The book is dead

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Procrastinista

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Well, the paper one, that is. Just heard from my college textbook publisher they will discontinue printing paper books in 2015. The company is the largest publisher of U.S. college textbooks. All sales will be e-books. Keep in mind that the true customers of textbooks are professors--they select the book--and many of them are quite old (me included). Not exactly a group who's pushing tech products forward. So, if the textbook market is heading in this direction, I think it's pretty obvious novels will too.

Actually, I'm surprised it's taken this long, considering the music industry changed over quite some time ago.
 

ralf58

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I come at this from the other end. I'm a freelance educational writer, and I've been getting a lot of work the last few years helping the conversion of print textbooks to ebooks.

I wouldn't immediately assume that what happens to textbooks will immediatly happen to novels. Here's why:

First of all, many textbooks are huge and heavy. Kids have had back problems lugging all of them around. And students don't feel attached to them emotionally they way they might to a much-loved story. So they have less resistance to switching to electronic textbooks over print books.

Seconds, textbooks and novels serve two different functions. Reading expository text to retain facts is a vastly different experience than reading a story to get lost in it.

Because of the different functions, it makes more sense for textbooks to move exclusively to the more interactive ebook format. One of the things I've been doing the last two years is writing tons of point-of-use comprehension and critical thinking questions that students can use to test their understanding as they read their textbooks. If they get it wrong, sometimes there's remediation and sometimes not, but always they are directed back to the passage that contains the right answer. You can't do anything comparable with a print book. I've also done a bit of work writing sorting or drag and drop activities so students can apply their just-learned knowledge immediately.

Conversely, there's no need for that kind of interactivity with a novel. Most novels are fairly easy to carry even if they're still in print form. And people like to read them in places (like bathtubs) where electronic gadgets are't advisable.

It's true that ebooks are probably going to become the dominant format. But I think we've got a while to go before print novels completely disappear.

Just my opinion, for what it's worth.
 

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You're confusing the container and the contents.

The "book" is the contents. Print, e-book, audiobook? They're all just containers to hold the contents.

As to whether print editions are dead: textbooks are notoriously expensive, both to buy and to produce. They have relatively small print runs, so the cost per unit is higher than more popular books. It's sad that this one publisher has decided to take this step: not everyone can afford to have an e-reader or other device, and not everyone can read books on such devices, so they are going to exclude some of their market.

There have been several discussions about this elsewhere on AW. You might like to search for them.
 

WeaselFire

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Well, the paper one, that is.
Wish you'd told me this last week, I just bought a new bookcase... :)

Books aren't the media they're on. When writers figure that out (readers already have...), the hysteria will die down.

Jeff
 

Procrastinista

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You're confusing the container and the contents.

The "book" is the contents. Print, e-book, audiobook? They're all just containers to hold the contents.

Yeah, I know. I was joking about the "book is dead." But I do sincerely believe that paper novels will greatly diminish in sales. One possible scenario: most books will sell only as e-books, but best-sellers will sell as paper books and e-books. And even such a scenario will be transitional. Sure, there will be a few types of books that will survive for special reasons, such as "coffee table" books or some such.

It's only a matter of time until e-readers will be ridiculously cheap or even free. The strategy will be to lure folks into the market and then recoup the money through sales of books, much like what is already done with cell phones and printers. And it's only a matter of time until an e-reader comes out that is waterproof, so it can be read in the bathtub.

Plus with gadgets such as the iPad, the distinction between an e-reader and a handheld computer are blurred, and will become even more hazy as e-readers get enhanced with more features and various new models of iPads (e.g. smaller) come out.

I also think there is still a "big idea" that will come along to enliven the experience of reading a novel on an e-reader. There are already some electronic advantages, but I think there's one or two huge benefits that hasn't been discovered or explored yet.

Just wait, you'll see....
 

virtue_summer

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So, if the textbook market is heading in this direction, I think it's pretty obvious novels will too.
I don't usually frequent this section but I just had to pop in here to ask: why? Textbooks are continually updated. Last year's edition is quickly outdated. So it makes sense if they can go electronic because of that. But novels? Totally different thing.
Actually, I'm surprised it's taken this long, considering the music industry changed over quite some time ago.
I'm failing to see the correlation. If you mean from records to cassettes to CDs to MP3 files, well they're all pretty much the same thing. They're all electronic and they all have to be read on electronic devices. That's completely different from saying one should switch from a completely non electronic and self sufficient device (the printed book) to an electronic file (the ebook) that has to be read on a separate electronic device (laptop, ebook reader, etc).
 

Deleted member 42

Changed over from what, sheet music?

Textbooks get out-of-date pretty quickly (besides being heavy and expensive). E-books make sense for that application.

They really do. And for publishers (but not for students, alas) killing the resale market is good.

I will note that it's difficult teaching a novel via an ebook. You can't direct them to "see the second paragraph on p. 45 when Emma says—"

It's doable, just frustrating.
 

ElaineA

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This is a bummer, from my POV.

I have two kids in college. Both choose textbooks over ebooks. They want to underline, put in post-it notes, leaf through the pages looking for information. I was honestly surprised at how strongly both of them felt about it, considering they're children of the electronic data-age. I hope they graduate before textbooks disappear.
 

benbradley

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I recall Texas Instruments stopped printing data sheets and data books for its electronic parts about 12 year ago. Everything had been available as PDF files on the web for several years already. This has saved lots of shelf space in engineering cubicles.
You're confusing the container and the contents.

The "book" is the contents. Print, e-book, audiobook? They're all just containers to hold the contents.

As to whether print editions are dead: textbooks are notoriously expensive, both to buy and to produce. They have relatively small print runs, so the cost per unit is higher than more popular books. It's sad that this one publisher has decided to take this step: not everyone can afford to have an e-reader or other device, and not everyone can read books on such devices, so they are going to exclude some of their market.

There have been several discussions about this elsewhere on AW. You might like to search for them.
I'm thinking that textbooks are SO expensive that the cost of an e-reader isn't that great in comparison. Also, since students (presumably) can't trade "used" e-copies, the publisher has a captive market. This could be bad in they can set the price at whatever they want, but I'd hope since it pretty much guarantees a sale to every student rather that losing substantial sales to the used market, the price per copy could be substantially lower.

I'm thinking you don't necessarily need a dedicated e-reader. Does anyone really attend college without a computer thesedays? I've got the free Kindle reader program on my computer for a few books I haven't been able to get in print or any other format.
Wish you'd told me this last week, I just bought a new bookcase... :)

Books aren't the media they're on. When writers figure that out (readers already have...), the hysteria will die down.

Jeff
I'm still MAKING bookcases, and even changing the size design based on need. My goal to be able to move all my bookcases loaded - a 6-foot tall, 14-inch wide case loaded with Byte and similar-size magazines weighs about 250 lbs. Moving it horizontally on a hand truck is doable, but pulling it up steps almost isn't. I should go back to the gym.
I don't usually frequent this section but I just had to pop in here to ask: why? Textbooks are continually updated. Last year's edition is quickly outdated. So it makes sense if they can go electronic because of that.
You might think so, but a lot of the subject material does NOT change. I went to EE school in the late 1970s and there's been no "advcances" in DC and AC circuit analysis in close to a century, since Steinmetz applied complex numbers to the problem.

What changes is after a few years sales drop off as more and more students buy used copies. So all of a sudden there's a new Seventh Edition published with a few changes or additions in the example problems and maybe a new chapter, it's The Edition the professor assigns for the class, and instantly the Sixth Edition isn't worth the paper it's printed on. But older textbooks are still good cheap material for self-study.
 

AshleyEpidemic

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This is a bummer, from my POV.

I have two kids in college. Both choose textbooks over ebooks. They want to underline, put in post-it notes, leaf through the pages looking for information. I was honestly surprised at how strongly both of them felt about it, considering they're children of the electronic data-age. I hope they graduate before textbooks disappear.

This. I graduated a year ago, but this.

Half of my learning and retention was based on having a big old clunky book in front of me that I could highlight or copy. Sure, a few 600 page textbooks have landed smack on my head when I feel asleep, but the experience was more pleasant than my ipad.

I did purchase a few ebooks for my classes, and never read them. They had odd reading software, that made it difficult and cumbersome. Not to mention the textbooks were still really expensive.

Give me a print book any day. They don't hurt my eyes. I'm also not worried about it busting my lip open when I fall asleep reading.

ETA: I'm pretty sure reading an ebook before bed still qualifies as looking at a screen. Which they say you shouldn't do before bed.
 

Deleted member 42

Also, since students (presumably) can't trade "used" e-copies, the publisher has a captive market. This could be bad in they can set the price at whatever they want, but I'd hope since it pretty much guarantees a sale to every student rather that losing substantial sales to the used market, the price per copy could be substantially lower.

It's not that much lower, which is unfortunate, but understandable; textbooks with images, graphs, animations etc. require a lot of work even as ebooks, and licensing images is pricey.

But yeah, this doesn't strike me as good for the students.

The one potential way around the high price for something that often has an expiration date is that some schools are negotiating site licenses and the books are "borrowed" for the term, then the library lends them again.

There aren't a lot of publishers willing to do this, unfortunately.
 

Laer Carroll

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It’s always nice to have some facts to back up speculations. Publishers Weekly is a good source; they’ve been tracking trends since 1872. Here’s the situation in fiction.

One trend in fiction is that the total sales of fiction books is increasing. Even though ebooks have cannibalized some of the fiction sales, the total number of printed fiction books (titles and absolute numbers) is still increasing. So printed fiction is NOT dying.

Ebooks are replacing low-cost printed books, especially mass-market paperbacks. BUT hardback and trade paperback numbers are holding steady. So readers still prefer certain kinds of printed books in the heavier, more expensive formats. So, again, printed fiction is NOT dying.

Ebooks and “pbooks” compete, obviously. But less obvious is a strong trend: they ALSO cooperate. Readers often will sample a book as an ebook, then buy the complete book in a printed format. Readers also read the complete book electronically, then if it’s one they want to read over and over again buy a printed version. So (yet again!) printed fiction is NOT dying.

The simple-minded and journalists seeking a sensational headline for their stories are prone to say things like “X is dead.” But the real world is complex. What happens with new tech is that when introduced it takes market share away from older tech. But the old tech never goes away; it changes so that it can compete better and find new market niches.
 

shaldna

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Well, the paper one, that is. Just heard from my college textbook publisher they will discontinue printing paper books in 2015. The company is the largest publisher of U.S. college textbooks. All sales will be e-books. Keep in mind that the true customers of textbooks are professors--they select the book--and many of them are quite old (me included). Not exactly a group who's pushing tech products forward. So, if the textbook market is heading in this direction, I think it's pretty obvious novels will too.

Actually, I think you'll find that the true customer is the student, the vast majority of which are in their late teens/early twenties and are generally very tech savvy.

Sure, the professor selects the text books for the course, but it's the student who has to pony up the hundred bucks a piece to buy them.

When I was a student some of my veterinary text books were over £150 and that was 10 years ago. I would have loved to have been able to get them digitally - not only would it probably cost less, but I wouldn't break my back carrying around five or six books that each weigh about the same as a newborn.

I personally think it's a good thing. I know from experience how big an expense textbooks are for students, and i think going digital has the potential to make study much more accessible to many more people.

Actually, I'm surprised it's taken this long, considering the music industry changed over quite some time ago.

The music industry hasn't gone completey digital at all. There's still a big market in CDs and records, just not as big as it once was.
 

stormie

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I will note that it's difficult teaching a novel via an ebook. You can't direct them to "see the second paragraph on p. 45 when Emma says—"

It's doable, just frustrating.
Especially when each student might have their ebook font sized differently, therefore what's on p.45 for one person, won't be for the other.

Unless the instructor states beforehand what size font to read with, etc.
 

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Especially when each student might have their ebook font sized differently, therefore what's on p.45 for one person, won't be for the other.

Unless the instructor states beforehand what size font to read with, etc.

You still can't. Not all models of even the same device rasterized (i.e. create the display of the text) the same way.

I note I first started teaching with ebooks in 1992. This isn't a new issue for me.

Drama and poetry? No problem. But one reason instructors pick an edition of a novel is so everyone is on the same page.

It requires a bit of fast shuffling to cope with this, and often the value added components of using an ebook isn't enough for make up for the hassles.
 

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Which Publisher please?

Well, the paper one, that is. Just heard from my college textbook publisher they will discontinue printing paper books in 2015. The company is the largest publisher of U.S. college textbooks. All sales will be e-books. Keep in mind that the true customers of textbooks are professors--they select the book--and many of them are quite old (me included). Not exactly a group who's pushing tech products forward. So, if the textbook market is heading in this direction, I think it's pretty obvious novels will too.

Actually, I'm surprised it's taken this long, considering the music industry changed over quite some time ago.
 

Iskandar

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I also think there is still a "big idea" that will come along to enliven the experience of reading a novel on an e-reader. There are already some electronic advantages, but I think there's one or two huge benefits that hasn't been discovered or explored yet.

Just wait, you'll see....

For one: Have a sound track running in the background. For another: hyperlink to source material and lastly: make it interactive (especially children's books).
 

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For one: Have a sound track running in the background.

I would find this horribly distracting. But it is already being done.

For another: hyperlink to source material and lastly: make it interactive (especially children's books).

These two "e-book enhancements" have also been around for years.

Procrastinata was suggesting that there were new things yet to be done with e-books. I do hope she shares some of her ideas.
 
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