![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Hardback ebooks?
I'm still not reading LJ thoroughly, but I've seen a couple of different takes on the amazon macmillan dust up over ebook pricing last weekend.
I thought I'd describe my current book buying habits, and speculate how that could relate to ebooks.
Most of the books I buy can split into two. Those I intend to read soon and have sought out new, and cheap (often) speculative purchases.
New Hardback / Trade Paperback.
I'd guess I acquire about 5 of these a year. These really belong in two categories:
Pratchett's. These are the books that I raced my way through the back catalogue of in the '90s. To the point where I couldn't wait for the next to come out in paperback, so had to start asking for the hardbacks. These days, I could probably wait for the paperbacks, but don't want to break the set. Most of the set are presents from a parent anyway.
Signings. If I like an author, and here there's a signing I can get to. There's a reasonable chance I'll pop along to pick up a copy. Although this may slow down. I paid £19 for "And Another Thing", and think that was just too much.
New Paperback.
Again, probably less than 10 of these a year recently.
In the 90s these tended to be the ones from 3 for 2 sales in bookstores, but recently there's usually something I want (The next book in series. An anthology with a story by an author I'm a fan of. Something someone has raved about). These are usually bought because I've had to buy a present online, and just add a couple of books for me to the order. I must admit to not frequenting book shops very often. Again a few are presents.
[1] A aside.
Secondhand Books
Um. A lot. I know, I know, the author gets nothing from this. I really should buy new copies if the books are still in print. Better yet I should not acquire any second hand books, until I've made a serious dent on my To Be Read piles.
Probably about 20 (mostly from Brian) at conventions across the year.
Probably about 20 from charity shops. (This is actually down. I'm trying to quit.)
Probably about 5 from Bookends, the remaindered shop on Charring Cross road. (Initially a way to get more recent books cheaply. They actually have a decent SF shelf. I should just suck up the cost, and hit a proper bookshop, as I understand the author gets nothing from this).
Probably about 5 from the BSFA London meets raffles. I'm ashamed that I have a couple of unread hardback reveiw copies that are out in paper now.
Together this all adds up to more than I read in a given year. Oh dear.
But what does that imply for ebooks?
Looking at it, most of the top end books, I get tend to be partially just because I want them now, but also because I want an author's signature or to add to a collection. So hardback novels are artefacts as much as story devilry vehicles, I'm unlikely to buy an ebook instead.
The middle ground's potentially interesting. I still feel the lack of artefact means I wouldn't want to pay as much for an ebook as a paperback, but I'd probably be willing to replace most of this purchasing habit with ebooks, if I wind up with a decent reader.
Ebooks are unlikely to replace the cheap's section as there's no second hand market for them. And I enjoy interacting with the aforementioned to-be-read piles to select something to read. Anyway, that's hardly the top end of the market they're trying to capture. Although I can imagine there's lots of free content on the net these days. It's how I've first read most of Cory Doctorow's stuff (of which I know own paper editions).
Or something like escape pod. Yeah, I can see how they'd be great for short stories magazines. I know donation driven short story sites exist online, but I'm not too keen on reading them for some reason. Actually, subscribing to something like Interzone or Analog that way would be pretty neat.
[1]As an aside, I've noticed for a while that I've not seen the shutters up at the Finsbury Park Comic shop. I'd assumed that I'd just not been past it before 6.30, when it shuts, but getting a glimpse through the open door last week, it looks like all the shelves have gone. And so has their website. It's a pity.
The owner said the Marvel/DC price hike hit at the same time as the relative devaluation of the pound. Combined with people cutting costs because of the credit crunch, he lost a fair few customers last year. Well, he lost me but that's not why. I stopped going because every single time I went in there, they hadn't put aside all of my standing order, and I had to rummage through their back issues, to see if I recognised one I was missing. They specialised in superhero comics with alternative covers anyway, so it was rare that I'd find a new serial I was interested in anyway.
I thought I'd describe my current book buying habits, and speculate how that could relate to ebooks.
Most of the books I buy can split into two. Those I intend to read soon and have sought out new, and cheap (often) speculative purchases.
New Hardback / Trade Paperback.
I'd guess I acquire about 5 of these a year. These really belong in two categories:
Pratchett's. These are the books that I raced my way through the back catalogue of in the '90s. To the point where I couldn't wait for the next to come out in paperback, so had to start asking for the hardbacks. These days, I could probably wait for the paperbacks, but don't want to break the set. Most of the set are presents from a parent anyway.
Signings. If I like an author, and here there's a signing I can get to. There's a reasonable chance I'll pop along to pick up a copy. Although this may slow down. I paid £19 for "And Another Thing", and think that was just too much.
New Paperback.
Again, probably less than 10 of these a year recently.
In the 90s these tended to be the ones from 3 for 2 sales in bookstores, but recently there's usually something I want (The next book in series. An anthology with a story by an author I'm a fan of. Something someone has raved about). These are usually bought because I've had to buy a present online, and just add a couple of books for me to the order. I must admit to not frequenting book shops very often. Again a few are presents.
[1] A aside.
Secondhand Books
Um. A lot. I know, I know, the author gets nothing from this. I really should buy new copies if the books are still in print. Better yet I should not acquire any second hand books, until I've made a serious dent on my To Be Read piles.
Probably about 20 (mostly from Brian) at conventions across the year.
Probably about 20 from charity shops. (This is actually down. I'm trying to quit.)
Probably about 5 from Bookends, the remaindered shop on Charring Cross road. (Initially a way to get more recent books cheaply. They actually have a decent SF shelf. I should just suck up the cost, and hit a proper bookshop, as I understand the author gets nothing from this).
Probably about 5 from the BSFA London meets raffles. I'm ashamed that I have a couple of unread hardback reveiw copies that are out in paper now.
Together this all adds up to more than I read in a given year. Oh dear.
But what does that imply for ebooks?
Looking at it, most of the top end books, I get tend to be partially just because I want them now, but also because I want an author's signature or to add to a collection. So hardback novels are artefacts as much as story devilry vehicles, I'm unlikely to buy an ebook instead.
The middle ground's potentially interesting. I still feel the lack of artefact means I wouldn't want to pay as much for an ebook as a paperback, but I'd probably be willing to replace most of this purchasing habit with ebooks, if I wind up with a decent reader.
Ebooks are unlikely to replace the cheap's section as there's no second hand market for them. And I enjoy interacting with the aforementioned to-be-read piles to select something to read. Anyway, that's hardly the top end of the market they're trying to capture. Although I can imagine there's lots of free content on the net these days. It's how I've first read most of Cory Doctorow's stuff (of which I know own paper editions).
Or something like escape pod. Yeah, I can see how they'd be great for short stories magazines. I know donation driven short story sites exist online, but I'm not too keen on reading them for some reason. Actually, subscribing to something like Interzone or Analog that way would be pretty neat.
[1]As an aside, I've noticed for a while that I've not seen the shutters up at the Finsbury Park Comic shop. I'd assumed that I'd just not been past it before 6.30, when it shuts, but getting a glimpse through the open door last week, it looks like all the shelves have gone. And so has their website. It's a pity.
The owner said the Marvel/DC price hike hit at the same time as the relative devaluation of the pound. Combined with people cutting costs because of the credit crunch, he lost a fair few customers last year. Well, he lost me but that's not why. I stopped going because every single time I went in there, they hadn't put aside all of my standing order, and I had to rummage through their back issues, to see if I recognised one I was missing. They specialised in superhero comics with alternative covers anyway, so it was rare that I'd find a new serial I was interested in anyway.
no subject
There are a handful of authors who I'll buy new in Hardback. And often there are massive reductions off RRP so they don't cost too much. But that's one or two books per year. Maybe a few new paperbacks if I've missed getting a hardback or see them on special.
I have no reason or desire for an E-book. They have nothing to offer me.
no subject
I suspect the reason that there's low turn over at bookends is because they have to buy the remaindered books. Traditional booksellers return unsold books, but they have to throw away anything they can't shift. In fact they probably have to pay for dumps to take it, I know charity shops do.