US e-book sales double as dead tree demand dips The US is experience a boom in demand for e-books. Sales were up almost 116 per cent during January when compared to the same month in 2010, hitting $69.9m. This despite a 1.9 per cent drop in overall book sales, the Association of American Publishers reported yesterday. Sales of hardbacks and paperbacks for grown-ups were …
The introduction of the 'agency' contract with book stores where they get stock 'on consignment' and it remains the property of and controlled by publishers us bad for everyone.
Equally bad is the 'price fixing' evidenced by narrow price band between publishers,
Limiting libraries to a small number of loans AND killing 'old book sales' is really crippling them. Thank you Murdoch.
If the amount of total reading has gone down. I have been able to read non-stop (not every waking hour - but whenever I would norrmally read - in bed, on the dunny etc) since January on free ebooks, which may not contribute to the overall figures, and have enough books already on my Kindle to keep me going for a couple of years at least.
I read 2-3 novels a week and I have yet to see an argument for buying an eBook that could persuade me to take the plunge.
The eBooks cost $$$$$, the books themselves usually cost more than the books, (or slightly less than the Hardback) and I don't find the reading experience on any of the eBooks (yes, Kindle included) to be worth the effort.
Chances are the energy used to make a Kindle is higher than the 150 books per year that I read, given that most will be read and re-read and many will stay in my library (carbon sequestering anybody? <LOL>).
So, other than the latest "must have" or "keep up with the Jones" gadget, what's the point.
I'm open minded and love to try new gadgets but this seems like a waste of money.
As always, IMHO. ;-)
Took me quite a few chapters to get the hang of the Kindle - then I stopped thinking "Hey, I'm reading an ebook on a Kindle" and started actually thinking about what I as reading. Now I just read it as I would any other book. I really don't think you get the real benefits straight away.
As to the other benefits? My library is full so space is now at a premium; I am reading stuff I wouldn't normally spend money on; other half not complaining about the pile of books next to the bed; no need to carry a whole load of books around with me if going away; occasional free internet access using Kindle 3G; haven't spent a penny on books and have enough to keep me going for years.
Cons: No good for colour images, browser a bit clunky; screen could be a bit larger and a bit whiter.
Kindles are great for the impatient i have bought a couple of books straight from reading a review to be reading then and there unless you have a very diverse bookstore you cant do that with hardcopy.(i still buy paper books as well)
As for reading experience i find it really depends sometimes a really thick paperback (neal stephensons baroque cycle springs to mind) can be a pain to read not to mention adjustable text size is great for tiredness.
Now if only they can sort out the pricing, e books wont be ultra cheap as the publishing of the physical medium is actully a very small percentage of the outlay (Charles Stross' "Common Misaprehensions About Publishing" blog posts had a whole one on e-book pricing) but the pricing is currently very wonky
its horses for course i found that while traveling a kindle is awesome to have the various text books,fiction books and other things i'm reading at the time compressed into a lightweight device as opposed to hauling 8 kg of books with me but i guess if you have no need for books instantly (not an impatient git like me) or dont need to haul a small library then a kindle isn't going to be much use.
There's a type of book sales that accounts for a big chunk of the market, but doesn't get mentioned in these reports. Second hand books are just as popular as they always were, but don't get mentioned in reports like this because they don't make any money for the people writing the reports.
Then of course there are other ways for books to circulate. Lending libraries are one, people passing on their books to friends after reading them are another. Again these don't get mentioned because publishers and retailers make little or nothing from them. Does your local library offer ebooks? No. Can you pass on an ebook to a friend? Not without being labled a pirate you can't.
The argument about ebook pricing when compared to that of paper books will run and run, but it's insignificant when compared to the fact that ebooks have the potential to reduce the amount of reading done,
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