Paperback or ebooks?

[Danny McG]

grrr

Sorry, I couldn't help myself when the little devil popped up on my shoulder

 

[tinkerdan]

I still love the paper; however as of late I have a lot of e-books and 4 kindle devices and have found that my reading and comprehension is sometimes much better on the device. Plus there is an advantage to marking an entering notes to use when reviewing.

However when it comes to traditionally published novels it takes an unusual situation to get me to buy an e-book. The reason for this is that the traditional publishers usually charge at least as much as they do for the paper edition. So, unless they reduce that price for a bit or they tie it to a purchase of a paper-bound book I usually just wait till the paperback or even the hardback go on sale and often get those for less than the price of the e-book.

E-books are not that much of a convenience except if you want that book to read today instead of two days from now or having to wait until the local brick and mortar has it in.

I have on occasion purchase a full priced E-book from traditional authors when there are no hard copies--generally those are newer authors and from the sound of things many of those traditional publishers have begun to back away from that segment of publishing. My guess is that for that group they priced themselves out of the market while trying to grab the lions share from something that looked like easy pickings.

 

[Montero]

I'm 90% paperback these days with maybe 10% ebooks - the latter being fairly recent. I've found eBooks a bit of a pain - well Kindle eBooks - as we use Linux so it's either read online - and we have intermittent outages on our rural connection or boot up an elderly laptop with windows and download - but that laptop is nearly dead. However recently bought a touchscreen phone as a mobile phone replacement and that can download Kindle ebooks and I'm finding it rather useful. Just a small screen relative to a paperback, but used landscape it is OK - and it has the advantage that if I'm stuck waiting somewhere I can just carry on reading a book without having a paperback in my pocket. Also last year we not only ran out of book shelf space, we are out of wall space where it is sensible to put in a new bookshelf. Am about to do a little culling, but it won't be all that many.
eBooks also have the advantage with thicker books of not having the weight to hold up - have tendonitis problems at the moment. Hands OK for typing for a while, not fine for holding heavy things in a fixed position. Did a re-read of Codex Alera earlier this year and made my hands ache.
Downside on the phone eBook reader is guessing exactly where the page flip point is - very closely positioned and sensitive - and every so often it jumps a page back or forward that I didn't intend, putting in Bookmarks is extra sensitive. Also no use for putting open over my face when I feel like dozing in the sun. Just isn't big enough and slides off.
Price wise I still tend to the cheapest - and no I am not paying £9.99 for a Kindle book.

If I started a series in paperback, I'm finishing buying it in paperback as I want the complete set on the shelves. (And still can't believe that at times a Kindle copy is more expensive than a paperback....seriously....)

 

[tskerr]

eBook is good! But nothing beats my paperback and hardcover copies.

 

[Rodders]

I'm finding myself dragged towards the ebook now. Don't get me wrong, I love a physical book, but they take up a lot of room and let's be honest, we'll most likely read those books once anyway. I'll only buy physical copies of books that I have enjoyed very much, or those from my favourite authors. I also like the immediacy and convenience of the ebook. If I want it, I'll simply download it.

Buying physical books is mostly done through Amazon now and I think their packaging is a massive waste. (I'd even go as far as to say it's so wasteful, its an environmental issue waiting to happen.)

Battery life on these devices are getting better and better, so the power issue is becoming moot.

 

[Vince W]

One area where ebooks should be is in content management and the ability to prevent multiple purchases of the same item.

There have been times when I have accidentally purchased the same book twice. Usually I can't find the book in question and buy it only to find it later on. I don't know about other ebook ecosystems but Amazon doesn't seem to have this. I was looking at a couple of Alastair Reynolds ebooks at Amazon and noticed that I could buy Revelation Space. I know I have this one and was surprised that the page would let me buy it again. After looking at the page for a minute I saw that there was a notice of the date when I purchased RS but I could still click to buy it again. Shouldn't Amazon replace they Buy button with a Read button? Am I expecting too much? Is Amazon just that greedy?

 

[Cayal]

I used to be anti-kindle, and then a friend showed me a kindle and I was pro-kindle (especially when I travelled) and it was all I read but nowadays I alternate. I work near a library so I can borrow books easily, so if the book is available I will borrow it and read the physical version as well as read the ebook version of it at night.

 

[Vince W]

One area where ebooks should be streets ahead is in content management and the ability to prevent multiple purchases of the same item.

There have been times when I have accidentally purchased the same book twice. Usually I can't find the book in question and buy it only to find it later on. I don't know about other ebook ecosystems but Amazon doesn't seem to have this. I was looking at a couple of Alastair Reynolds ebooks at Amazon and noticed that I could buy Revelation Space. I know I have this one and was surprised that the page would let me buy it again. After looking at the page for a minute I saw that there was a notice of the date when I purchased RS but I could still click to buy it again. Shouldn't Amazon replace they Buy button with a Read button? Am I expecting too much? Is Amazon just that greedy?

FTFM.

 

[Overread]

Amazon clearly reacted to this feedback fast - I've just been on mine and it won't let me rebuy books - there IS a Read button instead! Of course regional variations can kick in with Amazon (it took years to get ebook gifting in the uk). Though this might be a more recent change - though in my recollection they always had the banner "you bought this on xxx" at the top of the page when viewing a book you'd already purchased (or indeed any product)

Also don't forget sometimes the same book can be under multiple different listings. This is true for many of the classics (where there's no copyright) and thus there can be several books which are nearly if not totally identical; but listed under different tabs. So you might have bought one and not another. This can also get confusing when a single page has multiple listings on it and you've only bought one of those listed versions.

 

[Parson]

Amazon clearly reacted to this feedback fast - I've just been on mine and it won't let me rebuy books - there IS a Read button instead! Of course regional variations can kick in with Amazon (it took years to get ebook gifting in the uk). Though this might be a more recent change - though in my recollection they always had the banner "you bought this on xxx" at the top of the page when viewing a book you'd already purchased (or indeed any product)

Also don't forget sometimes the same book can be under multiple different listings. This is true for many of the classics (where there's no copyright) and thus there can be several books which are nearly if not totally identical; but listed under different tabs. So you might have bought one and not another. This can also get confusing when a single page has multiple listings on it and you've only bought one of those listed versions.

I've received warnings like this for a year or more now.

 

[Vertigo]

Both my Kobo and my Amazon account disable buying if I already have it. Amazon does give me the option to buy it for someone else, however.

 

[Vince W]

Amazon clearly reacted to this feedback fast - I've just been on mine and it won't let me rebuy books - there IS a Read button instead! Of course regional variations can kick in with Amazon (it took years to get ebook gifting in the uk). Though this might be a more recent change - though in my recollection they always had the banner "you bought this on xxx" at the top of the page when viewing a book you'd already purchased (or indeed any product)

Also don't forget sometimes the same book can be under multiple different listings. This is true for many of the classics (where there's no copyright) and thus there can be several books which are nearly if not totally identical; but listed under different tabs. So you might have bought one and not another. This can also get confusing when a single page has multiple listings on it and you've only bought one of those listed versions.

Maybe it's just me. Something in the account settings perhaps?

 

[Overread]

Odd, what country are you in Vince? Or rather what country is your Amazon account set too? It might simply be variation in their global network

Also were you buying through the store on your computer or through the kindel store on your device? That might make a difference.

 

[Artoriarius]

One area where ebooks should be is in content management and the ability to prevent multiple purchases of the same item.

There have been times when I have accidentally purchased the same book twice. Usually I can't find the book in question and buy it only to find it later on. I don't know about other ebook ecosystems but Amazon doesn't seem to have this. I was looking at a couple of Alastair Reynolds ebooks at Amazon and noticed that I could buy Revelation Space. I know I have this one and was surprised that the page would let me buy it again. After looking at the page for a minute I saw that there was a notice of the date when I purchased RS but I could still click to buy it again. Shouldn't Amazon replace they Buy button with a Read button? Am I expecting too much? Is Amazon just that greedy?

Ironically, I have the opposite problem: being a librarian, I naturally have a neatly organised catalogue of all the books and ebooks - among other things - that I own. When I'm browsing ebooks, I can just look the titles up in my catalogue to see if I already own a copy, but unfortunately, I can't access it when browsing a bookstore, so I have wound up getting copies of books I already own once or twice - usually books that I don't read often, too.

Fortunately, one advantage of physical books is that you can give away excess volumes, and pretend you meant to do that all along, of course that's why you bought the extra copy of The Complete Dummies' Guide to Building a Working Steam Engine Out of Matchsticks, it's just such an exciting book, it had to be shared, etc., etc.

 

[Overread]

Still you can carry a kindle in a pocket/coat/bag/handbag quite easily so if you know you're going book-buying you can t least carry the whole library with you

 

[Vince W]

Odd, what country are you in Vince? Or rather what country is your Amazon account set too? It might simply be variation in their global network

Also were you buying through the store on your computer or through the kindel store on your device? That might make a difference.

I do all my ebook buying on the Amazon (Canada) website. I tried using my kindle but it's far too easy to burn through money that way.

Still you can carry a kindle in a pocket/coat/bag/handbag quite easily so if you know you're going book-buying you can t least carry the whole library with you

Logical and reasoned.

 

[Vladd67]

Ironically, I have the opposite problem: being a librarian, I naturally have a neatly organised catalogue of all the books and ebooks - among other things - that I own. When I'm browsing ebooks, I can just look the titles up in my catalogue to see if I already own a copy, but unfortunately, I can't access it when browsing a bookstore, so I have wound up getting copies of books I already own once or twice - usually books that I don't read often, too.

Fortunately, one advantage of physical books is that you can give away excess volumes, and pretend you meant to do that all along, of course that's why you bought the extra copy of The Complete Dummies' Guide to Building a Working Steam Engine Out of Matchsticks, it's just such an exciting book, it had to be shared, etc., etc.

After a clear out I discovered I had six copies of Dogs of War by Frédérick Forsyth, my wife wondered if perhaps I’m part of secret mind control programme like Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory. One copy was bought from a shop the rest picked up at jumble sales and car boot sales, it seemed that every time I saw it I bought it. I can only recollect reading it once.

 

[Galactic Bus Driver]

I buy ebooks almost exclusively these days, with a couple exceptions. If the book is not available in ebook format, then I'll buy the hardback, first printing if I can get it. Only if no ebook or hardback versions are available will I buy paperback. The other exception is buying hardback copies, first printings only, for book signings, which has never been a problem for the current book they're promoting. If I can't get a first, I'll wait on that one until they come back through town. I've made a few thrift shops/used book stores quite happy when I hear a favorite author is coming to town.

So far I've been to signings with:
Carrie Vaughn (local author) - 3x
Kim Harrison - 2x
Mario Acevedo (another local author)
Brandon Sanderson
Marie Lu

I'm bummed for days when I find I've missed a signing with a favorite author in the area. I'm even more bummed when I see they didn't schedule a Denver stop on their latest signing tour.

 

[Grendel]

I prefer paperbacks / hardcovers. Though ebooks have their charm when it comes to the classics.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm bummed for days when I find I've missed a signing with a favorite author in the area.

Solely from this sentence I know you are not British