EBOOKS WINNING THE BATTLE?

[Parris Afton Bonds]

Is it any wonder E.L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey ebook is outselling the hard copy six to one?  The ebook revolution, of course, plays a huge part, but it's also just quite possible we don't want the rest of the world to judge us by the cover of the book we're reading,

[Parris Afton Bonds]

Chris, congratulations on your ebook Planet Janitor.  Sounds interesting, and I will check it out.  After all these years in the business, I can only say NEVER EVER GIVE UP.   One's whole life can be changed in the course of a few minutes by an unexpected call (we all know this); let's hope it's from Steven Spielberg, wanting to make a movie from Planet Janitor!

[DrDLN]

I have both ebooks and paperback. My ebooks sell about twice as much as ebooks. But I did publish ebooks first and don't know if that will influence the sale numbers. Interesting topic.

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"We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly": http://amzn.to/dMBLWW

[Jesse Harasta]

Wasn't there a similar argument about the hardcover book when Penguin first started printing cheap paperbacks of classics?  The book as a physical object, as a symbol, is incredibly interwoven into our culture.  I don't think most people buy hardcovers for light reading, but as gifts, status symbols, parts of collections etc.  Ebooks just don't fill that niche.  I think they'll eat a big chunk out of the paperback market and some of the hardback market, but won't kill either one.

[Lilian Cheng]

That's a good point. Though I usually buy hardcovers because I am too impatient to wait for the paperback.

And I would much rather receive a physical book than an ebook download as a gift. 

[Lilian Cheng]

Haha, the cover is exactly why one of my friends said she needed an ereader; she loves reading Harlequins/romance novels...but they usually have such raunchy covers, she doesn't like to go out with them, lest people stare at her weirdly.

 

For me there's no contest, a physical book will always win. I really only depend on ebooks when I am on the go. I find I usually start with the physical copy (often borrowed from the library) and end up getting the ebook when I have to return the book but I want to finish the book without waiting for shipping, or forking over twenty bucks.

 

Lately, I've been seeing at least one person a day on the bus or at the bus stop with a physicalcopy of The Hunger Games (or one of the books from the trilogy), and it gives me hope. Not to mention it also makes me feel hipster for reading it before it went mainstream.

[Michele Anne Leamon]

This was very interesting, thank you for posting this.

Michele Leamon

BloodlinesChronicles.com