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No one buys books

elysian.press

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Re: No one buys books

#31

Post by KeplerBoy »

constantcrying wrote: post #21
sigio wrote: post #17

No one buys books, cd's, dvd's, blurays, magazines, comics, games, and many other things that were bought a lot 10-30 years ago. These days everything is online and (usually) subscription based. Looking at myself, the only things I buy regularly, is food ;)

Surely CDs have become Spotify, tidal. Blu rays have become Netflix, Disney, etc. magazines have become websites, etc. The content is still there just the medium has changed. Has the same been true for books though? eBooks do exist of course, but did they replace the publishing industry that existed 50 or a hundred years ago?

It seems obvious that books lost some market share.

People have a limited amount of time for entertainment and have a lot more choice between Netflix, YouTube, Books and thousands of other things than they did back then.

Re: No one buys books

#33

Post by vundercind »

constantcrying wrote: post #30
vundercind wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

50 or 100 years ago, people read a hell of a lot more fiction than they do now.

I suspect in the past they also read far more nonfiction.

I wouldn’t bet on it, unless we’re counting user-generated posts online, and clickbait “articles”. Which, maybe we should.

[edit] JFC I misread your sense of “read”, I think we agree.

Re: No one buys books

#34

Post by constantcrying »

KeplerBoy wrote: post #31
constantcrying wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely CDs have become Spotify, tidal. Blu rays have become Netflix, Disney, etc. magazines have become websites, etc. The content is still there just the medium has changed. Has the same been true for books though? eBooks do exist of course, but did they replace the publishing industry that existed 50 or a hundred years ago?

It seems obvious that books lost some market share. People have a limited amount of time for entertainment and have a lot more choice between Netflix, YouTube, Books and thousands of other things than they did back then.

Yes, that is what I meant. Books as a medium is just a much smaller industry with far fewer customers.

Re: No one buys books

#35

Post by matwood »

vundercind wrote: post #26
constantcrying wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely CDs have become Spotify, tidal. Blu rays have become Netflix, Disney, etc. magazines have become websites, etc. The content is still there just the medium has changed. Has the same been true for books though? eBooks do exist of course, but did they replace the publishing industry that existed 50 or a hundred years ago?

50 or 100 years ago, people read a hell of a lot more fiction than they do now.

True for fiction books. But if you think about fiction generally, as the poster said, the medium has changed. People still love fiction, but now it's movies and shows.

Re: No one buys books

#38

Post by joshuamcginnis »

I'm currently writing a book about independent thinking and I have zero expectations that it will sell even a single copy. However, the net gain I will get from having completed the goal of writing the book is invaluable to me personally.
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