Do eBooks boost print sales?
I have - rightfully - been accused of having one foot firmly planted in the 19th Century and the other in the 20th. To say that the 21st Century and I are only on vague speaking terms would be accurate.
That said, I have to admit that despite my initial reluctance to read anything that wasn't printed on paper I have become an enormous fan of eBooks.
My love affair with them started when I moved to Spain a couple of years ago and discovered that post offices are no longer as reliable as they once were. I ordered books from the States, waited up to three and four weeks for them to arrive and, sadly, some of them never did.
Very frustrating for someone like me who likes carrying at least a couple of books in my backpack whenever I leave my apartment just so I have something to read while having a coffee or relaxing on a park bench.
Because my laptop came loaded with Kindle, I decided to try eBooks as an alternative to continually re-reading the same paperbacks and hardbacks I have at home. (Don't get me wrong, I still read those old friends... it's just that I also crave new books.)
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading in this new format. So surprised that when I started writing my own novels at about the same time the idea of publishing them electronically seemed even more appealing than it had been.
Why?
Well, for one thing, eBooks are generally less expensive than paperbacks. That's important for me because I'm retired now and living on a small pension. As a result, budgeting is no longer something that happens to other people.
For another: You can order one and start reading it usually within 10 minutes. No more waiting weeks for it to arrive, if it ever does.
Finally, and maybe best of all, there is a huge variety of eBooks written by many very talented authors that the big publishing houses have chosen to - for one reason or another - ignore. Buying eBooks allows me to discover some excellent novels that you and I just aren't going to find on the shelves of our local bookstores.
But, as a devoted fan of the printed page, I started wondering if eBooks were going to kill off independent bookstores and severely hurt the paperback and hardback markets.
Apparently they do not do either.
New studies show that independent bookstores are making a real comeback and that neither paperback nor hardback sales have been crushed by the eBook revolution.
I think that might have something to do with the fact that eBooks have helped many people get back into the habit of reading. The reason: They are so darn convenient.
When I'm traveling, for example, it used to be that half my luggage was books. Now all I need is my laptop and a sort-of-reliable Internet connection. I no longer have to lug around three or four books because, in truth, I have more than 50 eBooks on my laptop and have access to literally thousands more with a few keystrokes.
What this means is that when I am, for example, in London I can browse bookshops and find a couple of paperbacks that I want to add to my library, buy them and bring them back to Spain without having to also buy another suitcase to carry home my treasures.
For many people who have gotten out of the habit of reading anything but progress reports and angry memos from their bosses, the low cost combined with the convenience of being able to quickly buy and then just as quickly start reading eBooks has allowed them to rediscover the inherent joy of following a good mystery to its conclusion or journeying to faraway places - including other planets if they are sci-fi fans. That rediscovered joy of reading has led many of them back into bookstores if my conversations with folks in airports, on trains and in bookstores is any gauge.
As I said, I'm not really fully engaged with the 21st Century but I have to admit there are some aspects of it - and being able to carry 50 or more novels with me on a trip is certainly one - that are darned appealing.
That said, I have to admit that despite my initial reluctance to read anything that wasn't printed on paper I have become an enormous fan of eBooks.
My love affair with them started when I moved to Spain a couple of years ago and discovered that post offices are no longer as reliable as they once were. I ordered books from the States, waited up to three and four weeks for them to arrive and, sadly, some of them never did.
Very frustrating for someone like me who likes carrying at least a couple of books in my backpack whenever I leave my apartment just so I have something to read while having a coffee or relaxing on a park bench.
Because my laptop came loaded with Kindle, I decided to try eBooks as an alternative to continually re-reading the same paperbacks and hardbacks I have at home. (Don't get me wrong, I still read those old friends... it's just that I also crave new books.)
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading in this new format. So surprised that when I started writing my own novels at about the same time the idea of publishing them electronically seemed even more appealing than it had been.
Why?
Well, for one thing, eBooks are generally less expensive than paperbacks. That's important for me because I'm retired now and living on a small pension. As a result, budgeting is no longer something that happens to other people.
For another: You can order one and start reading it usually within 10 minutes. No more waiting weeks for it to arrive, if it ever does.
Finally, and maybe best of all, there is a huge variety of eBooks written by many very talented authors that the big publishing houses have chosen to - for one reason or another - ignore. Buying eBooks allows me to discover some excellent novels that you and I just aren't going to find on the shelves of our local bookstores.
But, as a devoted fan of the printed page, I started wondering if eBooks were going to kill off independent bookstores and severely hurt the paperback and hardback markets.
Apparently they do not do either.
New studies show that independent bookstores are making a real comeback and that neither paperback nor hardback sales have been crushed by the eBook revolution.
I think that might have something to do with the fact that eBooks have helped many people get back into the habit of reading. The reason: They are so darn convenient.
When I'm traveling, for example, it used to be that half my luggage was books. Now all I need is my laptop and a sort-of-reliable Internet connection. I no longer have to lug around three or four books because, in truth, I have more than 50 eBooks on my laptop and have access to literally thousands more with a few keystrokes.
What this means is that when I am, for example, in London I can browse bookshops and find a couple of paperbacks that I want to add to my library, buy them and bring them back to Spain without having to also buy another suitcase to carry home my treasures.
For many people who have gotten out of the habit of reading anything but progress reports and angry memos from their bosses, the low cost combined with the convenience of being able to quickly buy and then just as quickly start reading eBooks has allowed them to rediscover the inherent joy of following a good mystery to its conclusion or journeying to faraway places - including other planets if they are sci-fi fans. That rediscovered joy of reading has led many of them back into bookstores if my conversations with folks in airports, on trains and in bookstores is any gauge.
As I said, I'm not really fully engaged with the 21st Century but I have to admit there are some aspects of it - and being able to carry 50 or more novels with me on a trip is certainly one - that are darned appealing.
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