Happy New Year, everybody!
Is there an ebook revolution in our midst? I bet you would never guess that I’m a person who likes to check statistics. Every morning, cup of tea in hand, before I start to write, I log onto Google analytics and see how many people have visited my website, (I usually have 60 to 100 people a day) and then I check mybloglog.com to see how many people read my blog the day before (approx. 50 to 80 and growing), then I check different sources to see how book sales are going for my debut novel, Seeking Sara Summers.
For the last few months more ebook copies of Seeking Sara Summers have sold on Kindle, ibooks and nook, than the “real” book. This is an interesting change, at least to me. There was also a huge bump in electronic sales right after Christmas that’s still going strong, which makes me wonder how many of us got Kindles, ipads and Nooks as gifts. I got a Kindle myself, after I swore I would never forsake “real” books, but I have to admit it’s starting to grow on me. I will never give up my library card or my support of our local independent bookstore. Yet, good or bad, we seem to be having an ebook revolution these days.
That said, I am grateful to have readers, whatever form of my writing they read! Heartfelt thanks to anyone out there who’s read Seeking Sara Summers! My next novel, entitled Temple Secrets, is now finished and I hope to have some good news to pass on about that one soon.
What about you? Have you crossed over into the world of ebooks or do you still prefer “real” books?
With every good wish,
Susan
P.S. I am an ex-shrink who writes award-winning novels. Check out my books here.
Email and facebook comments:
“I have to say just getting a Kindle for Xmas has been wonderful. I can download several of my loved books to read while my belongings are at sea for 12 weeks as we relocate to Australia. I don’t think the Kindle will replace my love of curling up with a book however for travelling and in my situation I think it will be fun.” Sally G.
and:
“Hi Susan,
Jim and I are each Kindle owners…and, like you, I thought I would never warm to a hand held machine…but they really work for us…we are limited to how many books we can stow on board, and it’s wonderful to know we’ll have access wherever we are…they are truly great for sailors….PLEASE let me know when Temple Secrets is ready…and, PLEASE, make it available on Kindle….”
and:
Elizabeth wrote: “I’ve pretty much gone all ebook myself and I was always a stickler for print books. I think once you really to understand the benefits of the ereader you can’t help but prefer it. I do however have your book in print, bought it a few months back prior to my ereader conversion. Hasn’t yet called to me–feels like a summer book. I’m thinkin’ I’ll probably pick it up in June or July. :)”
and:
“Dear Susan, I am one of the many who received a Kindle for Christmas. I, like you, always thought I would never want one of these gadgets…surprise, I love it!!!. Just before The Holiday I purchased your “Seeking Sara Summers” and am just starting to read it. I like holding your book in my hands and turning the pages. Of course, I will continue buying actual PAPER books.
I will be looking forward to the publication of your new book. You must be so excited.
Best of luck and Happy New Year. Mary”
and:
“I bought Seeking Sara Summers last winter on my Kindle. Read and enjoyed it then too. I also find both that my own books are selling in much greater numbers as eBooks than paper ones, and that I enjoy reading eBooks more. I save print ones for the swimming pool in summer; I’m afraid of splashing my Kindle there.” –R
I read (and bought) Seeking Sara Summers on Kindle, and that was one of the main reasons I bought it – it was available on Kindle. I was an early adopter of Kindle, having bought Kindle 1 (which my partner now uses while I use Kindle DX). I also have an iPad and read some stuff there too.
I like ebooks for certain purposes, primarily fiction that I will read “straight through.” The big limitation of ebooks is that they aren’t great for flipping back and forth, which is something I do much more frequently with non-fiction, in particular reference books, so I almost never buy an ebook version of that type of book. I also get frustrated with ebooks if I finish a book and want to go back to re-read a scene. It can be very difficult to find electronically. With a physical book, I can almost always remember how thick the book was when I was at that scene.
I have books all around me, shelves in every room. I like buying books and supporting authors, but I just don’t have any more room to store them! So Kindle (and iPad) are great for that. I can buy as many ebooks as I want without having to renegotiate my shelf space.
Sonja, I think we are kindred spirits. My mate and I have books in every room and we are running out of shelf space as well. We estimate we have about 2,000 books collected over the years. And it is astonishing to me that my Kindle can hold 3,000! I also agree totally with what you said about using it for fiction vs. nonfiction. Not to mention that I like the thought of saving trees.
Thanks for taking a chance on SSS. I really appreciate your support!
I do love the capacity of the Kindle, but I have an iPod too yet I keep buying CDs, and don’t use my iPod to download music as an alternative to having them on CDs. Having another version of them on iPod is just a way I can more easily travel with my collection. I’m afraid the same would be true for ebooks. I’d use it for reference books (books I don’t read “for fun”) and travel books, so that I could fit a whole itinerary into one small space instead of having to carry a bunch of books in my suitcase. (Would come in handy right now.) But for pleasure, nothing beats the manufacture of a book. I generally don’t even read paperbacks if I can get the hardback, and try to get the most well-made hardback, if there are multiple editions, that I can. (I love the Everyman’s Library series.) I just ordered a second copy of the first addition of a recent novel, because I marred it somewhat through repeated handling and want to have a mint condition because I suspect a first-edition of this particular book will be like owning an original of Gatsby someday.
And I won’t even get into how books that heavily use illustration don’t work well on Kindle, and even iPads have their limits.
Books are part art. I don’t just mean the author’s words. I mean the *book.* I never went to cassettes from LPs and I don’t hang art prints on my wall. (Yes, seriously, I only have original paintings on my wall.) Similarly, I always try to get not just books, but hardbacks, and not just hardbacks, but first editions where possible and feasible. I don’t think I will ever change. –Oh, did I mention the only way I’ll drink coffee is French press too? 🙂
Conveniences are nice, but you also have to weigh what you give up.
Oh, I meant to add that, having said all that, I am happy Kindles and the rest of them are additional sources of revenue for authors. So often technology cuts into the money creatives make. Happy to see it the other way for a change.
Hi John,
It sounds like you’ve struck a good balance between old and new, art and technology. That’s what I’m shooting for, as well. Thanks for commenting!
I just saw this via a writer friend who got a Kindle for Christmas. It pretty much sums up how I feel about books and ebooks: “An Open Letter to My Books” https://bit.ly/g9g4Gc
Plus a Kindle will never replace the pleasure of browsing in a used bookstore, which I just did today.
Another point, though: I’d rather own hardcopy versions of the media I treasure (CDs, DVDs, books) than rely on downloads and electronic bits that can quietly and subtly be altered. To some this may sound paranoid…but in this day and age I don’t think it really is. I don’t want my child’s (hypothetical…I don’t have a child) science books to suddenly stop talking about dinosaurs or their history books to whitewash events (anymore than they already do!) because someone on some state board is offended and has a little too much power.
Hem, and right after I post that we have editors of an edition of Huck Finn changing a certain word. They say that the word is upsetting. Ya think??? That’s why Markie wrote it in the first place. I guess art isn’t meant to disturb or make us question anymore. More comforting to stare into the blank, lifeless eyes of Bella Swan.
Hi John,
I know what you mean. I’m reading “just Kids” by Patti Smith, that won a national book award last year. It seems she and Robert Mapplethorpe were making art to make us think and question. Are those days really gone?
Your reference to “Bella Swan,” makes me think of the movie “Black Swan.” I’ve had friends warn me not to see it. It is too disturbing they say. Was it made as art or as a way to illicit horror? Beats me, I haven’t had the guts to see it.:/
I am very interested in seeing Black Swan…love Mila and Natalie. Ever see Terry Gilliam’s Brazil? That movie disturbed me. Recently I watched it again (when I upgraded to a better resolution DVD) and it scared me even more, because 1) so much of what it depicted farcically in 1985 has come to pass, and 2) nobody seems to have noticed, or cared–just like the people in the movie.