I launched this poll in 2007. The first Kindle had recently been released. iPads didn’t even exist yet!!
It’s been interesting to see how feelings toward e-books have evolved through the years, from a surge of initial e-book optimism, followed by a resurgence of print, and some renewed interest in e-books during the pandemic, followed by a print counter-punch.
So. Will you ever buy mostly e-books? Do you already? Are you a paper dead-ender?
My usual caveats to pre-empt the inevitable comments:
- Yes, I know this isn’t a scientific poll.
- Yes, I am aware it’s even less scientific to compare very different audiences and sample sizes through time.
- Yes, I know that you want more poll options because one of these doesn’t precisely capture all of the nuances of your e-book and print book tendencies. Choose the one that’s closest!
Poll below! If you’re reading in a feed reader or via email, you may need to click here to see it.
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Art: Detail of The Reader by Johann Hamza
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I’d like to provide context for my refusal to give up print books: I like to mark up nonfiction books with underlining, highlighting, and page flags. I also like to be able to flip back and forth between pages to compare things. I know you can technically do that in an ebook, but it doesn’t feel the same. So I’ll never read nonfiction in an ebook format if I can help it. But fiction? I read almost all of my fiction in ebook format. It’s easier to store and easier to travel with.
My reading skews slightly toward e-books, but my buying skews heavily toward ebooks. Probably over half of the print books I read come from the library, but I buy 90%-ish of my ebooks.
Fiction, e-book. Non-fiction print. If I want to add a fiction book to my shelf, I will buy a print copy too.
For technical bold I prefer a book. But for fiction I’m a Cloud reader on my iPad for free from the library. I read two to four books a week. Couldn’t afford it otherwise.
What I thought I’d never admit: I read all e-books these days.
Well I never!!!
Me too. My eyes just can’t manage print any more.
I read both, but more print than ebooks. It would be interesting to see how this skews age-wise. 🙂
What finally moved me to e-books was reading in bed. With my Kobo I can use dark mode and turn the lighting down, and read when my wife is asleep. Plus, getting ebooks doesn’t require a trip to the library to borrow and one to return. But for books that will take a while because they’re rough sledding (hello, Wolf Hall) or big bricks (hello, A Brief History of Seven Killings), I’ll buy a paper copy.