have an ebook copy of every fiction and reference book in our house.

The challenge is on

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

That was an interesting read. I do tend to agree with the "collecting" books, somewhat. As much as I like looking for ebooks before physical books, there are still some that I'll get in a hard-copy regardless.

Originally Posted by MV64

I agree with his sentiments, but I hate hardcovers. Clunky and uncomfortable things.

I have had as many thoughts on keeping books, as there were changes in my life. Growing up there were few books in my house, but a library was close and I used it well. I never owned hardbound books until I went to college, and then I seldom sold a textbook. I would go to book fairs and buy cheap books, hard and paper bound which I started storing with my textbooks. Still if I bought new fiction book, it would be a paperback. I would wait until it appeared in paperback.

Now I am getting rid of books if I can get it in digital form, and if I can find an excuse to do so. Even many of my precious college textbooks are gone, and I am working on the rest. My goal is to constantly reduce the bookcases in the house and also reduce the filing cabinets.
I have been working on it for years.

When I go to work on the books, bookcases and filing cabinets, I put on a dust mask. I want to get rid of the dust, the mold and the tremendous weight I have moved from place to place over many years.

One day, one day, ..., maybe no more physical books. I may die before that day, but still that is my goal.

When St Peter greets me at the gate (hopefully) he may say
"Well, since you couldn't bring anything with you I assume you made arrangements as to how your property would be distributed upon your elevation? Your money. Your boats, your vehicles. Your personal effects collected over the years, your books, ..."

"No Sir," I will say, "no books. NO BOOKS!"
"Sir, when may I hook up to Heaven's "cloud" and transfer over 5 Terabytes of data from my cloud down there?"

A fond hope.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by monkeyluis

I think it's interesting that he says "five years ago" then says "in five years". No! It's happening now! There is no more waiting. Lol. I haven't bought a physical book in a while. I use to say I still want to buy reference books in paper. But no. Now I don't want that. My shelves are pretty bare now & I let amazon handle my digital shelf.

You're more leading edge on this. Everyone in the MR community is ahead of the curve. Most people here read dozens of books a year. The average person reads 2 at most.

[fjtorres]

A refreshingly sensible attitude.
He doesn't love'em or hate'em but understands they are the future.
And he understands they are an opportunity, not a threat.
Pity he doesn't write SF.

I'll have to remember that quote about Bezos; "...sees around corners..."

[kjk]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I'll have to remember that quote about Bezos; "...sees around corners..."

"skates to where the puck is going to be"