Or perhaps I should say a Renaissance.
E-books. We all know their sales are going up in leaps and bounds while physical book sales are dropping. Is this surprising? Well I don’t think so. But let me explain my POV *grin*
I LOVE books. The smell of a new book, the lovely smoothness of a new cover, how pretty it looks on my bookshelf (and like most avid readers, always need more bookshelves ; p) the only downside to my love of books is their price.
At $40 a pop for a new book it really is a BIG luxury for me. So when the e-readers are under $100 and it means I could buy, like, 5 new stories for $15, well that makes me pretty ecstatic. Especially because I can fit HUNDREDS of books onto that tinsy, tiny e-reader.
Instead of living in fear of being crushed by my numerous weighty bookcases in an earthquake *lol*
The other thing I love about the whole e-book movement?
I love that no one can dictate my choices. Just because vampires are huge right now (and a shout out to Amanda Hocking with her fantastic selling ‘My Blood Approves’ series) doesn’t mean we ALL want to read them. I love a huge variety of books that, truth be told, my local bookstores just can’t offer. But on-line where self-publishing is beginning to explode I can find literally (*lol*) ANY KIND OF BOOK! All those fantastic stories turned down by publishers and agents because ‘they aren’t currently in vogue’ are now starting to pop up on Amazon and Smashwords and I suddenly have hundreds of options!
And I love it. I can get my rom-com fill from a fantastic writer such as Talli and her book The Hating Game. I can have all the dark romance I desire from authors such as Amanda.
Joe Konrath and others provide some awesome action/detective stories.
There is SO MUCH available to me at my fingertips at a price that makes reading no longer an absolute luxury.
Finally we, as the readers, are the ones who get to say ‘this book rocks!’ rather than a publisher jamming several titles under our noses and telling us they’re the best out there.
Because do you know what? I don’t believe it. Not for a minute! There are thousands of stories being completed as I write this and a goodly portion of them will be fantastic, entertaining reads that sweep us away. And anything that encourages reading (in my POV) is a very good thing.
And I can just imagine that Varsity students are hanging out for the day that all those monster (in price and size) textbooks are on easy to read (and slip in your pocket) e-readers.
I’m never going to throw my beautiful books away, but I can see that in the future having a personal physical library might be something of a novelty.
I feel exactly the same way. I feel like a little kid in the world's biggest candy store! I got my Kindle about three weeks ago, and I LOVE it! Now, I just need to finish my sequel so I have more time to read.
Hey, if you need a book to read, hop on over to my blog and enter my Kindle Kisses contest. I've extended the deadline and you could win a free copy of Portal, by Imogen Rose.
I'm also a book lover and have not made the leap to e-reading yet. :O)
Hi,
Absolutely, I'm finding far better self-pubbed books than those coming out of recognised publishing houses. I love romantic sagas (doorstop proportions) and romantic historical sagas, which span several years in the lives of the characters as opposed to months and an HEA at 200 pages max.
Roll on the revolution! I'm considering going it alone with my own imprint, sample chaps up for persusal at the moment. Why not say I? Why not let people read them (hate or love them) rather than let novels languish on a hard-drive in hope of securing a deal with slow-moving editorial departments that are taking from eight to nine months on replies to subs.
best
F
With the amount of books I chew through per year (not to mention my salary) I simply cannot afford to live without an e-reader :p
I LOVE my Kindle.
I am so with you! I love my Kindle more and more each day! I buy books under $4 almost everyday. Bring the movement on!
CD
Yeah i agree with you there. But there is just something so tantalising about having MY story on my physical bookshelf 😀
Though i am seriously looking at the e-books…Yours will be the first i purchase!
Ah, at $40 you meant text books! I was wondering. But yes, I can see the virtue of an e-reader. I'm not a convert yet, but maybe someday. 🙂
Good post!
I JUST received a Nook as a present today. I didn't know how to respond because I, too, love books. I like looking at them on my shelves, thinking about what I've read and what my next read will be.
The world is changing. I'm 53, but I think I'm going to like my Nook. Who says I can't buy a book or borrow one from the library when I want to…just because I'm joining the e-book family.
My wife got herself a kindle last year. She hasn't bought a paper book since.
I suspect she is not alone.
Aw, thank you for the mention! 🙂
I love ebooks for all the possibilties they offer both readers and writers. But I also love physical books, too. I think it's possible to have a balance.
I can definitely see the merit of e-books and their respective e-readers. And more self-pubbed books is pretty cool, for those people who can go that route with enough money to invest in it and enough skill to market themselves.
I don't necessarily think that there's going to be a giant overhaul of the market by e-books. Yes, exciting things are happening, however I think there is room for both the traditional book and e-book markets in the industry, said industry just has to adapt to both approaches over the years.
Hi Janet 🙂 I know I responded to you via e-mail but I thought I'd put this up for everyone else.
Nope the $40 is for a new fiction paperback. That's the normal price in NZ. Textbooks vary from $50-$150. Books are far from cheap in NZ unless you buy second hand (which we have lots of *grin*)
Boy, I would love to see my daughter's textbooks on an ereader! It seems to me that kids are carrying so much weight around on their backs each day that it can't be good for them!
I haven't made the leap yet, but you pushed me one step closer…
Nicole. What a wonderful post. I am one of those writers that hope people will love my story and characters. I think you are too. How awesome that we can now share our work without a big name publisher. Or even a little one who can only take on one or two new writers a year.
I do believe that hard and paper books will still be available. But we will see the decline of Big Bookstores and the return of the little guy. That is also a good thing.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author