It’s that time of year again! Time to put on your prognosticator hats and click through to vote on a poll about you and e-books and the future. Nothing less than AN UNSCIENTIFIC READING OF THE PULSE OF THE WORLD is at stake.
This is a question I’ve now asked three years running. Here is 2007 and 2008 (okay it was technically early 2009 because I forgot at the end of 2008).
Will you ever buy mostly e-books? Can you imagine a future where you mainly by e-books and either don’t buy paper books or only buy them once in a while? Is this indeed already your reality?
Joann says
Bring on the e-book overlords. I read significantly faster on my iPhone Kindle/BN reader and buy way more books for that reason alone. And the freebies you get! Right now it's Dickens' Christmas Carol. On e-book! That is so coo. 😉
Steff Metal says
As soon as I find an e-reader that meets my needs (vision-impaired and currently poor) both my husband and I will be switching from paper books to around 80% ebooks. We will still buy beautiful books for our shelves, but paperbacks? Ebook me up!
Ulysses says
Looking at the publishing trends, the increasing volumes of ebook sales, the uptake of reading devices of all kinds, the lower production costs, inventory overhead and stuff like that, I begin to wonder if this question is moot. (Or "moo," if we're going to go with the whole "leaving off the last letter of 'oo' words" theme).
I think the answer to this questions hinges on another: "Will publishers ever sell mostly e-books?"
I have no plans to give up reading, and if e-books are all that's out there, then my choice is made for me.
Anonymous says
I already buy mostly ebooks. I used to be very, very devoted to paper books, but I started running low on space in which to store them, and I *love* that with an ebook reader, I can take dozens of books with me anywhere without breaking my back. I thought I'd miss the whole sensation-of-a-paper-book thing, but it's not the case – it's just as easy to get lost in the story with an ebook, and it's far more convenient. If there's a book that I want to read that isn't available as an ebook, I'll maybe check it out from a library, time permitting, but I don't buy it.
The only exception to the rule is for books that currently don't work very well as ebooks – art books with many large color photos, for example.
kellion says
I buy the books I really care about in paper, and take a lot out of the library. I imagine I would buy some more "disposable" reads as ebooks (perhaps popular books I feel I should read as competitive information but don't feel that I will love and refer to constantly, as I do the novels I most admire).
Mira says
E-books all the way!
🙂
Laura Martone says
I agree with Dave Guilford. I buy mostly e-books these days (for my now outdated Sony reader – sniff, sniff), but not because I prefer them to printed books. I still love to curl up with a good, old-fashioned book. But, with all the traveling I do as a travel writer (and, well, as a film fest nomad), I find my e-reader terribly convenient. At the moment, I have over 140 books on it – which, if they were "real," would be a pain to haul back and forth across the country.
Erastes says
I never will but many of my readers already read nothing but already.
Marissa Turner says
I've begun buying e-books instead of paper. There are a few series where I will get the paper book (Anne Bishop), but I love being able to take multiple books with me without having to rent a pack mule to haul them around.
Joseph says
The frustrating thing is that publishers are not making enough books available as ebooks. I still have to buy some as hardback and paperback.
Tina Lynn says
I have nothing interesting to say. I just like my books. E-books are like a legion of the undead that have come to eat my brains. They just keep on coming, swarming, moaning at me. I'll just barricade myself in and plug my ears. Thanks.
Cam Snow says
I answered "Absolutely" but that is not because I love eBooks. I did recently buy the Sony eReader and am happy with it (it reads like a paperback to me). The reason is because I currently live in Egypt and it is hard to get a good selection of English-language books in print – eBooks are the quick and easy solution.
Heather says
I would LOVE to say, "You can pry my paper books from my cold, dead hands!" but that's not really true. I love the feeling of a nice heavy book in my hand, and the smell of a used book, but I'm pretty young, and I recognize that eventually we'll be living in a paperless world. Even in the sci-fi future world I'm writing about, there are no paper books. Still, I wish paper books would stick around….
Joe Iriarte says
I can see a day when I mostly buy e-books, and when I only buy paper copies of my favorite books or my favorite authors. But e-readers are going to have to come down significantly in price, for one thing. I don't see myself spending more than $40 or so for a device that will allow me to read. For another, there needs to be a clear standard book format–ideally DRM free–so that I can feel confident I really own the books I buy. (Failing that, e-books will have to be dirt-dirt cheap, but I think it's clear that won't happen.)
Laura Martone says
Wow, Tina, that's very graphic. I love my e-reader, but now I'm picturing it as a flesh-eating zombie… which might explain why I just hid it under the bed. 😉
Laura Martone says
Okay, I just read all the comments… and I just have to say…
Bane, I'm still waiting for this poll:
Will the Saints go 16-0 this season?
Or would that just jinx them? 😉
Natasha Fondren says
Perhaps it's unfair for me to vote, (but I did), but I won't buy a paper book anymore. Part of it is because I live on the road in a camper, so I have room for the Harry Potter series and three or four more books and that's IT, LOL. (I got rid of hundreds and hundreds–broke my heart!)
If it's not available digitally, then I usually won't read it, unless I can get it at the library.
PS: I still buy graphic novels. As soon as I can get those in digital format, I'll switch those, too.
pjd says
Questions throughout history:
Will you ever get your tribal lore mostly from cave paintings, or will you always rely on dances around the campfire?
Will you ever read mostly printed books, or will you always rely on stone tablets?
Will you ever talk with friends mostly through the telephone, or will you only insist on seeing them face to face?
Will you ever mostly use an ATM, or will you only always interact with a bank teller?
Will you ever get your news mostly over the web, or will you always rely on daily newspapers?
To sum up: Technology advances. What doesn't work well either goes away or adapts until it does work well. Then people use it. It's not wrong or tragic. It just is.
(Full disclosure: I don't have an e-reader and don't plan on getting one any time soon. But I do think eventually I'll have to get one.)
Anonymous says
No desire for an electronic reading device, reminds me too much of work. I read for escapism, entertainment,and to get away fromm all things "e" or 'i". I Like the hardcovers, paperbacks can be annoying.
Jay in Houston says
If someone can explain to me how ebooks in their current stage of development are better than books, I'm all ears.
They're not as portable, the device is not (yet) cheap enough to appeal to the masses who read one book at a time and only a handful of books per year.
The key with any technology is to appeal to the masses. CDs achieved this because you could easily skip from song to song and the sound quality improved over cassettes. DVDs did the same thing versus VHS. Same with Bluray. Same movie, better resolution.
Ebooks? Same book, better what? The device is not more portable, it's less durable, it doesn't speed up the reading process and it's expensive. How is that an improvement other than making books easier to buy?
Books, unlike songs which offer 3-5 minutes of entertainment, offer hours of entertainment. People will accept a slight inconvenience to purchase them.
Netflix took over not because getting the DVDs was a nuisance, but because taking them back was a pain in the ass.
This transition is going to take longer than most people think. It's going to be years and years.
Price does trump everything, though. If it's $2.99 to buy an ebook and $19.99 to buy the same book, people will then be incentivized to go with ebook format. But ebooks are going to have to drop to below $50. And somebody is going to have to win the format war.
Bane of Anubis says
Laura, I hope they do.
Myrna Foster says
How many bibliophiles read your blog? Not a rhetorical question. I'd guess about 2,000.
Sharon Kirk Clifton says
Nathan,
Even as a young child, long before I could actually read, I loved the smell of books. Something about the fragrance of the paper mingled with that of the binding and the ink was intoxicating. Let's see Kindle or Nook duplicate that. Besides, I like to read page-turners. Further, I love to see shelves lined with oft-read books.
Lynne Connolly says
Wow, some paper fetishists here.
I already do buy more ebooks, and have done for the past 2 years. But I have an ebookwise, the old technology reader, and an iPaq, which is my main reader these days because it's just so damn convenient.
Tricia says
I buy a lot of ebooks now and I'll buy more if the DRM goes away (or at least lessens). When the Google Books settlement goes through I can see me buying scads of OOP books that I haven't been able to get through the library or from used book dealers.
Love old-fashioned paper books – I have a personal library of over three thousand – but ultimately it's the content, not the form that I love the most.
Donna Hole says
Although I voted "absolutely", I know I will always cherish having books on my shelf. I look forward to e-books, and am shopping around for something affordable with a decent size reading screen, but I'm still in no rush.
The world is going paperless, my friends, and so I forsee in the near future paper books being more expensive than e-books.
……….dhole
Alyson Greene says
I've been reading books on my iphone lately. I love the portability and the fact that I ALWAYS have my phone with me so I can squeeze in a few pages anytime I'm stuck waiting anywhere for anything.
I also love the feeling of finishing a GREAT book and being able to have another book by that author or even the next in a series, in my hands in a matter of seconds.
What I don't like is finishing a GREAT book, and then telling people about it. When they ask to borrow it I just stare at them with a dumb look on my face. I love sharing books with friends and I really love sharing books with my students, but I haven't been able to do that with my ebooks yet.
Nathan Bransford says
alyson-
Just think of how happy the author would be if those people go out and buy their own copies!
Tamaryn Tobian says
I'm sure this has been posted already… but!
If I had a career where I had to read a lot of manuscripts or PDFs then I might be tempted to get one.
However, already I have downloaded free eBooks (PDF format) And haven't opened them up since the day I bought them.
I have, however, read every paper book I've bought.
For me, it's just not the same. There are things that I can do with books that I will never be able to do with an e-reader, even a fancy one like a Mac Tablet.
In no particular order:
-Take Notes. Yes, I know that many of them allow me to type an anecdote here or there, but what if I want to draw a heart, a star, a smiley face? What if I want to write LOL or draw the character's outfit he's wearing in the margin. I have done this. I do this. I doodle in the margins of the books I'm reading.
-Flip the pages back and forth. There's a distinct sound when you're turning actual pages. No electronic version will ever feel the same. As I race through a thriller or get deep with a memoir the pace at which I turn the pages has an emotional response as I hear it.
-Smell it. eReader have a new plastic smell. Books have newbooksmell. Old books have oldbooksmell. Harry Potter books smell different from Twilight books. Dan Brown books smell different from James Patterson. My eReader will never smell like my Riverside Shakespeare.
quillfeather says
You'll have to rip books out of my cold dead hands before I'll buy an ebook/kindle.
You can't snuggle up with a metal device like you can a good old fashioned paperback.
I know, I know, times change and so must I, but I don't choose to purchase one anytime soon. Unless of course, if/when I ever get published and that's the only format it comes in. Well, needless to say, I'll rush out immediately and buy one…or two…or three 🙂
Terry says
Like Scott, I can never find my option on any poll. I voted "Maybe." But, "Most Likely" is closer to the truth.
And it's not that I welcome e-books with open arms,it's that I think I won't have a choice.
"Coo" is cool, though.
Anonymous says
I'm poor. I'd buy e-books for the same reason I buy used books: I like to read and will read what's cheap. This of course assumes that e-reader prices go down or eventually the free phone that comes with my service plan is an iphone.
james says
it is easier for me to read on paper, but have never tried a kindle so I dont know how they would be. The delivery system for the E-book is what makes them coo…
Even though the poll was for e-books, I really like audio books and listen to them regularly
Anonymous says
$250 for a gadget that only displays books?! Whaaaaa? is this 1965?
Right now I'd rather pay $350 for a netbook that can display ebooks and do tons of other stuff, too!
In the near future I expect to have a small projection screen gadget that does it all=–phone, music, books, video, web, email, MS office, etc., size of a blackberry.
1 life, 1 deviceâ„¢
Coming Soon
Amy says
If/when the ereaders become affordable for the masses–which technically they are, the economy just hasn't recovered enough for some of us to spend $200 on the gadget–I will likely buy an ereader, and fill it up with cheap/free classics, and guilty pleasure series, things I don't want appearing on my bookshelves.
I'll most likely continue to support my favorite authors by buying their print books, because I like the tactile connection.
This is all hypothetical, because the cheapest Sony reader on sale for $150 still couldn't tempt me to pick it up. The economy needs to give us some play money before we can adopt the technology of the future.
Travis Erwin says
Possibly but holding a bound book will always be something I desire like a fat guy does a buffet.
Jane Steen says
Yes, I can see the day coming when I only buy paper books if I am absolutely sure I want to keep them "forever". In particular, reference works such as dictionaries would work much better in e-book format (I already rely on iPhone apps quite frequently for reference). Then there are the books I want to read but probably not to keep. A quick glance at my bookshelf suggests that 75% of my books would fall into that category. I would use the shelf space saved to collect vintage books with nice bindings! The collector's book market should skyrocket once e-books gain a majority share.
That being said, I don't have an e-book reader yet, but that's just because I'm waiting for the market to mature a bit more.
Karla says
Already there.
You just cannot beat the convenience of e-books. I finished the second book in a series of seven early Sunday morning – promptly went online, bought the next one, and was happily reading while still in my jammies just three minutes later.
Love e-books. Love 'em.
CKHB says
I can envision buying SOME e-books. But MOSTLY e-books? Not gonna happen. We 30-somethings are set in our ways.
David Kubicek says
I was a staunch paper book supporter, but your blog on the 10 myths about e-books inspired me to order a Nook. So we'll see what happens.
kiaras says
I love my dead-trees. I can't imagine every giving them up. That said, I do also read on my smartphone when I'm on the move – and I'd LOVE to someday see an option where you buy the hard copy & get an e-copy along with it. (For free, for extra. Whichever. I'd just like to see a package deal.)
Anonymous says
I think the question that I would like to know is, would more e-books sold at a lower price than print books mean less money going to authors? That's what I'm mostly worrying about. Because if people by the $200+ e-readers and then proceed to buy books for relatively cheap, wouldn't most of the profits go to the manufacturers of the e-readers and not to the writers? I'd like to understand this a bit more, but all I know is, it's hard enough to make a living as an author without something else taking more out of our hands.
Anonymous says
I agree with others that the days of the dedicated device, period, (i.e. gadgets that only do 1 thing), are numbered. This goes for iPods, phones, eReaders, cameras, whatever. It's plain stupid to carry more than 1 machine around, switching headphones from device to device, Pure silliness. No reason that you can't have 1 thing that can display books and play music and make phone calls and take pictures. I'd say within 5 years, anything that's "dedicated" will seem antiquated.
Anonymous says
Practical uses for books to which e-readers will never be put;
Poor moms' dinner table booster seat
Doorstop
Self-standing bookend
Drying press for flowers
Flattening press for stamps, papers, etc.
Bludgeon
Hollowed-out hiding place
Flat keepsakes storage
Shock absorbing anvil
Weights for a variety of uses
Carbon sequestration
Word verificate: eupedi; uses to which an object, skill, or talent can be put other than intended purposes.
Nick says
I am forced to misquote the late Charlton Heston. And it would seem the majority agree with me, even if by slim margin.
lilywhite says
I've had my Kindle since April of 2008 and I've bought precisely TWO paper books since then — one because it wasn't available on Kindle the day it was released in hardcover (and I couldn't wait) and the second because it's not available for Kindle at all.
Elaine 'still writing' Smith says
Then how would I get to read in the bath? At least the steam doesn't ruin my glasses and crinkly pages can be passed off as a design feature.
I've done away with two laptops already!
Nathan Bransford says
elaine-
Plastic bag.
Anonymous says
Waiting for the waterproof Kindle I can take scuba diving with me!
Honolulu Writer says
interesting how the stats for your poll have changed over the last few years!
Never wanted one until I recently saw a Kindle up close and personal. Now I've just got to have one! I think I like the way you can share with Nook.