Will E-Books Ever Replace Paperbacks and Hardcovers?
Since I’ll be in the car for six or seven hours Tuesday, I thought it might be nice to get home in the evening and find a raging discussion of the future of book publishing.
At the lunch before the Arkansas Inspirational Writers’ meeting, the question was raised if regular printed-paper books will be replaced by e-book readers in the near future. Seeing as how I predicted that print newspapers would be gone by the year 2000, I may not be the best person to answer this question—and journalists have been debating this topic for a few years now. There is a lot of controversy surrounding e-book readers, but now that it looks like there’s a front-runner in the market (the Kindle from Amazon—and there’s a Kindle app for the iPhone) the question over whether or not e-books will take over the publishing world is becoming more and more heated.
So, here are a few articles for y’all to read, and then I’d love to hear your opinion on e-books, traditional books, and the future of both!
Kindle Changing How People Read, Publish Books
Have We Reached the End of Book Publishing as We Know It?
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KayeDacus.com 
I confess that I’m a little jealous of people with Kindles and E-readers when I’m on an airplane. How great would it be to not have to tote 4 books with me on every vacation? But when I’m home, there’s nothing more wonderful than the feel of paper, the ink staining my fingers, and the smell of a new book. I was recently part of a discussion about how people pick up multiple formats for a single book. My boss, for example, has a hard copy of a book at home, an audio version for her commute, and an electronic version for her computer and e-reader. Maybe that’s the wave of the future, multiple formats for the same book so you can read it/listen to it at every opportunity.
As for me, I’m a paper kind of gal. I just can’t have enough beautiful books on my shelves. An e-reader just doesn’t do it for me.
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Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson, has written numerous blog posts about the Kindle. He addresses “Why Traditional Books Will Eventually Die,” and also “Is it Really Books that We Love?”
I love the feel of a book in my hand, but just today, I surprised myself by wondering if I might like to get a Kindle.
I am curious to see how increasing use of electronic readers changes the publishing landscape. Without having to pay for much to produce the printed book, can publishers pay authors more? Or will the lower prices of e-books affect author payments? How will this affect book stores?
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But bookstores are still around, and other than the instant gratification, bookstores make no sense. It’s cheaper online. I can sample parts of it. I can read reviews. But the only store bigger than my local Barnes and Noble is Wal-mart.
So I don’t think books will ever be completely taken over by the Kindle, any more than television and movie theaters were taken over by VCRs, or plays were taken over by movies. Yes, those things are less common, but enough people are willing to pay for them that they retain a place in our society. If someone will fork over $110 to see “Legally Blonde” on Broadway when she can buy the DVD for $8, then there’s no way the book will die in the next century.
However, if I constantly read 80’s romance novels, and took public transportation to work, I’d be all over a Kindle.
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I really hope not! It’s not just having the physical book in my hands, but I do so much better with a printed version. This last year I’ve received several ebooks to review for different curriculums and I always end up having to print them off. I most definitely do not want to print off a book!
When I read I can visualize where on a page something that struck me is – and find it easily. With the computer {and it all being the same} it’s a lot harder to do that! Besides, you can’t swap out ebooks like you can books – what would happen to our libraries, etc…and access for everyone? That would just be a crying shame!
Jolanthe
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I think audios have their place and the Kindle (and all other similar devices) have their place, but they could never replace an actual book for me. I read more audios than books in a year – 45 min drive to work, sitting at a desk most of the day…I can read quite a few books by “listening” but at the same time I love my book shelf of printed books. There’s something special about being able to pick one at random and open it to my favorite scene and curl up on my couch and read it.
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Can you imagine presenting your toddler with their very first interactive cloth book…on a Kindle? Or snuggling up with your preschooler at bedtime to read their favorite picture book with its huge, vivid painted illustrations…on a Kindle? Children’s books, at least, still have a place in the printed world, and if that ever changes, I feel sorry for children everywhere.
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Yeah, I don’t make predictions, but I HOPE they don’t. I like my paper books. There is just something about them….
I’m not opposed to the e-book readers and will probably own one someday myself, but I doubt I’ll ever PREFER it over a real book on a day to day basis.
Will books go away? Again, I’d be surprised. I do think eventually the e-books will pass the paper books in sales, but I doubt there will be a total eradication of them, at least in our foreseeable life time:-)
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I sincerely hope that it is not true. I love holding a new book in my hands; thinking that I am the first person to ever read that copy. It sort of makes you feel special. 🙂 Plus, it can’t be good for your eyes to stare at a screen for that long.
Don’t you love going to a book store? There are books everywhere! It feels nice to know that you can just reach out and grab one. Don’t forget about that new book smell! Furthermore, how stiff the binding is if you are the first one to read it! All of that is irreplaceable, and cannot be had from an electronic.
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I agree with Liz ~ I think that Kindle would be great for traveling, but that’s it. The cover, the smell, the feel, the joy of a book can not be replaced. I think it will take centuries for paper books to be extinct….and I also think the Lord will have returned by then.
My ideal of heaven is to be able to read all the books I want to my “heart’s content” each day after glorifying God and completing the job to which I’m assigned….and they are NOT on Kindle.
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I can’t see printed books going away ~ too many people still purchase them. Plus, with the economy as it is, most people are probably not going to be able to afford a Kindle anytime soon. They also may have had to cut out a lot of unnecessary bills, such as Internet service, cellphones, etc. It would be a lot easier/cheaper for them to go to their local bookstore/Walmart and buy the actual book.
So far, I have not felt the need to purchase a Kindle or eBooks. I LOVE BOOKS, period! I have 5 bookshelves crammed full of books, but that’s still not near enough room! I also have the floors in both of my spare room closets full of books, stacked as high as possible w/o falling over, as well as, 2 huge plastic tubs full of older books (i.e. Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc.) that I read when I was younger. I don’t want to get rid of them because my kids may want to read them one day.
I completely agree with Jess concerning books vs. eBooks, and TV/movie theaters vs. VCR/DVD players. Very rarely do we go to the movie theaters anymore ~ I mean seriously! ~ who wants to pay $30- $40 (for 2 people) to watch a movie and eat popcorn when you can rent the movie and buy a WHOLE box of popcorn for less than $20!!! OR, you can just wait and swap for the movie on SwapTree.com, or buy it on eBay/Amazon for next to nothing!
PLEASE KEEP THE BOOKS COMING!!
~sugarandgrits ~
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