This is worrying...

Shara · Aug 17, 2010

KTC said:
i know, i know. i have a book coming out in 2011 as an e-book. it doesn't come out in print until 2012. i'd love to figure out a way to do a 'book signing' for the e-launch. try as i may???

KTC, when my e-book came out, I had a book launch and sold at it - with the publisher's permission (in fact it was their idea) - copies of the e-book files on CD. I made up a nice cover with the book cover image for the CD case, and I was able to sign that. I find that this works well for people who want a signed copy of my book.

It does mean that I have to buy a copy of my e-book for every CD I sell, to make sure the sales figures and royalties are all above board and legal, but the publisher has no problem with this, it is working for me and it's really helping my sales. When people say "I don't want to buy the e-book because I want a signed copy" I offer the CD to them and they have no reason not to buy it!

As for the whole e-book/print book debate, I was firmly in the camp of 'paper is best' until I got my e-reader. Now I love it. But it doesn't mean I am going to stop buying paper books. Now I buy some books in print and some books in e-format, depending on the book and my reason for buying it.

I do think the doom and gloom about e-books killing paper books completely is overly pessimistic, though. The future of publishing has both electronic and print formats existing in harmony.

Shara

Eddyz Aquila · Aug 18, 2010

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-wor...ble-didnt-evolve-enough?mod=career-leadership

So, another dent in the publishing business... Barnes and Noble is now sinking, and Amazon + Kindle + ebooks are to blame for this.

Button · Aug 18, 2010

I love paper, but if I get a reader of some sort, I'll be tempted to try it. I'll be hanging on to my books, however, and still will love bookstores.

I think a lot of the change over may not happen quickly when book readers are $200 each.

I'm amazed that B&N is going under. However, the author of the article is making a lot of assumptions. And just because B&N had a poor business model doesn't mean the end of books. Maybe Amazon did take their customers, but when poor customer service is in place, there's not much you can do about it.

I'd hate to see B&N go under here. It's a nice book store and usually always busy. It's Books-a-Million competitor in the area is rather crummy. Outside of that, there's three used book stores. I hope someone buys B&N and makes it better.

Button · Aug 18, 2010

I'm all for ebooks if people are buying them, though. Printers may have something to worry about their market, but if people read more because they have a Kindle and buy more books, that's great!

Bubastes · Aug 19, 2010

A thoughtful piece to temper the hype over e-books:

And that is the primary need for e-books - as an adjunct and not replacement, now or at any time in the future, for printed books.

If there is any doubt about this, let us recall (if Mr. Shatzkin is old enough to remember) the “paperless office” revolution that was so highly touted during the 1960s as being soon on the horizon. A brand-new world! No more paper, no more books (no more teacher’s dirty looks!). It hasn’t quite worked out that way; more paper is being generated in offices than ever before. Why? Because business learned, through bitter experience, that stored digital data cannot be trusted 100% Servers crash, data gets lost.

Yes, there are backup protocols. I did what I was told, bought an external hard drive, and backed-up frequently. That was four years ago. Four months ago, the hard drive's cable went kaput. Need I report that the cord was specific to a model the manufacturer no longer makes, they do not provide replacement cords through their website, and I have not been able to find another new, used, or otherwise, anywhere. I'll likely cost me a couple of hundred dollars to have the data retrieved.

.....

It is, rather, a defense against the notion that all technological progress is, by definition, a good thing. Printed books are about as low-tech as you can get. So is a pencil. Pencil sales have not declined to oblivion simply because they do what they do very well and do not require further, ongoing improvement to justify their existence. Just like printed books. The super-duper $20 Space-Pen is great if you need to write while upside down. Yet the lowly pencil will do just as well - for 20 cents.

So, let gazillions be spent to make a hi-tech version of a low-tech product that has been time-tested and does what it does very, very well. But it is sheer folly to believe that a high-tech iteration of an invention from 1451 - the printed book - will be better. It will certainly be different but it does not at all logically follow that it will be an improvement.

http://ht.ly/2rSRA

Satori1977 · Aug 19, 2010

E-books are becoming popular, in some circles more than other. Maybe someday they will take over and there will be no more paper books. But I hope not, at least not while I am alive.

I like e-books. They are great for convenience when traveling, when you don't want to lug dozens of books around. And just make more space (I have so many unopened boxes of books in my house because I have no room for them).

BUT, I love the feel of a book in my hands. Going to a library or bookstore and just browsing. Nothing beats that experience for me, that feeling I get finding a new book the "old-fashioned way".

KTC · Aug 20, 2010

Kathleen42 said:
Hmmm... You're swaying me towards team Kobo. It can read PDFs too, right?

Update. Last night I took my .doc file and increased the font to 38pt and did spacing at 1 1/2 spaces...then converted to a PDF and uploaded to my Kobo. It looks exactly like all the ebooks I buy from Kobobooks.com. It's over a thousand pages, but on the screen it looks great...font is just the right size. In display I set it to Whole Page...there's no toggling from side to side...fits perfectly.

mayaone · Aug 26, 2010

I just read in NY magazine that there is a resurgance of independent booksellers in NY. They are more lenient in allowing authors to perform, read and promote their book in store. And they are kind to new authors. It was very encouraging and I hope this is happening all over the country.

Greeble · Aug 27, 2010

AnonymousWriter said:
The thing I want to know is: do Kindles or other e-readers smell like a print book does? Huh?

Well, I guess there's a market for "New Book Smell" sprays.

EDIT: I just got my Kindle cover today. It has a nice, leathery smell. Does that count?

KTC · Aug 27, 2010

Greeble said:
EDIT: I just got my Kindle cover today. It has a nice, leathery smell. Does that count?

I have a leather cover for my Kobo...ROOTS, no less. Thing is, because of the inner lining, it smells more like bandaids than leather. Le sigh.

DanielKoehler · Sep 14, 2010

"But nothing can compare to the amazing feeling you get when you stroll in the bookshop for hours stacking up with whatever you want to read."

Except maybe downloading the same stack of books to your iPad in the form of samples. You now have the luxury of browsing them at any time in future for as long as you want, unlike our physical stack of books, which go back in the racks when you leave the store.

Luke King · Sep 16, 2010

Being new to this forum, I'm a little bit bemused at the attitude towards ebooks expressed in this thread. As writers, ebooks are just about the best thing since sliced cheese. For the first time in history writers have the ability to take control. I am earning 70% of sales on books I have published through Amazon, and up to 85% on books I have published through Smashwords.

Why would I want a publisher? Why would I lament the passing of print books?

Of course there will always be print books, but in five or ten years they will account for less than 10% or 20% of the market. They are already eclipsing sales on hardbacks at Amazon.

AlexPiper · Sep 16, 2010

KTC said:
i know, i know. i have a book coming out in 2011 as an e-book. it doesn't come out in print until 2012. i'd love to figure out a way to do a 'book signing' for the e-launch. try as i may???

A friend burned CDs with her eBook in popular formats, then took those to a reading to sign for folks.

This is worrying...

Shara

Fix it in the Rewrite

Eddyz Aquila

Noob Writers United

Button

Resident in Question

Button

Resident in Question

Bubastes

bananaed

Satori1977

Listening to the Voices In My Head

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

mayaone

Greeble

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

DanielKoehler

reverse backward masker

Luke King

AlexPiper

Wayward Wordsmith