Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Which Do You Prefer?


According to the Association of American Publishers, E-books account for 22% of the US book market and their sales continue to exceed paper books across the market.

Many people love paper books—they love holding them, smelling them, trailing their fingers across the spine and down the page. They love the weight of the book in their hand.

Others love e-books. They love the anonymity of being able to read anything they want without anyone knowing what they’re reading. They love being able to stock their reader with as many books as they can find and only be weighed down by the weight of the device. They love playing with the font size and looking up words.

Will either of them completely replace the other? I doubt it. There are benefits to both of them and in my opinion, they meet the needs of different people. I believe they can co-exist peacefully and anything that encourages reading is wonderful!

One benefit e-books have over paper, however, is being environmentally friendly. In honor of Earth Day, my publisher, Rebel Ink Press, sponsored a blog hop and I am one of the authors who chose to participate in it. If you’re interested in checking out the many other authors, please go here. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you, in the comments below, which you prefer and why—e-books or paper. Where do you see the industry going? What do you and your friends say?

5 comments:

  1. I like my e-reader for the reasons you stated, Jen: lots of books in one portable device. I also still love physical books. Heck--I love books. Always have, always will.

    Keeping up with technology is essential. So is conserving the planet.

    So are stories, for they are how we learn and connect.

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  2. You're right, Ana. And I also think that ereaders are great for getting kids to love reading, especially the ones who think they "hate" to read.

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  3. I'm torn. For myself I love collecting books and adding them to my library. Many of them I do reread over and over.

    For convenience, however, I adore my Kindle. I took over 100 books with me on my cruise without adding extra weight to my luggage.

    As a writer, my sales seem to be better with the e-versions than the print copies. It's definitely a changing world, isn't it?

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  4. For convenience, the Kindle wins hands down. It also means I can easily download the books written by my American friends and of course get them far more cheaply than having them mailed from the USA.
    Having said that, the e-book revolution has been slower to take off here in the UK, which is why I still need printed copies of my own books, as my sales of book are much higher than downloads.

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  5. Debra, for me, I find that the books I LOVE I want in paper, but for the rest, e-book is fine.

    Paula, as an author, because we still have so many people here who like paper, I need mine in paper too. And I can't sign a Kindle!

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