tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post2283871356494908199..comments2024-03-19T00:31:57.290-04:00Comments on Pimp My Novel: The Death of (Another) Format (Rerun)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-75122865802837109262011-01-23T22:22:42.896-05:002011-01-23T22:22:42.896-05:00There are a couple of reasons why I don't thin...There are a couple of reasons why I don't think readers will be the ones to kill of mass paperbacks. E-readers hurt some people's eyes. They just can't read on the screen for that long. Also, some people just aren't going to be a big fan of e-readers. I could get one but I haven't gotten one because I just prefer solid copies just as some people prefer e-readers. Neither side are wrong or right.<br /><br />I mean, if I get an e-reader copy of an Enyd Blyton book, I can only read it / access it for so long as the software / hardware doesn't out-pace it. If my e-reader is made obsolete, what happens to my library? True, it'll likely last ten or so years, but I like the idea of having my fave books close to hand in forty years time. I don't always have the money or inclination to buy it in hard copy even though I want to keep it around.<br /><br />But that's just my personal views and I might just end up in the wailing minority. It'd also be a crying shame because it'd spell the end of libraries.Shannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00456068019298922261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-70430476098034328122011-01-21T13:37:56.937-05:002011-01-21T13:37:56.937-05:00numbers are lovely thingsnumbers are lovely thingsRayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10982456781495860478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-85701433652607834772011-01-21T11:37:06.091-05:002011-01-21T11:37:06.091-05:00Sales of the mass market paperback are way down th...Sales of the mass market paperback are way down this year. <br /><br />Some reasons the MM paperback is doomed.<br /><br />1) The number one genre is MM sales is the romance novel, a genre that has embraced and gotten in bed with the e-book.<br /><br />2) E-readers are FREE. If you can read me now, you have an e-reader. A recent study claimed over 60% of e-books read were read by people who have not bought an e-reader. <br /><br />3) E-books offer the price break and the book when it is new. MM paperback you have to wait for the hardcover to stop selling.<br /><br />4) Those who love the print format for looks, smell, the cover's color matches the couch, etc will buy hardcovers.<br /><br />Finally a question for Eric our leader. Will the e-reader make the audio format more popular?michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17812924049258701715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-87499369967696967822011-01-20T21:53:05.652-05:002011-01-20T21:53:05.652-05:00I don't predict the end of paperbacks for a fe...I don't predict the end of paperbacks for a few reasons.<br />1) When I travel, I'm more likely to lose things. Losing a Kindle would be expensive, so I think many people may stick with paperbacks when traveling.<br />2) Students often mark up their books. Although I expect e-readers to offer features, I expect writing in the book to remain popular.<br />3) A Kindle won't fit in my back pocket, which is a handy advantage to a paperback.<br />4) If I'm going to the beach, I'd worry about sand in my Kindle.<br />I think paperbacks may last longer than you suggest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-82194649097641294062011-01-20T17:46:41.845-05:002011-01-20T17:46:41.845-05:00People like having bookshelves full of hardcovers....<i>People like having bookshelves full of hardcovers. They like having them signed. They like physically perusing a library rather than flipping through a list of titles on a screen.</i><br /><br />Genre readers like having bookshelves full of books, like having them signed, and like physically perusing a library rather than flipping through a list of titles on a screen just as much as literary readers do. Mass market paperbacks don't just sell well because they're cheap, lightweight, and don't take up a lot of space; they sell well because in much of genre fiction, unless an author is a very, very Big Name, that's the only print format a book is available in. As long as there are fans of this type of fiction - fiction which, I need not remind you, makes the most money for publishers, despite having a low price-point - and as long as it's packaged in mass market paperbacks, they will sell. <br /><br />And it's not the either-or situation you're making it out to be. If you actually interacted with genre readers, you'd know that many of the ones who generally use an e-reader will still buy a mass market copy of a book they really like or one that's by a favourite author.Lynz Pickleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09491480053800624652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-57378368137649621812011-01-20T17:35:00.976-05:002011-01-20T17:35:00.976-05:00I held a nook the other day and was amazed at how ...I held a nook the other day and was amazed at how HEAVY it was. A paperback weighs much less (I think a hardcover might weigh less, too). I'll stick with the paperback.Stacy McKitrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07898731847653710759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-11018583733449215812011-01-20T17:21:03.600-05:002011-01-20T17:21:03.600-05:00You don't see a reason why people would go for...You don't see a reason why people would go for a print book over an ebook? That feels so odd. For the same reason you go for the ebook over the print: they enjoy it more.<br /><br />Maybe a new generation is being created where electronic reading becomes so commonplace that our retinas and brains have readjusted, and all the dinosaurs have died, but in the meantime, I suspect lots of people will continue reading on paper because they like reading on paper. They like holding a book. Their brain is organized spatially, not electronically, and so, for instance, when they want to go back in a book, they want to actually go back, by turning pages. <br /><br />There may also be additional reasons people will continue with print, at least in the mid-term, such as a desire not to add to the demand for devices that use heavy metals and other toxic substances in their production, or the burgeoning ewaste issue that the US rarely talks about because it doesn't affect the US.<br /><br />Other than that, in the end, who cares how someone else reads? The fact that people are reading matters. Story matters.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06264517905440045644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-18941015571756472682011-01-20T16:30:40.684-05:002011-01-20T16:30:40.684-05:00Books are out, but stories and language are here t...Books are out, but stories and language are here to stay. That's what matters, in my Grand Opinion.Jodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03418253504761029445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-11581697757537923742011-01-20T12:42:44.409-05:002011-01-20T12:42:44.409-05:00And...cut. That's a wrap.
I couldn't agr...And...cut. That's a wrap.<br /><br />I couldn't agree more.patlaffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02522643437164634921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-49307917031249929982011-01-20T12:26:08.304-05:002011-01-20T12:26:08.304-05:00Well, you're full of good news, aren't we,...Well, you're full of good news, aren't we, Mr. Doomsday? Yesterday between flights I picked up a 50% off paperback, read it quickly and didn't mind leaving it behind for someone else. Wouldn't and couldn't do that with a e-book reader, now could I? I predict that paperbacks will continue to be around for longer than one might predict. P.S. My books are e-books too and yes, they are selling quicker than the paperbacks. Most be all those travelers.June, The Pen Goddesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03988780121735492198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-19849921857671526672011-01-20T11:00:36.388-05:002011-01-20T11:00:36.388-05:00http://www.piworld.com/common/items/biz/pi/pdf/201...http://www.piworld.com/common/items/biz/pi/pdf/2010/09/pi_pdf_HarrisPoll_eReaders.pdf<br /><br />Just to put some numbers behind my post. Of the 92% of US adults who do not use an electronic reading device of any kind, less than 20% read more than 20 books per year. A Kindle is $140, so for most people e-reading is more expensive than paper-reading, for the first year at least.Rayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10982456781495860478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-21451496302211966262011-01-20T10:22:13.764-05:002011-01-20T10:22:13.764-05:00I wouldn't discount airport sales and the like...I wouldn't discount airport sales and the like. Sure, frequent travelers will have their e-readers on them and bypass the airport bookstore, but what about the occasional fliers who find themselves stranded and bored between TSA gate rapists?<br /><br />I think there's a market for physical books for anyone who's in an isolated, closed environment, particularly an environment of scarcity, such as military personnel (esp. those deployed overseas), prison inmates, schoolchildren, etc. The cheap, low-tech, disposable paperback that can be traded amongst one's peers is still highly popular in these milieus.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733835506387656648.post-22133716580598311622011-01-20T10:16:56.366-05:002011-01-20T10:16:56.366-05:00I'd guess MMPBs will survive for quite some ti...I'd guess MMPBs will survive for quite some time, because of something you mention but don't really address. <br />MMPBs are <b>cheap.</b><br />E-books may also be cheap, but <b>e-readers are not.</b><br />Switching to e-books doesn't make economic sense unless you are spending a lot of money on books every year. Which a lot of MMPB readers don't. (And then you have to factor in the reluctance to incur a large up-front cost that will probably save you money 2/3 years down the line)<br /><br />(I know, you predict that e-readers will get cheaper eventually, but don't you think that this will lead to the death of almost all paper formats? So why call out this one?)<br /><br />Incidentally, have the sales of large-print books fallen off a cliff post-Kindle?Rayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10982456781495860478noreply@blogger.com