Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 190 posts

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#51

Post by bduerst »

Booktrope wrote: post #50

More bad information about the publishing business from the NY Times. Ebook sales aren't declining generally; it's big publisher ebook sales that are declining. Ebook sales for self-pubbed authors and indie publishers are growing rapidly. If you have any doubts about this, check out the authorearnings.com website, which tracks sales of ebooks on Amazon and other platforms. Buried in the article is information from Am…

This is a misconception - it's like saying Hollywood is worried about Youtube celebs.

There was an episode on "What's the point" (a 538 podcast) where book publishers talked about how they use data in their industry. Publishers are primarily interested in cultivating "star" authors and use social media + a number of other signals to find them.

They were asked about it and basically said that the hostility between publishers and self-published authors is only perceived, and in reality the self-publishing makes it easier to find the star authors and pick them up.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#52

Post by delecti »

derefr wrote: post #33
LordKano wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After a long day of working in the garden, on my car or on a home improvement project, I like to relax in a hot bath with a good book. I'm not comfortable doing that with my Kindle. I may not be the average book consumer but I buy a lot of books.

That's a problem with the device more than anything. The ultimate e-book reader form-factor (that all the device manufacturers are gunning to eventually get to, with research into flexible e-ink et al) will look like nothing more than a laminated sheet of paper, and would be pretty much just as safe to get wet.

I actually find your hypothetical device very unappealing.

I've tried several kindle models somewhat extensively, and eventually opted for a thicker model (2015 Paperwhite) because the thinner one (Kindle Voyage) was much less comfortable to hold. I think that the ergonomics of a piece of paper would be even less pleasant for long periods of reading. I think we're just wired to handle stuff in our hands, whatever that stuff happens to be.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#53

Post by bduerst »

TheGRS wrote: post #16
PLenz wrote: post #11

To me, this is the best news I've heard all day. See, used books made me - my local library as a kid was heavy on Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, and decades-old travel guides, not so much on other subjects. I very distinctly remember wanting to find Catch-22 and not only was it not available from my local, it wasn't available at any library in the county. But used book stores didn't have that problem. I found my copy of…

Much of these books you can borrow for free on your kindle from a library though.

Unfortunately you still have to physically go to the library to get them sent to your kindle. It's almost worth $5-10 to me to not have to do that.

Edit: I think I need to have a chat with my library.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#54

Post by TheGRS »

dragonwriter wrote: post #47
TheGRS wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience with technical books in ebook form has been pretty lack-luster so far. I personally like to have my screen dedicated to the IDE and to have the book over on some other screen. This is so I don't lose context in what I'm working on and so I can easily work through examples without putting the text away. Most of the time I only have the one laptop screen however, so if I'm reading an ebook on the same com…

> Reading a technical ebook on my kindle has its own set of problems. Examples are usually written for the paperback book (which are usually very wide), so the kindle will squish examples and put them across multiple kindle pages. I haven't tried using an ebook with a large tablet yet, so maybe that is the sweet spot. Wanting for one of its uses to be as an reader for documents (technical and otherwise) formatted for…

I'll have to check out a technical ebook on my ipad mini at some point, that is the largest tablet I own at the moment. I'd be interested in getting a cheaper, large android tablet just for that purpose.

I will check out google's book app, at least to see how they're solving this.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#55

Post by macjohnmcc »

I am not surprised. I wanted to buy a book and found the physical book price was $39 but I could get it used for about $8. The ebook was $28. Even without the used price option I would have rather had the physical book for the price difference between $39 and $28.

Ebooks would be more worthwhile to me at the current prices IF you could get updated versions of the book (errata not new content).

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#56

Post by Someone1234 »

bduerst wrote: post #42
TheGRS wrote: post #15

I hope this isn't the trend going forward. I don't get the traditionalist love of paperback books most of the time. Like the sort of people who go on and on about exploring book stores or the smell of new paper. I love my Kindle and I really hope to be able to use it as my primary reading source, its just so convenient, light, portable and unobtrusive (especially with that newer back-light option). But the price of n…

The marketplace is getting worse for e-books, not better. Amazon has been pushing the "Kindle Unlimited" subscription model and changed how authors get paid for those consumers, which favors shorter stories. Authors have taken to breaking out a book's chapters and releasing them individually [1] to capitalize on this model. Conversely, this gives them more shelf space in Amazon's recommendations, and because they are…

One could argue, if one was so inclined, that releasing smaller cheaper books is better for the consumer.

Right now, you'll spend $4-11 on a book. A lot of people know within two or three chapters if they like the book, and will make a decision on finishing it. If you're buying books in parts, that allows the reader to try the book at a smaller financial risk. For example you can find out if you'll like the book or not for $1 rather than $6.

Even the example you linked, it would have cost me $5 previously to try the author/book out, but now only costs me $1. That's a win for me (PS - and I might try out that book as it sounds pretty interesting as a SciFi topic).

> Conversely, this gives them more shelf space in Amazon's recommendations, and because they are the same book, it lowers the signal to noise ratio in the marketplace for finding something relevant to read.

But is this an inherent problem with the books/authors themselves, or Amazon's site? If Amazon grouped all of the chapters or parts into a single "volume" then it both wouldn't negatively impact recommendations or flood the genre list with duplicates.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#57

Post by Someone1234 »

LordKano wrote: post #28
TheGRS wrote: post #15

I hope this isn't the trend going forward. I don't get the traditionalist love of paperback books most of the time. Like the sort of people who go on and on about exploring book stores or the smell of new paper. I love my Kindle and I really hope to be able to use it as my primary reading source, its just so convenient, light, portable and unobtrusive (especially with that newer back-light option). But the price of n…

After a long day of working in the garden, on my car or on a home improvement project, I like to relax in a hot bath with a good book. I'm not comfortable doing that with my Kindle. I may not be the average book consumer but I buy a lot of books.

Throw it in a zip-lock bag. They're like $1/each and even the touch interface works through them.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#58

Post by JustSomeNobody »

TheGRS wrote: post #15

I hope this isn't the trend going forward. I don't get the traditionalist love of paperback books most of the time. Like the sort of people who go on and on about exploring book stores or the smell of new paper. I love my Kindle and I really hope to be able to use it as my primary reading source, its just so convenient, light, portable and unobtrusive (especially with that newer back-light option). But the price of n…

There needs to be a new document format for technical docs. Mobi, epub and pdf just aren't working. I would love to be able to go all digital and read technical docs on my kindle, but right now it's frustrating. Even on a tablet, it's not great.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#59

Post by dublinben »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #58
TheGRS wrote: post #15

I hope this isn't the trend going forward. I don't get the traditionalist love of paperback books most of the time. Like the sort of people who go on and on about exploring book stores or the smell of new paper. I love my Kindle and I really hope to be able to use it as my primary reading source, its just so convenient, light, portable and unobtrusive (especially with that newer back-light option). But the price of n…

There needs to be a new document format for technical docs. Mobi, epub and pdf just aren't working. I would love to be able to go all digital and read technical docs on my kindle, but right now it's frustrating. Even on a tablet, it's not great.

Like DocBook?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocBook

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#60

Post by ilamont »

Small publisher here. I believe Ebook sales have been generally flat or declining for many titles for the following reasons:

* Pricing issues

* Huge influx of new/republished titles entering ebook distribution channels are outpacing demand, including many free or low-cost self-published titles

* Kindle Fire sales negatively impacting ebook reading habits encourages people to do other things besides read (video, apps, games, etc.)

* Decline of marketplaces/platforms that are unable to compete, e.g. Nook, Sony.

* Subscription plans (especially Kindle Unlimited) eating away at paid digital downloads.

* Some people prefer print

Many established publishers are still focused on print because that’s where the sales are and that’s where they still wield considerable power. For the short technology guides I publish, print accounts for 70-80% of sales. Certain ebook marketplaces that could be doing well (Apple iBookstore, Google Play) have really stagnated, unfortunately.

Post reply on HN