4 ms·

Since the invention of e-books and digital audiobooks I probably buy 3-10 times more of these. Audiobooks in particular, of the on-demand variety where I can i

Since the invention of e-books and digital audiobooks I probably buy 3-10 times more of these. Audiobooks in particular, of the on-demand variety where I can instantly get them on my iPhone through the Audible app, have led to me reading a HELL of a lot more. It's easy and convenient. eBooks also help because I buy more books and search through them. I can also read them on mobile devices while I take a shit in public washrooms. Right now I am in the middle of: * 2 non-fiction audiobooks * 3 fiction audiobooks * 4 standard ebooks I task-switch between these 8 products based on my mood. I could never carry around 8 dead trees or fit 5 audiobooks onto my walkman. It just wouldn't happen. Digitization has led to me spending way more money on authors. In the past I would just get dead trees from libraries or friends, or not buy them because they were too much money. Now that I can get an audiobook for an ~$8 audible credit I try out new things way more. That I can instantly buy an ebook I need for ~$10 means I read a lot more. If it's 2am and I want to read some particular book, I can instantly get it, I don't need to put it on the shopping list and waste so much time finding a bookstore and standing in line and searching through stacks of shelves. I spend more time reading/listening and far less time deliberating, searching, planning, and waiting.

oiujyhgtfrt 16y ago
The problem at the moment is that the publishers are marketing eBooks as a new luxury product to a niche of rich techies who but iPads on a whim. SO an eBook costs the same as the hardback - screwing you. But the contract with the author has the same clauses charging them a percentage of buy-backs and printing faults or damaged copies as the paper version - screwing them. The publishers need to realize the game has changed - and quickly unless they want to end up like the record business
- maguay 16y ago
  True ... which is exactly why I think it's publishers, not authors, that stand to lose the most from this. When smart authors start selling eBooks cheaper directly on Kindle et al., that's when the real book transition will start. At the very least, there's a huge potential for a lucrative new market in cheaper eBooks, only it hasn't been fully realized yet because of existing publishers.

oiujyhgtfrt 16y ago

The problem at the moment is that the publishers are marketing eBooks as a new luxury product to a niche of rich techies who but iPads on a whim. SO an eBook costs the same as the hardback - screwing you. But the contract with the author has the same clauses charging them a percentage of buy-backs and printing faults or damaged copies as the paper version - screwing them. The publishers need to realize the game has changed - and quickly unless they want to end up like the record business

maguay 16y ago
True ... which is exactly why I think it's publishers, not authors, that stand to lose the most from this. When smart authors start selling eBooks cheaper directly on Kindle et al., that's when the real book transition will start. At the very least, there's a huge potential for a lucrative new market in cheaper eBooks, only it hasn't been fully realized yet because of existing publishers.