Artwork by Hhen
As Kristin Nelson said:
When I’ve got an older grandmother expressing unabashed enthusiasm in owning an eReader, I can’t help but think the tipping point is near—even if current electronic sales only equal about 2% of the market right now (statistic via a recent PW article). (Read Kristin’s article here)
Over at the Mad Genius Club blog there’s been several posts about e-books — the prices, the eReaders and what the publishers are doing. I don’t seem to come across many e-books. When I ride the train to work I see lots of people reading paperbacks but not virtual books. Of course they could be reading e-books on their laptops, but they seem to be typing away like mad.
According to Amazon e-books sales out sold print book sales over Christmas.
Spare a thought for the humble hardback this Christmas. It seems the traditional giftwrapped tome is being trumped by downloads, after Amazon customers bought more e-books than printed books for the first time on Christmas Day. (Read the article here).
So I took a quick poll through several e-lists. The listers were readers and writers who are familiar with technology so they probably aren’t representative of the general Australian public. But they could be representative of them in a few years.
The responses were interesting. They ranged from people who bought 90% of their books as e-books and had been buying books in this format since 1996, to others who didn’t buy e-books at all. One person had downloaded free e-books or won over 40 of them, but had only read one so far, as … I love to hold a book, turn the pages, and put it on the bookshelf.
Some people are buying e-books to save the cost of postage from the US or because the books are hard to get in print format. Many had just started buying e-books within the last couple of years.
Those who are reading a lot of e-books are reading them on their iPhones, Kindle, Sony eReader, Adobe Digitial Editions, eeepc or on their lap tops. Lots of readers were considering buying a eReader of some kind. As one reader said:
I’m curious about e-books and I think I’ll be open to them as a reader (maybe even a writer) but I’m not confident with the technology at this stage. Waiting to see what emerges as the best reader. I like the idea of less paper (less dead trees) and also less storage space needed in my home. I’ll always love and covet particular paper books but I do think the space thing is marvellous – once I do embrace the technology I’m sure I will buy more books just because I’ll have room for them!
Many confessed a love for traditional books. While some saw advantages in e-books:
They are so immediate. You want a book, and – click- it’s there.
Or:
I read quite a few ebooks. I use Project gutenberg and other sources to access out of print stuff that would otherwise mean I’d have to hunt in libraries. I also download the freebies from publishers for authors I want to try. If I love the writing, I then buy their books in paper, but my reading for long bus journeys etc is on my netbook.
Those who buy e-books are buying them through many different outlets: Fictionwise, Mobipocket, Library.com, Apple’s iBookstore, All Romance ebooks, Diesel ebooks, Books on Board, My Bookstore and Amazon Kindle.
Many people bought from several outlets and most liked going directly to the publishers. The feeling was that e-books in Australian bookstores were over priced.
My major gripe with ebooks for sale in Australia (through retail chains, particularly) is that they cost around the same as a paperback, so I don’t think ebooks will take the Aussie market by storm because of the price through bookshops. Online stores and publishers’ websites sell the ebooks at competitive prices and I like to be able to read a few sample pages before I decide whether to buy the book in print.
When asked if they were buying e-books for a specific purpose, most people said, they were either buying them for research or pleasure, or both.
I just buy them as I would once have bought paper books – only I find I’m buying at least twice as many (because they’re so cheap).
Those who were published in e-books felt they were getting a fair royalty which ranged from 20% to 40% and their books were available direct from the publishers as well as several other on-line outlets.
On the subject of the types of books available and royalties one reader said:
I think that when you move away from the idea that novels are simply re-presented as e-books, and look at short stories suitable for short bursts of reading time, or stories created specifically for the medium, a decent shop front should make self-publishing relatively effortless. The royalty issue becomes less important when authors can reasonably do everything themselves.
Even those who bought only print books were curious about e-books and, as one reader said:
E-books do not go mouldy on my boat. — LOL!
On that note, I’d like to thank the many people who responded to my survey.
What is your experience of e-books? Are they a tidal wave, gathering out there in the ocean of the public’s book buying habits?
For those who do buy ebooks, it’s worth remembering that many writers’ royalties are based on the net value of the sale. This means that both the writer and the publisher are much better off if you buy their books from the publisher’s site. In my case, I get four times the royalty payment if you buy from my publisher than from (say) the Amazon Kindle Store.
Graham, by pure chance one of the people at work had a Kindle yesterday. I had no idea the screen was so small.
Why does it have a miniature key board?
The screen does seem small at first but it seems to make no difference when you’re reading. I’ve heard people say of the iPhone (which has a tiny screen but which is a very popular ebook reader) that, when you’re reading, your awareness of the device just vanishes. I get the same with the Kindle. (There is a larger-screen version – the Kindle DX – which is about the size of an iPad, but that looks too big for comfort.)
The keyboard is very handy for doing online searches in the book store, or for word/phrase searches within books. You can also mark text and add notes using the keyboard – not something I do myself but I put first drafts of my novels and shorts onto the Kindle for my wife to read (so much better than a wad of A4 paper!) and she often leaves comments embedded in the text.
Good point, Graham. I believe in supporting writers.
Interesting post Rowena. Thanks 🙂
I find the US authors and readers are much more aware of e-books. It is still a foreign language to me.
I’ve bought a couple of e-books from publishers, then not finished them because I can’t be bothered reading on screen, when I’ve worked on screen all day.
Rowena, there aren’t many people who like reading at computer screens even if their day job doesn’t involve doing it. The trick is to get an e-book reader – a proper one, like the Kindle or Nook. Then, suddenly, you begin to see what all the fuss is about.
How heavy are the eReaders? I’d like to take a book to work with me to read on the train, but by the time I pack my brief case, it is so full the average fat fantasy won’t fit.
Rowena,
I use a Palm Smartphone, an old one. When I was travelling on a train to work, I would often end up having to pick up a second book as I’m a fast reader.
But with the Smartphone, I have a library of over 200 to chose from. So it isn’t as heavy or takes up as much room as a book or more…
Also found it useful when waiting in queues, much quicker to pick up where I left off, and not as bulky to read as a book.
Great also at the hairdressers….plus I get to talk about books as the hairdressers are always interested in the concept of an ebook. Doesn’t happen if I have a real book there.
I still love real books as well, but when travelling find the convenience of ebooks vastly superior.
Gia
Hi Gia,
I guess the size of the screen doesn’t worry you?
I like the idea of having 200 books on the device. Like you, I find myself thinking, will I take this book on the train today? It’s a huge fantasy, it’ll take up space in my brief case and I’m sure ti finish it and need another for the trip home. That will be two giant books, weighing me down.
I received a Kindle for my birthday last month and was fortunate enough to also get a leather cover so the look and feel is similar to holding a book. I only became really aware of this yesterday when I found myself reaching to the top corner of the reader to turn the page rather than pushing the button.
I’m sold.
paul
I like the idea that you can download and read right away. Maybe when I get an eReader I’ll make the switch. But I’ll always love books.
Paul, I’ve seen the ‘page turning’ on the iPad. Loved it.
Rowena, The Kindle (with a cover on) is about the same weight as a paperback and about half the thickness.
Hello Paul!
One aspect of the ebook thing still concerns me. When Amazon sold versions of Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, they later learned that there were copyright issues. It transpired they had both the right and the technical capacity to actually ‘enter’ purchasers readers and remove the purchased products. In the wake of the fuss that created, they have said they will not do so again. But nothing has been said about actually removing this capacity to enter the reader in the first place.
It was quite fitting that 1984 was one of the subjects of that action – Big Brother in action!
1984 — how very appropriate.
I don’t see how they can go into your eReader and remove something? Does it happen the next time you load one of their books?
Graham, you said the kindle is about the same weight as a paperback and half as thick. Now that would be useful.
One of the things that annoys me is sunlight shining across the screen and making it hard to read. I imagine this would happen on the train. How good is the screen resolution?
Rowena, The thing about Kindles (and Nooks and other dedicated ereaders) is that they use e-ink technology for their screens. They are not like computer screens (or tablets, or phones) in that they do not light up pixels but (quite literally) fill the pixel with ink. The end result is letters in ink on a pale grey background. It is completely flicker free and is only visible when there is light on the screen – just like paper. In fact, just like paper, the more light there is, the clearer the text becomes. Reading outside in bright sunlight is a pleasure with a Kindle.
The screen resolution is more than adequate for reading but not great for detailed graphics.
Wow.
Someone came into my office with an iPad. They’d brought graphic novels to read on it. It was lovely and in colour.
Do the eReaders have colour?
Nope. No e-ink device has colour as yet. Maybe later this year. Since I hardly ever read ‘graphic novels’ I don’t miss it at all.
After seeing the iPad and the lovely colour, I’d be tempted to get one of those. But I suspect they are a lot more expensive than an eReader.
The base model iPad doesn’t seem much more expensive than the Kindle 2 but by the time you’ve upgraded the momory and added 3G for networking it’s getting quite a lot more expensive. Then you need a separate ISP contract so you can download books (and use the Internet) which is an ongoing cost that you don’t have with the Kindle (the networking costs are bundled in the purchase price and the prices of books – so nothing extra to pay to download books.) Books in Apple’s iBookstore tend to be a few dollars more expensive than their equivalents in the Kindle Store, so another ongoing extra cost (Book pricing may change, of course, as more publishers force Amazon to accept the Apple pricing model.)
I saw a very good article about the ‘eye candy’ in the iPad book reading interface and how it is essentially just visual clutter, making the case that it adds nothing to (and, in fact, detracts from) the reading experience and uses up screen space. As an ebook reader, the iPad is far from optimal (the size, the weight, the cost, and the screen that becomes illegible in sunlight being the biggest drawbacks) and even as a tablet computer it has a way to go yet (an operating system without multi-tasking in this day and age?)
It’s horses for courses, of course. The Kindle (Nook, etc.) was designed for reading books and it does it very well. The iPad was designed as a general purpose mobile media device (films, comics, music, games, oh and by the way, books) and can’t really compete with a purpose-built ereader.
Thanks, Graham. I guess I’ll be sticking to my paper back books for now.
Hi Graham,
I can’t figure out how to reply to your last comment, so I’ll do it down here.
The facility to put comments in and do a search sounds good. Could you keep it with you like a note book and write your book in your spare time?
Hmm. I’d have to do some experiments. I imagine the notes have to be tied to some text in a document, and I bet each note has a (fairly small) fixed size. I’d also guess that the teensy keyboard would get annoying if you were trying to write a book with it. So, more a tool for jotting down ideas than for actual writing.
You’re right. That tiny keyboard would be annoying. I would keep a note book to jot down ideas, but I can’t read my writing half the time.
Lol. I have this fantasy of using a pocket recorder to capture all my passing thoughts. When I actually got one and tried it, I found I never went back and listened to the recordings – mostly because they weren’t all that interesting. In the end I stopped and acknowledged that it was just the image of recording my wonderful insights that had appealed so much.
Touche.
I was thinking more of the … here I am on the train again. I need to plan the next chapter of my book. Or I have this idea that’s been bothering me for a while now and this is the perfect time to try to string it together. I have done this and then I’ve had to try and combine my scribbled notes with my memory to transcribe it to my computer.
My own general-purpose tool is an Asus EeePC – a little netbook, itself about the size of a trade paperback. I’ve had a variety of PDAs over the years which I’ve used for writing and note-taking but netbooks seem about right. The Eee, runs exactly the same software I use for word processing etc on my desktop (Open Office) so transferring and merging files is dead easy.
Sadly netbooks don’t make great ebook readers (in my opinion – and for the same reasons the iPad doesn’t) so I still need the Kindle (or a book) if I want to take a book with me. But for a great and portable writing tool, they’re the business. The physical keyboard helps enormously in this respect.
I bought myself a net-book, thinking I’d get more writing done. But the trains are so crowded you really can’t set up an office on your lap. Some people do and it is quite anti-social.
Plus it is still a bit heavy and clunky, when you’re carrying around a brief case packed with lecture notes etc. I only take it when I know I’m going to have a little time to myself to write in the gaps at work. And that just hasn’t been happening. Sigh.
What I’d really like is an extra 6 hours a day.Now, if I didn’t have to sleep I’d be fine!
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