E-books, Schmee-books: NYTimes article.

I love books as Christmas gifts. Unfortunately not everyone in my family is appreciative of books.

I think Borders going out of business was a wake-up call to a lot of people, that if they want to continue to have bookstores in their communities, they might want to actually start shopping at them...

Going off numbers. I have around 200 peeps on my facebook. If I had to guess, I would say that around 10 have kindles, nooks or read their books/fiction online. I know that number will change, but you still have people who love the feel, smell and freedom that a torn-up paperback brings, or a glossy photo-book, or a specialty book.

I bought a crafting book online (plot vs characterization) and man . . . do I regret that. I can't flip through so easily anymore. It's become a bit of a headache to reference things. I'm in the process of using highlights now and notes, but still.....

That's good news for those who are out on sub right now. Publishers will take that as a sign they can ramp up production a bit.

"Cheap e-readers"-- I have yet to see what I would define as either cheap or even affordable.

Ebooks have pretty much replaced my mass market paperback purchases, but books that I want to mark or reference often, or that I feel compelled enough to buy in hardcover will not be fulfilled by the ebook format.

cameron_chapman said:

I love books as Christmas gifts. Unfortunately not everyone in my family is appreciative of books.

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Ditto.

I love receiving books more, but b/c they aren't so appreciative of them, I rarely get books as gifts! Although, once in awhile, I'll get a gift card which is equally loved.

I'll take a book any way I can get it. My home storage space is limited, and I'm too organized to let books pile up on the floor so my Nook has been a fabulous buy - no storage concerns! Every once in awhile I read an ebook I love so much I need to go buy it in paperback, and as tjwriter noted, there are some other exceptions when only a print book will do, but I'm buying and reading so much more now that I don't have to worry about where to store them all.

cameron_chapman said:

I love books as Christmas gifts. Unfortunately not everyone in my family is appreciative of books.

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Alpha Echo said:

Ditto.

I love receiving books more, but b/c they aren't so appreciative of them, I rarely get books as gifts! Although, once in awhile, I'll get a gift card which is equally loved.

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A couple of years back, my husband had to do some major work convincing his grandmother that I would love nothing more than a gift card to Barnes and Noble. She doesn't think that gift cards are real gifts, but I'm not horribly fond of jewelry in general, so I don't get excited about the stuff she typically buys.

I was ecstatic to receive that gift card and made a bookstore "spa" day of that trip.

I would be more than happy with some kind of gift certificate for e-books (if such a thing exists).

Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com gift cards work for e-book purchases.

Also, if a local independent bookseller sells e-books (usually via GoogleBooks), a gift certificate to them should work. (Of course, this is a US-specific answer!)

My brother just asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him a gift card to B&N.

He gave me The Look.

I explained to him that with the gift card I'm pretty much guaranteed a gift I will love the most.

He seemed satisfied by that.

Shadow_Ferret said:

"Cheap e-readers"-- I have yet to see what I would define as either cheap or even affordable.

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Relative to what?

Alessandra Kelley said:

I loved the article title.

Whilst & at the same time giving & getting lots of books, I should still confess we just gave our 11-year-old a birthday Kindle.

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I just returned from a family trip to Disney World. The hotel arcade had kindles in the skill games as prizes. My 11 year-old cousin spent a good bit of his allotted credits trying to win one.

I just bought 11-22-63 at my local independent. I knowingly paid at least ten dollars more than I would have spent on Zon. As they said on the NPR story that ran a couple minutes ago: when you support your locals, you also support your community.

Richard Russo was on the NPR show, discussing the obnoxious habit many people have of trolling for books in a store, making lists of what they want, then strolling out to order on-line. He said that in Ann Patchett's new bookstore, the clerks will confront these people and ask them not to use their store as an unpaid adjunct of Amazon. Evidently many of the confronted hadn't even thought of their practice this way before.

Well, start thinking if you want local bookstores -- and your potholes filled.

As for the ebook. I'll get a reader eventually. My four-bedroom house already has books in every room -- including the bathrooms.

Still, I don't know. I could squeeze another bookcase behind that chair, a couple more out in the hall....

Phaeal said:

I just bought 11-22-63 at my local independent. I knowingly paid at least ten dollars more than I would have spent on Zon. As they said on the NPR story that ran a couple minutes ago: when you support your locals, you also support your community.

Richard Russo was on the NPR show, discussing the obnoxious habit many people have of trolling for books in a store, making lists of what they want, then strolling out to order on-line. He said that in Ann Patchett's new bookstore, the clerks will confront these people and ask them not to use their store as an unpaid adjunct of Amazon. Evidently many of the confronted hadn't even thought of their practice this way before.

Well, start thinking if you want local bookstores -- and your potholes filled.

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There are other ebooksellers besides Amazon, you know.

I'm sorry, "ebooks will destroy local bookstores" does not play with me. If the rise in popularity of ebooks means that paper books become less popular and can sustain fewer brick and mortar bookstores, too bad, so sad. This is not something without historical precedent. It happens. Technology changes, media changes, businesses catering to the old medium become obselete. Hey, the Internet and home videos pretty much put X-rated theaters out of business. Once upon a time casette tapes were supposedly going to kill the music industry and VCRs would destroy Hollywood.

If you prefer paper books, peachy, but I'm gonna laugh hard and mockingly at anyone who starts trying to use "Save your local bookstore!" as an argument why ebooks are bad.

Lots of local bookstores in the US sell ebooks. Here's a partial list from indiebound.org.

I read the article and how sad is it that what I came away with after 'YAY' was 'Hugh Jackman was going to take his pants off?'

Then, 'and where can I see that?'

I'm a little surprised if people go into a family-owned little used book store, look at books they like and go order the e-books. I'd be less surprised if they did it at B&N (where they'd go less noticed, the staff more spread out and less banking on YOUR sale). Not that I feel pity for the B&N/Starbucks duo if a few people loiter and go buy ebooks. a.) they may buy coffee while they are there, and b.) they can order ebooks FROM B&N.

As for walking into mom&pops? I never leave the local bookstore at home without something in my hands. The "independent" bookstore up in Temple Terrace is a little more aggressive with their commercial tactics (they act like you SHOULD be shopping there, and if not they don't need your business) so I don't feel obligated to buy unless I really want something. But either way I don't go into those stores expressly looking for e-book ideas. Seems like a waste of gas to me.

Amadan said:

Relative to what?

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My financial status?

Or relative to books. I buy a book, the reader IS the book. There isn't an initial start-up cost. Here, I buy a kindle at almost $100 and that's my discretionary book budget for the better part of a year. I don't find that cheap, I find that prohibitive. Sure, I could get.the free Kindle for PC, but that defeats the portability an eReader provides.