Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ebook sales continue to fall as younger generations drive appetite for print
theguardian.com ^ | 14 March 2017 | Sian Cain

Posted on 03/15/2017 2:26:32 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper

Readers committed to physical books can give a sigh of relief, as new figures reveal that ebook sales are falling while sales of paper books are growing – and the shift is being driven by younger generations.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature
KEYWORDS: books; ebooks; printbooks
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081 next last
To: naturalman1975

You might find one on eBay...


41 posted on 03/15/2017 5:05:03 AM PDT by Axenolith (Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: LydiaLong

I need my ereader due to my vision issues. But I love my dead tree editions. I love their smell, their covers, their print fonts. Some have deckle edges. I’ve got books over 150 years old. Some are available in ebook form, but I won’t part with them. There’s just something about a dead tree edition that can’t be replicated in ebook form :-)


42 posted on 03/15/2017 5:11:49 AM PDT by mewzilla (I'll vote for the first guy who promises to mail in his SOTU addresses.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: PreciousLiberty
If that is the general case, then you bring good news indeed. I'll grant you that math PDFs are not uncommon. I was thinking in terms of Kindle and epub formats. Some of the pricey text books do come in Kindle and epub forms. But in general math books have lagged behind.

One reason is the standards for kindle and epub were not written with technical literature in mind. Publishers who wish to offer mathematical epub books must rely on external css and javascript addon hacks such as MathJax (which is quite good by the way!). The proper way to handle it would be MathML but the designers of Nook and Kindle have not implemented support for it in their software.

A couple years ago I was involved in project to bring more math texts to Kindle and Nook. It is difficult to find a common denominator which works across the board. The area is still difficult and still poorly charted—"here be dragons". I gave it my best shot, but Kindle and Nook internals are still too immature in this area.

43 posted on 03/15/2017 5:29:02 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Berlin_Freeper
While I LOVE printed books, unfortunately books in hardback form weigh a lot nowadays. And you can't adjust the text font size like you can with the Kindle (or the Kindle App for my iPad in my case).
44 posted on 03/15/2017 5:41:30 AM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Berlin_Freeper

I have not read a “real” book in several years.

For me it is my eyesight. With e books I can enlarge the print to make it more readable.

Besides Amazon there are several free sources for ebooks - I don’t even have to leave the house to find more to read.


45 posted on 03/15/2017 5:41:53 AM PDT by CIB-173RDABN (US out of the UN, UN out of the US)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Berlin_Freeper

Have never move to e-readers. I love the feel and smell of real books.


46 posted on 03/15/2017 5:41:54 AM PDT by DallasGal (Integrity is lost when you continue to live a lie)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mad_as_he$$
Fascinating. Around here us older folks are dumping “printed” books for the ebook - ease of storage and use. And I don't have to dust the ebook.

It's also very difficult to get a paper book to read to you while you are sitting back in your chair with your eyes closed sipping a cup of coffee.

47 posted on 03/15/2017 5:47:09 AM PDT by P-Marlowe (Freep mail me if you want to be on my Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Ping list.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: PreciousLiberty

I was really hoping for an eink display. Tablets work, but dont have that electronic paper look.


48 posted on 03/15/2017 5:47:10 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Berlin_Freeper

When they run out of shelf space and have books on every flat surface in the house, they will understand why some of us really love eBooks and Kindles.


49 posted on 03/15/2017 5:47:58 AM PDT by Little Ray (Freedom Before Security!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: P-Marlowe

I do enjoy that feature. I use it while driving long distances.


50 posted on 03/15/2017 5:48:52 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Watching Obama tap dance.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Little Ray
"When they run out of shelf space and have books on every flat surface in the house, they will understand why some of us really love eBooks and Kindles."

Sing it! Ain't dat the troot!

I had to build two extra rooms on my house, each 10x25x8, just to give me six more walls to put in bookshelves.

When the Kindles came out, I just couldn't imagine giving up the feel of the page texture and the book weight to read on a digital screen ... in fact, every now and then when I'm really engrossed in an ebook, I still find myself reaching up to turn the pages.

But then the last trip that we made before I got my Kindle, I found that I was packing almost a full roll-on legal briefcase full of books for the trip. So I decided to give the Kindles a try.

Oh, man, it was like I had discovered fire, sliced bread, and air conditioning all at the same time. Now my problem is that I've almost filled up one keyboard Kindle with books that I want to "keep available" in case I decide one day that I suddenly want to read one of them again. The second keyboard Kindle is about half-full and I'm seriously considering getting a Kindle Fire 8 just so that I can have the capability of putting a 200 GB micro-disk in it to extend the 32 GB memory.

This has almost become as bad as being hooked on heroin. So, now, in addition to still having over 2000 physical books, my wife and I have a combined total of over 6000 ebooks. Somebody may have to stage an intervention on me one day ... but not today --- I've got too much reading to catch up on ...

51 posted on 03/15/2017 5:58:11 AM PDT by BlueLancer (Ex Scientia Tridens)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: CIB-173RDABN
"For me it is my eyesight. With e books I can enlarge the print to make it more readable."

That's the reason that my wife took to the Kindles like a duck to water. Before that, I bought her a lapdesk with a magnifier attached so that she could use that to read her books. Now, she just adjusts the font and can read to her heart's content.

We spend every evening reading together, at least two and a half hours .. usually 7 PM to 9:30 PM .. and, by the time that we get ready for bed, my blood-pressure is much much lower (usually at the level of your average carrot), and I am relaxed and ready to sleep. Great stuff!

52 posted on 03/15/2017 6:04:51 AM PDT by BlueLancer (Ex Scientia Tridens)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Berlin_Freeper

Excellent.

I’ve never tried to read an ebook. I just can’t warm to “curling up to a good screen.”

My wife has an older Nook, but it’s dying and she doesn’t really use it much.

But, my daughter manages the children’s department at a Barnes and Noble and my other daughter wants to be a proof-reader, so books tend to be important to us.

the bookseller daughter will be excited. This year, she set a personal goal to sell 100 copies of her favorite kids book and she already hit the goal.

Being that it’s the kids department, she has frequent special events. Last week, the cast of a musical production invaded the store and performed part of their play.

Fun stuff.


53 posted on 03/15/2017 6:05:39 AM PDT by cyclotic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Berlin_Freeper

The fruits of a weak and failed education system. Thanks to the morons in “education” embracing the globalist “way”. But don’t worry, the kids know what time their favorite cartoon is on and how to put on a rubber.


54 posted on 03/15/2017 6:06:01 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper (WKU 2016 Boca Raton Bowl Champions)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WKUHilltopper

Dammit! Wrong thread! That’s what I get for opening too many tabs LOL


55 posted on 03/15/2017 6:08:15 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper (WKU 2016 Boca Raton Bowl Champions)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Berlin_Freeper

My agent said about 5 years ago my E book sales were nearly 20% of all sales, but now have dropped to just over 10-—too bad cuz I made about 2-3% more on an e-book.


56 posted on 03/15/2017 6:23:46 AM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BlueLancer

I have bookshelves in my basement, in my mom’s basement.
And this AFTER I clean up and ship books off to the reseller.
Now carry thousands of books around on my kindle. Right now I am re-reading the complete adventures of Richard Hannay (The 39 Steps is the best known book...). I have a life time of reading sitting on my Kindle...
Best of all, I have an old kindle with text to speech, so it reads to me in my car!


57 posted on 03/15/2017 6:42:28 AM PDT by Little Ray (Freedom Before Security!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: LydiaLong

People who claim to love the smell of old books must not be allergic to mildew, like I am.

Funny that there’s so much commentary on this article in a *web* forum. I’m wondering how many “I only read print books” commenters also type and mail letters to editors?


58 posted on 03/15/2017 6:59:33 AM PDT by Flatus I. Maximus (Hillary for Prison!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

it’s like music.. buy they disc, its 11.99... download (with limited number of downloads no less) 10.99...

For a buck give me the disc please.


59 posted on 03/15/2017 6:59:51 AM PDT by cableguymn (We need a redneck in the white house....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Berlin_Freeper

FAKE NEWS

This report is from the UK, and only from traditional publishers at that. The data is crap. The Guardian (a print paper) is an enemy of those upstart small presses and indies (full disclosure, I’m an indie author) and they want to affect behavior by printing BS article like this one.

They want you to believe ebooks are failing and that younger people are going to put ereaders back in the box where they belong. What they fail to mention is that the market is being crushed by independent authors who are putting the traditional publishers out of business. To compensate, they sell ebooks for stupid high rates FORCING people to buy the print books for almost the same price. They also flood the market with huge print runs of paperbacks, then promote articles like this one to get people to think “well, I guess it’s back to paperbacks for me.”

From time to time you’ll see articles on these FAKE NEWS sites like “boy does it suck to be an indie author” or “If you enjoy being poor, be an independent author.” All of this is designed at the behest of the giant publishers with lots to lose.

The reality, if you look at indies and sites like Amazon which sells the lion’s share of ebooks, is that indie authors continue to take market share from traditional publishers. Sure, we’ll always need a physical printer to spew out our adult coloring books, but I have indie friends designing them. The days of the traditional publisher being able to control the market are long gone.


60 posted on 03/15/2017 7:04:59 AM PDT by siberianheat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson