For quite a few years now, electronic books have found and pretty much settled into their niche in the reading world. When they first came out the big publishing houses said it wouldn't last. It was the beginning of a war between print and downloads.
Like anything else, the idea of electronic books needed time to grow out of its infancy and become an entity worthy of providing competition. The technology was there... It was a matter of learning how to use it to best advantage. That grew by leaps and bounds. Electronic publishers began to pop up on the internet. Some, unfortunately, saw it as a way to make a quick buck then disappear, sometimes to reappear under another name. These antics made it hard for the honest ones to earn credibility, but earn it they did.
Today, electronic publishing is a thriving industry and sooner or later, all hopeful writers gravitate to them to find a start. Not so long ago, there were lots of big house publishers that a hopeful writer could submit to. With so many merges having taken place over the years, that number is down to five major houses. To add to that problem, they won't look at a manuscript unless it's agented. In a way you can't blame them. In turn, agents are becoming harder to get. You can't make a name for yourself as an author if you don't have an agent. And you can't get a agent if you don't have a name. By the time you do make a name and all those great sales (we should all be so lucky) you don't really need an agent. But I digress.
Electronic publishers, or e-pubs as they're affectionately called, proved to the industry that they're here to stay. Since their infancy they've proved to the big houses that there's room for both print and electronic books. So what are the pros and cons?
On average it takes up to a year to see a book on a website, (unless you're going independent publishing which takes a lot less time). It goes through all the same phases as print but in a much shorter time. Like print, more and more of the responsibility of getting your name known, of doing all the promotion, is falling to the author. If an author chooses to go independent, or "indie" then they have more work to do but they can reap more benefits.
Through the years, the big houses have admitted that electronic books are here to stay and have acquired their own e-pubs. As the saying goes, "If you can't beat them, join them." And that's exactly what they've done. The compromise also pretty much put to rest the debate of e-books putting print out of business. That will never happen.
Now, there's the reader's point of view, print vs. download.
Older readers are more apt to stay with print. We love the feel of a book in our hands, the heft of it when it's a big book, (like War and Peace or Gabaldon's Outlander series. (Love all that detail)). We love to peruse the bindings on a shelf to decide what we're in the mood to read. When you visit someone you know likes to read, what's the first thing you do? Check out their library of course. It's a definite compliment to them.
What happens when you have limited space? You might try to find some way to squeeze in more book shelves or stack books on any available flat surface. Either you start donating older books to places that might appreciate them, libraries, rest homes, rehab centers, etc. or you don't buy any more. If you're a bookaholic, not buying books is like trying to stop drinking or smoking. It's very difficult and nearly impossible.
So I compromised. I've been reading some books and automatically putting them aside for the local library. I know I won't read them again. I have a lot of history books dealing mainly with the Tudor and Plantagenet dynasties. Some are straight history, others are historical fiction and they all make good reference books. Then there are books that belong to a series, like Gabaldon's Outlander series. It doesn't make sense to have that partly in print, partly electronic, so I stay with the print.
Books I want strictly for the pleasure of reading, are electronic. For years I didn't go anywhere without a book in my bag. Now I can take a hundred books with me and pick one out depending on my mood. There's no added weight, no unnecessary space taken up. And... The e-reader has its own bookmark. No dog-eared pages, no strange bookmarks (like a fried egg) one librarian wrote about. Just don't forget to charge up the reader as needed.
Everyone who reads has their own preferences, e-books or prints. And as long as both industries are willing to compromise, we have the best of both worlds. Who says we have to make a choice?
No comments:
Post a Comment