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Will ebook readers reduce book sales – Yes, says J. Esposito; No, says our J. Wikert
October 24, 2008 | 12:27 pm
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By Paul Biba
Two articles you really should read in detail.
First: J. Esposito, in Publishing Frontier, says: One of the unintended consequences of the Kindle and its brethren (desirable for readers, more woe for publishers) is that it will reduce the number of books that are actually sold. This will happen not because of piracy (with the proprietary Kindle, piracy may be a small problem, though ebooks built with open standards may pose larger problems for publishers), but because the architecture and business model for the Kindle support a “buy only when you need it” frame of mind, aka “just in time” inventory management. In the hardcopy world, where many books (no one knows how many) are bought “just in case,” the number of books purchased exceeds the number of books read. The Kindle will remove the excess, adding to the legions of misfortunes of publishers and authors.
Second: Joe Wikert, in his Publishing 2020 blog, responds: … I couldn’t disagree with him more. … I’m probably not the only Kindle owner who’s bought a few books and has yet to read them. That’s right. They’re just sitting there collecting digital dust on my e-reader. Why did I buy them? Because I know I want to read them and, in most cases, I thought I would have the time to start on them before now. I was wrong, but that’s not going to stop me from buying my next Kindle edition.
Both posts are well worth reading in full.
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Comments:
I’m with Joe Wikert on this one. I started a thread recently on Mobile Read asking people if they buy/download as they read, or if they stockpile. The results were overwhelmingly in favour of ‘I stockpile’ but even those who said they only buy as they read did say that they kept about a dozen books on the reader. For me, the big obstacle to print book collecting is storing all of those physical books. With e-books removing this obstacle, I have become a real hoarder. If it is a) free or b) on sale and it remotely interests me, I’m downloading it to the iphone. Knowing that I *can* carry around 100 books, it somehow makes me want to
I’m with Joe on this one as well. Although my purchases of hardcover books has declined since I received my Sony Reader a year ago, I am actually buying more books than ever each month. Where I used to buy 3-5 hardcover books a month, I now buy 2-3 (although this month I really went overboard and bought 14) hardcover books and between 3 and 8 ebooks a month.
I would buy more ebooks if pricing were better. I find it hard to justify spending as much as is often asked because of the DRM issues, so I usually wait to buy ebooks when I have a coupon. Hardcover books are not a price problem because (a) I buy only at Barnes and Noble and so have the member’s card and (b) I can actually “review” the book before buying.
But one change I have noted. If a book I see at B&N interests me, I look to see if the publisher has indicated in the book or on the dustjacket if it is also available as an ebook. If it is, then I buy the ebook version unless I want to add it to my physical library. And FWIW, I also look at book ads in, for example, the New York Review of Books and Smithsonian, to see if a book that interests me is available as an ebook.
Unlike the others, I don’t buy excess books to put in my inventory–although I tend to load up my reader. Still, the added reading time that a fully portable, easy-on reading device gives me vs. having to lug around multiple books means that I have more reading time and get more reading done.
As a publisher, I guess I’m okay with people ordering my books and not actually reading them. As an author, I like the money, but I really want people to read them, not just use them for house decor.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
I already have a biiig e backlog, just based on freebies. And I have a bigger backlog waiting for the dying dinosaurs of print to put into e all the ones I want to buy but *won’t* buy in paper form.
Up-to-date return-less royalty statements can suddenly be seen as a bad thing for writers? Incredible.
“”In the hardcopy world, where many books (no one knows how many) are bought “just in case,” the number of books purchased exceeds the number of books read. The Kindle will remove the excess, adding to the legions of misfortunes of publishers and authors.”"
In terms of the consumer I too would end up buying more than I need to read on my EReader. Plus how hard would it be for Publishers to sneak in links or encouragements for impulse buys within the book you just bought “Need another click here.” “Never read the books that inspired this novel, read these.”
Also, in terms of a book store. Book Stores buy more copies than they need, because it’s all an estimate of what they think they can sell. I can’t tell you how many books get returned to the Publisher and the publisher has to eat that money and pulp the book. The EReader (Open Standards and Wireless Purchasing-Most important) makes a much tighter and more profitable Publishing business model.
And as for pirating books. Sure that will happen, but Publishers need to take a cue from the Music industry. Ignore the pirating and make a product people want to buy, want to own. People will buy it, without fail, and focus on those who will buy it and you will make sales.
Joe’s on target here. Esposito’s concern strikes me as yet another instance of someone looking at the Kindle or whatever device readers use to purchase/read their books and confusing the device with the activity itself. People are still people — if someone’s the kind of person who stockpiles (and most readers I know are stockpilers) why would the device change that?
Bests to all,
–tr (whose backlog in both e and print is damned embarrassing)
For what it’s worth, I personally have a “stack” of e-books loaded on my iPod that I haven’t read yet.
“Why?” is the question being asked though. For me, three reasons:
One: I’m browsing Feedbooks or Munsyes, or PG, and see a book that looks interesting, so I download it so I don’t have to remember what it was named and where I saw it when I finish the book I’m currently reading.
Two: I’m often not near an internet connection when I’m reading on my iPod. Granted, this isn’t a problem for Kindle or iPhone users…
Three: I’m a bibliophile. There’s something appealing in having a large personal collection of books, whether in print or eBook form.
Joseph J. Esposito makes the intriguing claim that e-book readers will purchase fewer texts because:
Esposito contends that readers will own fewer unread books and thus fewer books overall will be sold. This reasoning is interesting but incomplete I think.
The anecdotal evidence from the commentators above suggests that readers will still stockpile unread e-books, but it is natural to wonder what situations would encourage advance purchases. Here are some ideas:
Sales: If a book is on sale then its availability at a given price point is limited, and there is an incentive to buy immediately and stockpile the e-book for later reading – a date that may never arrive.
Bundling: The books in a trilogy or series might be bundled together at a favorable price. The purchaser might stockpile the titles near the end of the series for later reading.
Fear of discontinuation: Contractual relations are complicated. An author, publisher or e-book store might suddenly remove an e-book from the market. Some buyers are aware of this irritating transience of availability and therefore buy in advance.
Subscriptions: A subscription plan like Audible has for audiobooks can lead to stockpiling because it requires the acquisition of a fixed number of titles in a limited period of time. A provision is given for “rollover” but advance purchases are still encouraged.
Skimming and indexing: If e-books are very inexpensive then some buyers will acquire titles simply to skim them or read excerpts and chapters. In the future people might put every book they have into a database that builds a complete index of the words and phrases (like an eidetic memory). A buyer might buy a book to put it into their database.
Esposito is sooo wrong. My book-buying habit habit has gotten out of control since I started buying e-books. It’s just too easy. I get Fictionwise’s weekly newsletter with all the new books, and I just can’t help myself. I get a discount for buying during the first week, and even though it’s relatively small, it’s a great excuse for buying.
Before I started buying e-books, my ‘to-be-read’ pile would hover around 10 books at any one time. I’m embarrassed to say that it’s closer to 50 now, purely because of the ease of buying e-books, and the thrill of getting a ‘bargain.’
I know people whose TBR piles are much bigger than mine, but 50 is still a lot for me.
Also, there is the 100% rebate sale from Fictionwise where you can buy the book and then get the full amount back in store credit. I’ve bought some of these books and then used the money back to fund more purchasing. Some of them are books I never would have bought in the first place if it wasn’t for that! The convenience *is* handy. Being a Canadian, my ultimate ‘e-books can be better than p books’ scenario is the snowy day. It’s horrible out, you just don’t want to leave the house, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could curl up with a good book. Well, with eReader on my iPhone, I can complete the whole transaction—choose the book, buy it, download it, begin reading—in five minutes, without leaving my bed! You just can’t top that in the print world.
During last week’s Amazon investor call the company released some interesting sales data. The Motley Fool reports that purchases went up and not down for Kindle owners: