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

nytimes.com

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

#61

Post by 6502nerdface »

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…

> Authors have taken to breaking out a book's chapters and releasing them individually [1] to capitalize on this model.

This is exactly how many classic novels and other long works of literature were originally published in the Victorian and Edwardian periods [1]. For genres like SF and Fantasy, this remained a common model well into the twentieth century. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a modern return to serialization of longer works; it's actually kind of neat -- greater optionality for the reader.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_%28literature%29

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

#62

Post by Kevguy »

TheGRS wrote: post #40
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.

Its curious why you would feel any more comfortable with a book that would be ruined by water than with a tablet that would also be ruined by water. I actually get why, there's less at stake for your $10 book than for your $60 kindle, but its still curious. I've read my kindle in the bath numerous times :)

To me, the book wouldn't be ruined if it got wet. It would get wrinkled and a little harder to read, but still useable. I believe the Kindle would actually stop working if dropped in the water. To be fair, I've never tried it to know for sure...

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

#63

Post by acd »

Sometime I wonder what the markering sales tag lines would be if the book was released after the e-book.

Zero battery usage. Spill friendly throw it away. Environmentally friendly fully recycable without ewaste. High contrast

If the price is similar, why go ebook unless you need it delivered right now? Ebook has an advantage of of library in your pocket, zero delivery time.

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

#64

Post by bduerst »

Someone1234 wrote: post #56
bduerst wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 n…

True, and it would be an argument if you couldn't preview the first few chapters of a kindle book already.

The problem lay with Amazon, not the authors. The authors are rational actors reacting to the changes that Amazon made to their marketplace. By trying to push their subscription model, Amazon is inadvertently reducing the quality of their ebook marketplace.

And man, if you're a SciFi fan, you should read Hugh Howley's Wool book too.

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

#65

Post by emp_zealoth »

TheGRS wrote: post #35
fahimulhaq wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious. What are the missing features in technical/programming ebooks in your opinion?

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…

Android 10 inch eink reader works great. Ive got my own apps to work with, one of them has all the good stuff (comprehensive oneclick dictionary, progress bar you can use to quickly "flip" to different parts of the document, just like with a book you open "around 1/3rd") I've been using it to work with huge coursebook pdfs (A4)

It's got Kindle DX screen in it, not that great, but ability to not use mentally challenged and lackluster UI (apps of my choosing) make it worthwhile IMO.

Sadly, it is very chinese and it broke after few months. Currently having a tug-of-war with a scumbag seller that refuses to honor warranty. Ordered another one, because it is only e-reader that makes sense for my use cases. (Seriously, how hard can it be to make a good 10 inch reader? Especially, for the 500euro price point...)

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

#66

Post by mkaziz »

acd wrote: post #63

Sometime I wonder what the markering sales tag lines would be if the book was released after the e-book. Zero battery usage. Spill friendly throw it away. Environmentally friendly fully recycable without ewaste. High contrast If the price is similar, why go ebook unless you need it delivered right now? Ebook has an advantage of of library in your pocket, zero delivery time.

That's outweighed by the fact that I don't own the ebook in the same way I own the book. The book is mine to keep, loan, rent, throw away, donate, etc, in a way that's not governed by esoteric license agreements.

I can wait 2 days for that. If you can't wait, consider that if you buy a print book from Amazon that has an ebook available, Amazon will let you read the beginning of the book on your kindle app/device, until the paper book ships in.

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

#67

Post by JustSomeNobody »

dublinben wrote: post #59
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Looks like in order to read a "DocBook" book, one has to convert it to another format. Unless I am missing something.

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

#68

Post by bduerst »

6502nerdface wrote: post #61
bduerst wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Authors have taken to breaking out a book's chapters and releasing them individually [1] to capitalize on this model. This is exactly how many classic novels and other long works of literature were originally published in the Victorian and Edwardian periods [1]. For genres like SF and Fantasy, this remained a common model well into the twentieth century. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a modern…

Yep, and there is nothing wrong with serialization today. If you're interested, I would even recommend reading the Worm web serial.

The point I was making was that the ebook marketplace on Amazon is getting worse because they are incentivizing serialization without updating their search or recommendation engine to account for it.

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

#69

Post by ghaff »

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…

>Amazon has been pushing the "Kindle Unlimited" subscription model and changed how authors get paid for those consumers, which favors shorter stories.

A couple of points.

People seem to be shifting in general, George R. R. Martin novels notwithstanding, to favoring shorter content. My specific experience is more in the marketing literature and research reports space but there we've seen a clear shift toward shorter and more visual content being preferred. And even in the technical book space, there seem to be a lot more short books out there.

I remember reading the observation quite a few years ago now that the publishing industry was effectively built around a model where you could have a magazine article or a 300+ page book but you couldn't really do something in between. I suspect that even when e-books made a 100-page book economically viable, a lot of people including consumers still thought in terms of print. This seems to be starting to change.

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

#70

Post by krasin »

ilamont wrote: post #60

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,…

There's also an issue of Ebook lock-ins. Some people are tired to have their collection of purchased books in various incompatible formats available to read through different subsets of devices / apps.
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