Comments on: 12 Reasons Why Printed Books Will Survive

By: Joy

Joy — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:13:54 +0000

Alan,

I’m never satisfied with the ordinary, so when e-readers started to become popular, I thought it would be really cool to be able to read in-transit. I find it doesn’t work so well with the Treo I had. Reading like that for any length of time would have led to blindness. I’m going to treat myself to an e-reader, it’s just a matter of time. As to ink and paper books, those are a wonderful, permanent fixture in my life.

On the sampling, even 10% is generous. I usually know within the first chapter whether I’ll enjoy it or not, but on the other hand, I understand wanting to hold the hand of the reader and persuade him gently forward to the sale.

By: Alain

Alain — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:13:08 +0000

Lou – So we should add ‘bendiness’ and ‘crumplicity’ to the reasons why printed books will survive, right?

By: Louise

Louise — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 09:02:03 +0000

thank goodness!! I’m quite relieved. I’m a book lover. I especially love having them all lined up on my shelf – to show off. And I can find them easier, I imagine, then having them on my computer, somewhere. I like to hold them. I feel as if I own something, real. althought I’ve never really liked hard backs. They are just that – hard! They are not comfortable. I like books that bend and it doesnt’ matter if they crumple a little.
but I am warming to the idea of a kindle. I like the idea of a wide range of books for a cheaper price. And books I can take away with me – as if I go on holidays. LOL. but if I ever did it would be convenient.

thanks Alan! Great informative read

By: Alain

Alain — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:44:23 +0000

Joy, you’re totally right about the marketing needing lots of work, whichever route we decide to take.

Something I think that’s not well understood – you don’t need an e-reader to be able to read ebooks. I’ve been trying all the various readers on my PC – they’re all free. I think my favorite is probably the Adobe Digital Editions reader, but Kindle for PC is pretty good too. I’ll blog on this in the next few days.

How much to give as a sample – that’s a good question too. I started out giving just 17% – the first 5 chapters. Then I thought I’d increase to 50% to see if it made any difference. It hasn’t – yet … but these are very early days, and many of my readers so far are people who already knew the book from tNBW. With Kindle, they make the decision for you – looks like they give around 10% as a sample.

By: Joy

Joy — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:35:41 +0000

Interesting, as always. I love books and will always love them. Love the feel, the smell, an eye-catching cover. That said, I’ll also welcome the convenience of owning an e-reader – if and when they finally start importing them.

There are compelling reasons to go the e-book route, but either way, it takes a lot of work to sell books. I think giving a good sample of the product will work. Maybe 50% is too much, but I suppose if a reader gets invested enough halfway, he’ll spring for the other half.