For the 11th consecutive year, I asked people if they could see themselves buying mostly ebooks or if their affection for that paper smell was too hard to shake.
This year? Paper seems to be making a comeback in a big way. For the first time since 2009, more people saw themselves sticking with paper books than eventually succumbing to e-books.
The people who welcome their coming e-book overlords…
2007: 7% (!)
2008: 11%
2009: 19%
2010: 32%
2011: 47%
2012: 47%
2013: 49%
2014: 44%
2015: 40.5%
2016: 47.1%
2017: 39.9%
The paper dead-enders who will smite e-books with great fury:
2007: 49%
2008: 45%
2009: 37%
2010: 30%
2011: 25%
2012: 25%
2013: 25%
2014: 28%
2015: 38.6%
2016: 37.8%
2017: 46.2%
What do you make of these results? With the understanding that this isn’t scientific, does it track with your intuition? Is paper back on the ascendancy?
I’m a small publisher, and I will say, that judging from my book sales, print and digital, I’m not surprised by these numbers. On Amazon, the print versions of my anthology series has consistently outsold the Kindle versions. This year especially.
There’s an interesting age component in all this, too, and not exactly what one might expect. My 76-year-old mother has gone almost all e-books. She still buys print, but only reads them when she can’t find her Kindle Fire. She likes them for the same reason I do: easy on arthritic hands and not-so-hot aging eyeballs.
My teenager, on the other hand, will only read novels digitally when she doesn’t have a print book on hand. She (and her friends), much prefer print.
I’m in the middle, and have gone all E, to the point of replacing my best-loved go-to reread novels with e-versions whenever I can afford to. I only keep the paper or hardbacks if they have a beloved cover, or notes in them. Moving next time will be much easier…
According to the trade sale numbers, this seems to be a major trend, but I don’t totally buy it since the trade numbers don’t include self-published books. From what I’ve heard from self-pub authors, the cheaper ebooks are much more attractive to their readers although they do sell a surprising amount of paper books.
I’ve read ebooks since the late Nineties, and I rarely read paper. I’m even prone to let paper books friends want me to read languish because I’ve grown to dislike paper, particularly the aromas and dust. The only paper I buy is as presents.
I’m surprised by the results and some of the comments. I’d begun to think that paper books had had their day as digital are so easily obtained and are – mostly – so inexpensive. But if we wanted a beautifully illustrated children’s book or coffee table book, can’t beat paper books. In fact, I believer illustrations are difficult to add to digital books as they add to the costs given their size. I’m trying to produce an illustrated book with Kindle in mind, though, and I’m pleased to see that the allowance for pictures has been increased so we can add better quality ones, but they’d increase the size of downloads. However, having said that, I believe that a new version of Harry Potter ebooks have illustrations with moving elements. I wonder how they managed to keep the sizes down?
I only read e-books now. But I find that people are still buying my own print books and I still have to offer them in both print and digital.
But I do find one thing interesting. The people who claim to depise e-books so much aren’t what I would call voracious readers. They are the Fifty Shades of Grey or Harry Potter people. They only read what’s being talked about at the latest cocktail parties. The true dedicated readers nowadays are all reading digital. And they buy books.
I have to disagree with you there. I’m a full time reading addict who averages 300 books a year and I won’t go near E Books. Part of it is my eyes can’t handle screens for long periods but also they just aren’t as relaxing. There is just something about the feel and smell of paper that makes a person feel at home.
I was one of the changed votes from the last several years (and even though the categories leave some significant gaps, I’m glad you keep them the same year to year). I read both paper and ebooks but find I’ve trended back to more paper this year, for two reasons: 1, to better support authors, and 2, because I retain what I read so much better. It makes novels less “disposable” to read them in paper.