Something interesting happened last year with the results of my annual e-books survey. For the first time in nearly ten years, more people saw themselves sticking with paper books for the long haul.
Was it a blip on the path to e-book dominance? Are people reconsidering their allegiances given the ubiquity of screens and the persistence of bookstores?
With the usual caveats that this is an unscientific poll, the results are below. And wouldn’t you know it: e-books are back on top. Barely.
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%
2018: 42.4%
The paper dead-enders:
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%
2018: 41.2%
What do you make of this poll? Does it track with your perceptions? Have you wavered at all in your choice?
My crystal ball remains cloudy. Certainly, this is not where many doomsayers insisted we would be now, towards the end of a decade in whose first three years paper support dropped to only 25% in your poll.
Incidentally Nathan, how many voted this year?
Thank you for this insightful post. Based on my own buying experience, I can say I still prefer print books, but if I am very eager to read a particular book, I will order the e-book version. Moreover, as I run out of physical space to store print books, purchasing e-books enables me to maintain a large library without concerns for storage space.
Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, Author
http://www.maryanndiorio.com
“Heart-Mending Books for the Young
and the Young-at-Heart”
Though I liked my Kindle well enough, I spent most of the last several years as a dedicated, old school reader of paper books. Love the feel of them in my hand. Must say, however, that I’m finding some things that I prefer as an ebook. It continues that ebooks are a distant second. This is reinforced by the fact that ebooks are way overpriced. Books that I’d put there I now look for at used bookstores.
Words on paper rest my eyes. I work on screen, but when I read for pleasure I want a book.
I generally prefer ebooks because with poor vision I value the ability to enlarge the font. But I still appreciate the beauty of a well-designed print edition. I find that the main times I buy print instead of ebooks are when the used print book is cheaper than the ebook, when I know I’m going to be using a book frequently as a reference and want to mark it up and flag pages, or when I’m at a conference or other event where I have the opportunity to have the book signed by the author. And of course sometimes older books aren’t available in ebook format, so one has no choice.
To each his own! If you like print, fine. It’s not going away, not if publishers can help it. I love ebooks! Every book is a large-print book. And my heirs won’t have to throw them out when I die. I love some of the features on my Kindle, like self-lighting, and highlighting words to use the dictionary and Wkipedia, and the X-Ray feature (when the publisher has done the set-up work). I always read on an e-ink Kindle because it’s so easy on my eyes. I haven’t read a print book in three years or so.
I agree with the comment that new, traditionally published ebooks are over-priced. This is, in fact, one of the main reasons self-publishing is viable. It’s much harder to compete in print because you have to allow for printing costs in pricing a print book. But with ebooks, you can price the book at $2.99 or $3.99 and still make money. So, as I writer, I’m happy for the high prices, and as a reader, I mostly buy old books, self-published books, and books on sale.
If it’s not E, it’s not for me.
I’m old. I haven’t the time, money, or space for more paper. I never have to check to make sure I have my book with me when I leave the house. I never have to wait for the next book to be in stock or shipped to me. I never have to wander from room to room trying to find the blasted thing because I put it down – somewhere – and now I can’t remember where.
It’s always on my phone. In my pocket.
I want to play in the stories, not the boxes they come in.
You might see if the differences are linked to what people read. I favor paper because I mostly read non-fiction and like having that book around for future reference. But I can readily understand why those who read a lot of fiction would prefer ebooks. I do much the same myself. For my fiction reading, I mostly listen to recorded books.
Great!
I stumbled across this by accident, and I remember the older posts when e-book were first gaining momentum. I think the lines are now drawn clearly down the middle, between those who only read print and those who only read digital. At least that’s what I’m seeing through sales and commentary in genre fiction. I do think it’s generational to a certain extent. But not always. In the last years of her life my mom only read on her phone. And she was an avid reader.
And frankly, I read everything…my entire library…in digital on my phone and I would rather skip meals than go back to reading old time print books. But there’s still a huge segment out who will never switch over to digital, and they’re almost violent about it, too. I know there are people who read both digital and print, but I don’t think they are the majority.
I also believe that if you’re an author nowadays and you’re with a small publisher and that small publisher doesn’t release your book in both digital and print, they are doing you a huge disservice. I recently passed up on buying two non-fic books because the small publisher didn’t want to release them in digital. But that’s an example of how I feel about it. If it’s not out in digital now, I’m passing on it.