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No one buys books

elysian.press

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Re: No one buys books

#391

Post by Aeolun »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #306

I used to buy and read a lot of physical books. Around 2013-204, I started moving to eBooks, and Amazon Kindle played a significant role in my journey. But a couple of years later, I had an epiphany while discussing books with my daughter, “I never see you read books. You are just reading on your computer (kindle) or the phone and are not reading.” Since then, I have returned to reading physical books with an approxi…

> If you have kids, read more physical books in front of them.

I think this part is so important. I want to show my kids that reading is fun, but instead what they see is me looking at my phone all the time. There’s nothing differentiating reading on my phone from watching youtube videos from their perspective. Ereaders help to some extend, but only a bit.

Re: No one buys books

#392

Post by bhhaskin »

yreg wrote: post #51

I recently started buying paper books. Yes, it's not particularly ecological, but I found that I'm able to focus at the text much better this way. My Kindle (despite plenty of obvious advantages) just doesn't really work for me. It took me years to realize this, but I always start to tinker with the brightness settings, switch pages back and forth, go into the book library and back, play with highlighting words, etc.…

Honestly it is likely more ecological than ebooks after you factor in everything. Think about how many e-readers are sitting in the bottom of a landfill somewhere. Screens, batteries, plastic shells. The energy to not only power the device but all of the infrastructure for transmitting and storing the book.

Re: No one buys books

#393

Post by WolfeReader »

astura wrote: post #379
wenc wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read paper books because I can flip back and forth without friction, and I can underline and scribble. I don't know why eReader interfaces make these two functions -- critical for deep reading -- so difficult. Kindle is optimized for linear reading only. So beach reading and long romances. But if you do the kind of reading that Mortimer Adler's "How to Read a Book" proposes (skimming, inspectional reading, writing…

WTF is "deep reading?"

This link will help you understand: https://lmddgtfy.net/?q=deep%20reading

You can take a similar approach for other words and phrases you don't know, too!

Re: No one buys books

#394

Post by Aeolun »

bjelkeman-again wrote: post #70
joshuamcginnis wrote: post #38

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.

I had this idea for a hard science fiction story that I have been thinking about for years. Nobody else is going to write it, so I started. 20 000 words in my beta readers say it is good, so I think I will continue. And I don’t expect to sell it, but I want to know what happens and so do the beta readers. So on we go.

I think the best motivation I’ve ever gotten for writing was finishing another story and being sad about it.

The best part about writing the story yourself is that it never ends unless you want it to (or you end, I suppose).

Re: No one buys books

#395

Post by Aeolun »

deadbabe wrote: post #324
joshuamcginnis wrote: post #38

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.

I love the idea of owning books you can’t find anywhere else. One of the main reasons I don’t bother going to bookstores is because I know everything there is just gonna be on Amazon anyway, and with reviews. But the idea of coming across a strange book few people have read, and finding unconventional wisdom and writing inside that no publisher would ever put out, sounds exciting! I think more people should write boo…

What I want is some easy way to print any website as a book. Some web serials would be best read as a physical book, but it’s often hard or impossible.

Re: No one buys books

#396

Post by CaptainFever »

ar_lan wrote: post #382
shkkmo wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The title is provocative clickbait, but the actual point is this: > These two market categories (celebrity books and repeat bestsellers from the backlist) make up the entirety of the publishing industry and even fund their vanity project: publishing all the rest of the books we think about when we think about book publishing (which make no money at all and typically sell less than 1,000 copies). Given that spending p…

> The title is provocative clickbait, but the actual point is this. It's an aside, but this is just so frustrating we have succumbed to this level. In principle I don't even want to read the article because the title is ridiculous, but on the other hand, they wouldn't generate any traffic if they don't because our brains are too fixated on "drama" and "controversy" that clickbait titles generate.

We need DeArrow but for the Internet.

Re: No one buys books

#397

Post by [deleted] »

criddell wrote: post #105
echelon_musk wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The older I get the less I trust myself to know how to administer or even to care how to work any current or future reading e-device. A printed book requires light as just about it's only dependency! I definitely agree with you about the distractions of digital devices. Switching to a book is a focused mode.

The older I get, the more I appreciate being able to select a larger font with my Kindle. I love books, but the accessibility features of a modern ereader are pretty great too.

[deleted]

Re: No one buys books

#398

Post by greenie_beans »

kyleyeats wrote: post #71
AlbertCory wrote: post #58

I've asked a number of agents online for two numbers: 1) How many unsolicited queries have you received, in whatever time period you like: month, quarter, year, forever? 2) How many turned into published books? None will provide that data, but I strongly suspect that the answer to #2 is "zero." They'll happily quote you BS quantities, like "a bunch" or "a handful." So as this article says, they spend their time chasi…

You used to pitch your book to publishers. Now you pitch your audience.

this is true for non-fiction for sure

Re: No one buys books

#399

Post by lithiumii »

lannisterstark wrote: post #372
somenameforme wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another nice benefit of paper is that the company that sold it can't just bust down your door, steal the book, drop off a few bucks, and then go back along their merry way. Amazon did exactly this with, amongst other books, 1984. Such a perfectly appropriate book.

I don't think they can do that with my calibre, and calibre-web collection lol.

But if you accidentally exposed your calibre-web online, they may be able to DMCA you?

Re: No one buys books

#400

Post by j45 »

yellow_postit wrote: post #340
grepLeigh wrote: post #332

From the article: >>> "Wouldn’t it be great if you could pay $9.99 a month and read all of the books you want?" I sincerely hope nothing "disrupts" public libraries in my lifetime. As a California resident, I can walk into ANY public library in the state and get a free library card with access to physical books, audiobooks, ebooks. Some branches have laptops, hotspots, tablets, e-readers available to borrow. My local…

It’s funny seeing this comment and the article about Seattle libraries reducing digital copies both on HNews front page at the same time. I love libraries. It also feels like all our public institutions in the US are crumbling under assault from all sides.

Limiting or undermining literacy remains important to those who benefit from it.
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