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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

eBooks - Faster, Cheaper, Better?

I recently had a conversation with my father, who wanted me to explain eBooks. He couldn’t understand how it worked or why people would want to do that.

As an author, I embrace eBooks. They allow me to reach a broader audience. Anyone with a computer, no matter where they are, can purchase The Gender Divide as an eBook and read it on their computer or eBook reader. eBooks are also less expensive, so it’s also a benefit financially. Finally eBooks are environmentally friendly. No paper or ink is needed, nor is any significant energy required for printing or distribution.

So lets see. Faster? Yes. Cheaper? Yes. Better? Hmm.

At less than 1% of the total book market, the eBook market is still nascent. Admittedly, the market is growing but that is more of a push model than a pull model. The industry is starting to push eBooks to consumers, rather than consumers demanding eBooks, so much so that many new publishers today are eBook only publishers. Few of the big publishing companies (apart from Baen) embrace eBooks but there are more than enough other smaller publishers out there to take up the slack, not to mention the burgeoning self-publishing industry.

Why is this so different from the music industry? Perhaps it relates to how the different mediums are experienced. For many people, music is something that they experience viscerally. Books are experienced intellectually. Books stimulate the imagination . Music is easily portable because you can listen to it anywhere, regardless of what you are doing. Books are different. Many readers ‘lose themselves’ in a book. You can’t do this while driving or working out.

Perhaps that is a lot of why eBooks and eBook readers haven’t become more popular. Opportunities to read aren’t as readily available as are the opportunities for listening to music. When we read, we usually read someplace we find relaxing, someplace where we can allow ourselves to ‘get lost in the story’. Where ever that place is - your favorite chair at home, relaxing in bed, sitting in the sun poolside, or even in the bathtub - it’s quicker and easier to grab a book, not to mention that books left sitting around at the beach are rarely stolen.

Once the technology matures and the price point of eBook readers comes down, eBooks will become more popular, but they will never completely replace printed books. Case in point. I provided eBooks to all the winners of my Contest. Although two of them will be receiving printed copies, I wanted them to have the eBook as an option while I wait to receive the printed copies. Despite this, at least one of those winners indicated their preference to wait for the printed copy.

So eBooks are Faster and Cheaper and they have a lot of advantages but they still aren’t Better, and perhaps they won’t ever be. After all, whether you are an author or a reader, there is nothing like the satisfaction of holding a printed copy.

posted by David at 6:08 pm  

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