As many of you know, I have been a bit “under wraps” since this time last year. Over that year, there have been quite a few technology changes … all seemingly pointing to the demise of the printed book. Within a few short days and about 5 hours hanging around airports, I’m convinced that the printed book is here to stay.
About two weeks ago, I got an email saying that my youngest son was going to receive an award as a Top 50 Scholar athlete at the university he is attending. I had done virtually no air traveling since flying there for the same event a year ago and was quite excited at the prospect of going there again this year. Over the past year, I was busy with chemo treatments and a bonus stem cell transplant. I had stopped using public transportation, almost completely. Observations to and from New York City on the commuter trains had provided me research data on publishing market trends for years. Seeing is believing … no matter what the industry hype would lead you to believe. I had avoided more than one dead end, over the years by just observing people. If they weren’t using a particular product or technology, it meant that it probably wasn’t being used. Peter Lynch, of Fidelity Magellan Fund fame, made tens of millions of dollars using this same method of research. If he wouldn’t use the product personally, he didn’t buy the stock, no matter what the “numbers” looked like.
My main business is books … printed books … real books … ink on paper. If I don’t print books, I don’t eat. I’ve been in the printing and related industries for over 40 years. For probably 39 out of those 40 years, I’ve listened to various naysayers predicting the end of the printed product. While various components of the printing industry have changed, the printed product is still alive and well, I certainly believed … but I needed to see it again, just to make sure.
My own family has added a few new gadgets over the past year. My wife and son both have “Smart” phones. My son’s phone is smart enough that he still never answers if I call, unless he needs money. My wife’s SmartPhone gets a bit of a workout. She loves it. We haven’t found any secret Pizza joints with it but I’m sure we will, some day. The email function is used mainly as an email delete gadget. This is not good news for email marketers, if others use it the same way, which my guess is they do. In fact, I’ll send you a $25 off coupon if you are actually reading this article on a smart phone. Unfortunately I probably won’t be sending many coupons because the email more than likely got deleted somewhere around “The Printed Book is … ” Personally, I still have a dial phone in the basement. It gets a dial tone every time I pick up the receiver to make a call and it has never needed to be upgraded or replaced (unlike the smart phones that seem to break about a year and a half into a two year contract) My family also has a Kindle, iPad, NetBook, laptop and various iPods or similar devices, all designed for our traveling enjoyment.
I normally try to go to Ohio non-stop but I wanted to use my frequent flyer miles so I had to book the trip changing planes in Philadelphia. I was a little nervous about checking a bag on a flight where I changed planes so I decided to travel with only my briefcase So, instead of traveling with my laptop that I would normally have packed with my clothes in a checked bag, I went with a change of clothes and toiletries my NetBook and charger, my iPad, my iPod knockoff and a few magazines in my carry on. I was ready to go. There would be plenty of time to observe people.
My travel day started bright and early in White Plains Airport, north of the city near my house. White Plains is a tiny airport so there were not a lot of people there to observe. I grabbed a cup of coffee and a newspaper and waited for my plane to be called. Pretty much everyone else in the waiting room was doing the same thing. I saw a few earphones so I guess some people were listening to music. A few were giving their thumbs a workout on their smart phones, I assume deleting email. No Kindles, laptops, iPads or talking on the phone, for that matter. I guess it was early.
The flight to Philadelphia was pretty short. I was on a small commuter plane with about 15 rows. There was not much time in between the “No electronic devices” announcement on takeoff and the repeat of that announcement on descent so everyone pretty much either stared off into space or glanced at the inflight magazine (printed, of course). The plane arrived in Philadelphia pretty much on time. I got to the gate for the flight to Columbus with about an hour to spare and it was mid-morning in a much larger airport so there were plenty of people to observe.
When I first scanned the waiting room, it was somewhat of a shock. I had scanned waiting rooms for many years and had a pretty good mental image of what one looked like. This one was definitely different. It seemed as if everyone, as far as the eye could see was wired in one way or another. Half appeared to be clutching some sort of smart phone device. The other half seemed to be holding a laptop or electronic tablet of some sort or another. I don’t know that I saw a single book being read. Wow, I thought. Maybe the printed book really is dead. How’s the old saying go … “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is?” After my initial shock, the light bulb went off and I realized that the airport had free wifi. Of course everyone was hooked up to their electronic whatnots. In fact, they were doing what people have been doing for decades in airports … killing time between flights. I decided to take a little closer look so I got up and started walking around to see what people were actually doing.
By the end of my hour walk, I had not seen a single book being read on any of the various electronic devices. There was not a single Kindle among the hundreds of visible electronic devices. The people with the iPads or iPad lookalikes were all either playing games, looking at email or watching a movie. The Smart Phone people all seemed to be busy deleting emails. Some were even using it as a phone. While I didn’t see any books being read on electronic gadgets I actually did see quite a few people reading real printed books. There certainly weren’t as many as you would have seen a few years back but they were there … competing with other forms of entertainment not competing with different formats of the same product (eBook vs. printed book).
The other observation I made in Philadelphia was that the terminal I was in was being renovated so there were only a few stores. Among these few was Hudson News. What does Hudson News sell in addition to candy and a few souvenirs … books and newspapers.
I did the exact same thing on the trip home with the same results. If someone was reading a book, it was a book … a printed book. The electronic devices, all touted as eBook readers, the killer of the printed word, were being used for other forms of entertainment. Were there some Kindles packed in suitcases? Maybe. Did I miss one or two books being read on an iPad? Probably.
Meanwhile, the same person has been named for the past 5 years as the poster person for eBook sales. Seems like if there are so many eBooks being sold, a few more authors could have joined the poster person ranks. The Justice Department is all over Apple for price fixing. They have the right answer for making money with eBooks. Unfortunately it’s illegal. I’m not exactly sure how Amazon escaped the Department of Justice other than maybe they are still searching the Amazon website for a phone number.
How did I make out without my laptop? I found that trying to do anything but “play” on the iPad was like trying to type on an ATM machine. I ended up using it as an MP3 player and while my old reliable NetBook might be great for checking my fantasy baseball stats on the train in the morning, it wasn’t much use for any extended period of time, even when I was near a plug. What did I do to pass time when I wasn’t searching for an eBook being read on an ebook reader? I read the magazines I had packed, of course.
There has never been a better time to self-publish a book. The printed book is not going to disappear anytime soon. Reading has always competed with other forms of education, relaxation and entertainment. Today is no different.
A good place to start your self-publishing journey is to download a copy of Publishing Basics – Navigating the Self-Publishing Minefield at www.SelfPublishing.com.
Remember: If you were doing research 30 years ago, judging alcohol consumption by the number of empty beer cans in the back of automobiles in the local parking lot and used the same method today, you would conclude that people today have stopped drinking beer. Obviously they haven’t. They just don’t drink and drive anymore.
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Ron, I’ve published textbooks (mainly) for over 20 years–in print, of course. We’ve made a few strategic moves to offer some of our resources electronically, as well. We’ll see how it all plays out. But I truly enjoyed your well-written, highly-readable article, and wish you continued success. I also wish you well with your health!
JG
Hi Ron,
I REALLY enjoyed your article. You are so RIGHT ON. For years I’ve been following your newsletters and sending many of my clients to your website when they choose to self-publish. And as you know, I’ve used your printing services before and after the digital revolution.
I fully agree that printed books will continue to hold their own both for stubborn anti-techies and environmentalists… [ how many other materials besides paper can be used to print books? Is this a big secret?]
Kindles are great for audiobooks and for backlist storage. Who wants to own a huge library of hard copy books such as the Harvard Classics, especially in a mobile age? Book space gets to be an expensive pain as well as a dusting disaster. Think about it: How many times do we feel the urge to read Pliny and Epictetus? I have a huge Kindle library and every now and then I enjoy dipping into Franklin’s Autobiography or rereading a Greek play. The rest of the time, hundreds of classics are stored dust-free on my Kindle and they go everywhere with me.
I would NOT place what I call disposable fiction on my Kindle, however. I’d buy the paperback,read it and give it away [if it's worth reading].
I do want manuals and how-to books in hard copy AS WELL AS ebooks stored in my Kindle, if they have lasting value. As Jason Epstein said so well: it’s the backlist that’s important. That’s where the value of ebook readers such as Kindle come into play… Their incredible storage is a gift from heaven, or from the “clouds.”
As for the netbook, I used mine once and dumped it into a storage carton. Smartphones work for emails and texting…and of course for phoning (!)… surely not for browsing the Internet. That goes for Kindles also. Have you ever tried to watch a YouTube or Netflix streaming film on a Kindle? Especially in a wireless hotspot?
iPad is great for people who like video games, et cetera. Frankly, I don’t have time for them, even when I’m traveling because I’m not only an avid reader/writer; I’m an addicted one. An extra phone contract in addition to smartphone plus data contract is overkill unless, of course, you’re a gamer. And you’re right about the iPad keyboard. It is not a computer!
So what’s my solution? When I travel: I schlep a laptop for wireless hookup and writing; I’m always working on at least one manuscript and even when I try to take a vacation from writing, it just doesn’t happen (!) I use a smartphone for emailing [with free hotspot and limited data contract this works, since I have my own wireless hotspot in my home office if I need to use it for facephone, etc.].
I buy printed books. I may also buy the same printed books in ebook format. I love to take lots of messy notes in in printed books and let myself be careless with them, especially if I also own them as ebooks. My music–and I’m a huge classical music listener–is stored on my MP3, which fits into my purse or computer bag with my Kindle. At the airport, I’m likely to pick up a couple of printed paperbacks or some magazines… and then if I like the printed book well enough, I’ll share the book with someone else and store it on my Kindle.
As a publisher [www.dandelion-books.com] I highly recommend that my authors publish their books both as hard copy books and ebooks… in all the conversions. Why not have the best of ALL worlds?
Ron: Thank you so much for telling me what I already know the printed book is still in demand.
Around a year ago I walked into my local library (great people–encouraged me in writing my
first book) and asked them–so are print books still relevant! All of them looked at me and
started laughing–and almost at the same time they said “Yes they are!” The assured me that
print books are not going anywhere, even though their is a market for E books. I felt a lot better and started working on my second printed book.
Now the only thing I am worried about is how to price the book. Amazon has made people
expect a $10.00 E book which cannot be done for a print book (not and make money for marketing). So thanks again Ron!!
Ron, I’m a regular visitor to Publishing Basics and I’m grateful for all the ideas you share. I’ve been reading your essays since establishing an independent press to focus on Southeast Asian history in 2006. Over the past 6 years eBooks have moved from cutting edge to mainstream…but I agree with you that paper books will be here for a long time, and some of their charms and features will never be duplicated electronically.
Most of my books are academic. They contain footnotes, photos and cross-references that simply aren’t suitable for ebook formats. Paper books are still the best for notes, quick flips back and forth to cross-check facts and learning in general.
But eBooks are terrific for pleasure reading. I now read for fun on a Samsung 10.1 Galaxy tablet and love it. On a recent trip to Thailand I took more than a hundred titles to choose from and got through about a dozen books. And the back-lit screen lets me read in bed anytime without disturbing my wife.
So for fiction titles, I think print and eBook formats are both essential (and I see that your complete book services offers that package now too). But for educational uses…I’m sticking to paper.
Thank you for your continuing insights in our field.
PS – The TED lecture about book cover design that Michael Heath just wrote about also ends up on this exact topic – http://www.publishingbasics.com/2012/04/09/eight-brilliant-examples-of-cover-design/
Very interesting to read that printed book will always be there. However in the just concluded LBF, digital zone displayed different story.
Still long live print on paper
Ron—you are right on… oh, I see people on planes doing some reading; and on cruises, via the eReaders. But the great majority are using the traditional book. The gadgets are for games and emails. On another note, I’m a book judge in a state competition–with 4 books to evaluate, 2 were submitted in the traditional format and 2 in “e” version. Hands down, the “e” version took a back seat–with all the judges. Plus, my eyeballs felt like they were going to fall out. As I told the promoter–if I had known they were coming in that format, I would have opted out in the beginning.
Ron, I think you are right. I bought myself a Nook Tablet for Christmas and I must admit that use it to play games and view movies more so than read. I do like to use it when I travel so that I don’t have to lug all of my favorite books with me. My 17 year old daughter and I both agree that we like the feel of books in our hands. Thanks for your observations.
Hello Ron,
I enjoyed your evaluation of the book situation. I see enough people in Barnes & Nobles and Schuller’s to figure we still want books!!! I want my hard covers and I have a bunch – mostly on health and ways to stay that way as well as the spiritual side of things.
I have self published a shorty in the past but life is too busy to entertain anything more but someday! Just love to keep a finger in the pot. Thanks for your emails.
Donna G
I have two novels available on Amazon as both printed books and e-books. The e-book versions have been outselling the printed versions by more than 7-to-1, and e-book sales have picked up rapidly over the past year, much more so than the printed books. I am able to sell the e-book version for half the price of the printed version, but make several dollars more for each book. Seeing sales of the same set of books in both versions gives me a good head-to-head comparison. Based on that, I’d have to say e-books are outpacing printed books.
Still, I hope you are correct in believing that printed books are not going away any time soon, for several reasons. For one thing, I know a number of people who have stated that they still prefer to have a “real” book in their hands, rather than an electronic gizmo. For another thing, I worry about the long-term availability of anything in electronic format. All our devices are continually changing, updating, upgrading – and going out of date, and out of existence. I still have a bunch of genealogy data I spent hours inputting into Family Tree Maker, for instance – but unfortunately, it’s on the old 5 1/4 inch floppies, and it’s been many years since I’ve even encountered a computer that could read one of those. I foresee the same thing happening to virtually (pardon the expression!) any other device and/or format in use now or in the future. It’s ironic that, over the course of the existence of writing, our writing media have become more sophisticated, convenient and widespread, but also more perishable. Engraved rocks and cuneiform clay tablets don’t lend themselves to convenient travel reading, but they sure do last a long time! Papyrus scrolls and paper books are somewhere in the mid-range of durability, yet many hand-written books have lasted hundreds of years and there are still a few papyri that have lasted several thousand years. I worry: how long will our e-books last? Our culture’s very high-tech sophistication and complexity also makes it very fragile: one good meteor shower could wipe out a lot of our satellites, and there go our smart phones and our wireless! And if global warming turns out dire enough, it could bring down our whole civilization and all our technology with it. What future archaeologist could then read our e-books?
On the other hand, while our technology is here, I, for one, am using it. I have a Kindle, a smart phone, a laptop and a desktop computer, and I use them all, a lot. I prefer to carry my Kindle for travel, because I can carry a whole library in the place (and weight) of a single printed book. I love that Amazon automatically syncs what I’ve been reading so I can pick up where I left off on any of my devices. So, when I got unexpectedly stuck in traffic last week, I could pull off the road and read a book on my smart phone until traffic let up; then I finished it on my Kindle when I got home. (And I refuse to route any of my several email accounts to my smart phone, because I get mountains of email and do not want to waste time – or cell phone minutes – deleting it!)
So I would say to authors, publish in every format you possibly can – the more formats available, the more you can sell! (And the more chance your book has of surviving!)
Always with the great columns! Thank you, sir, and All the Best in your healing. I agree that the printed word will never die – but I need to add the traditional “mice type” – typed rapidly of course… I see the printed items going in a similar way to the actual “vinyl” records; they are still produced, but in special editions and to a select and discerning audience. What I think is stunting the eBook is the “eFormat” itself. I want a paperback sized screen that (doing the exaggerated double-take) actually has images that look like pages and turn like pages. I want VIRTUAL books; the Cover looks like a real book cover – not a screen image with the title on it. I do not like the Kindle “pages”. I am looking at a – what – gray or something colored – screen of type. None of the paper pages’ character is there. When I “turn a page” it’s ZIP to the next screen of type. Very machine, very antiseptic. It is like the earlier days of the movie/TV “CGI” effects; they were so clean and smooth. The air was too pure and clear. Later, when they learned to grunge it up a bit, then it became much more acceptable. Apply this to eReading; we need a standardized reader program and book format(s) that display and allow the creation of virtual printed items. We do not need “PageMaker” levels of options and tweaks. We do need “paper type and quality” to make pages “papery” and even well-read in appearance. The paperback could even “age” with time and reading sessions – easily restored to new with a click. We need to see bookshelves – not of little color cover pictures, but spine-view titles of simulated books we can stack as we like on our “shelves”. There should be basic typefaces. We do not need minute levels of font/character control. We do not need “in the page” effects, sounds and the like. That stuff “imagines” for us and robs us of using our IMAGINATION. We need only realistic page turning animation and sounds. No, not that just weird draggy-corner page-turn thing seen in a lot of online “pages” today. Take a look at a game called “Around the World in 80 Days”. In it, you have to pair-up sets of icons and collect artifacts/trinkets. The intermissions are a simulated “journal” EXACTLY what I’m talking about; it is a simulated BOOK and not a series of computer screens. Imagine a book-creation program like this – to let everyone create virtual books and then handle/read them LIKE books. (heavy sigh). I know the Faithful will rail at my digital blasphemy, but I want the printed book to get a fair shake electronically. These eBooks now are lifeless. I hope to have my own titles printed in both the real and digital worlds – I am hoping that the line between them can be much less of a deep ravine with the standard rickety rope bridge crossing it. – Russ
I’ve never bought into the hype that printed books would disappear — but I do think their use will go down over time. Simply put, some types of books are easier to use in electronic format while others are easier in print format.
Personally, I don’t buy just ebooks or just print books; it depends on my anticipated use of each, as well as price and expected value. If I’m uncertain about the author or material and can get the ebook at, say, 99 cents or $2.99, then I’ll get the ebook — and if it blows me away, I may “upgrade” to the printed version. But if the book is not so good, I feel better that I didn’t waste more than a couple bucks.
One thing you didn’t mention, Ron, that should be taken into account — I read all of my ebooks on the Kindle app on my iPhone. I’m sure I’m not alone. So, as you’re observing people on their iPhones or other smart phones, they may actually be reading an ebook (unless, of course, they’re incessantly fidgeting with the thing).
Hi Ron- I wish you good health. I happen to be one of those that reads via my smart phone and you happen to owe me a $25 coupon now since I just read this article on my i-phone.
I agree that your article is on point though regarding an existing audience for hard copy books but it didn’t take me long to add an e-book version of my first book. I guess if we want to truly market to all, we can’t avoid the electronic option, social media included. I didn’t have a Facebook or twitter account till my book but it is almost unavoidable these days as that is the only way to meet a certain group of readers. My website http://www.toyinayeni.com points to these social media and I pretty much accept all those that want to be friends because that is the purpose of my Facebook.
I am encouraged by your article as well as the self publishing basics that i downloaded and look forward to truly self publishing the books I am working on now. I plan to work with your company to bring them to life.
Very cool… You are the first. I’ll send you a coupon for $39Glasses.com too. If you don’t wear glasses now, you will be….Just kidding.
Ron
Hi Ron,
Great article. While I am moving my business more into digital publishing, I never thought it would replace books. Maybe because I am an avid book lover. I get excited just walking by a book store. And, I’ve tried reading a book from an Ipad, but I just don’t enjoy it as much. Last night I curled up in bed with my book and read into the wee hours of the morning. I loved turning every single page. The touch pads are nice, but not for me.
Ron,
Enjoyed you article and passed it around to those aspiring authors I know. Like you, i think the printed book is here to stay. There has been other articles espousing the glorification of the e-book but we all know that the amount of royalties involved will drive authors to the poor house. The idea of having access to 35 books is like having six cars in the garage…you can only drive one at a time.
Ron,
Interesting thoughts, and well written. This wasn’t what I expected, and I haven’t had the same experience as you, at least not in the same way.
I fly about 15 times a year, about 50k miles for work, and I read a lot. I fly all over the country and to the UK a couple times a year. Over the last 3 years, I’ve seen more and more kindles in use all over, especially on planes. I do see plenty of people reading, primarily older people, but I can’t decide if there’s “more” reading taking place or less. There is a shift to e-readers, but it might just be the people that would normally be reading.
There definitely is a shift to playing more games, and I have to admit that sometimes I get distracted with a Word with Friends game, or something else when I could be reading. Multi-tasking devices tend to do that.
However I read extensively electronically, and love it. I bought a Kindle (gen 1) and used it to get through 100 books in a year. It got destroyed, and I moved to the Kindle app on an iPhone, where I’ve read bout 60-70 books a year. In that time, I’ve also read 10-12 paper books, and the format change doesn’t both me. I like both, but mostly I like the convenience of the iPhone’s large library and the ability to change fonts when I do/don’t wear my glasses. I like being able to read in the dark on a plane. Recently I had 3 paper books on a UK trip, and I read most of them, but it was a hassle to lose the space in my bag. I read parts of a couple more e-books on my phone while in line at customs, waiting at the gates, in taxis, etc. because of the convenience. I have my phone always, and it’s easier to read for 10 minutes on that than pull out a book.
I hope the printed book is always around, for a variety of reasons. However I do think it’s place in the market is diminished over time as costs become more of an issue, and more people can read electronically. I also look forward to the e-book evolving a bit to become more creative. Not necessarily video, but perhaps some more creative uses of the format that make the experience enriched.
Absolutely brilliant article and with a great slice of humor!! Loved it.
I guess I get a coupon as I read this on my phone.
I’m a library and information science student who also spent time in graduate school for history and in some ways the current change reflect the emergence of the printing press. It took decades for the printing press to supplant written manuscripts and centuries to fully do so in regards to one of the most common kinds of books known as a commonplace book that was basically a personal collection of texts.
The statistics are clear, e-readers and tablets have a growing precense and more important is that heavy readers are often the ones adopting them and they are actually reading even more then before. Anyone publishing a book today that does not publish an e-book version is a fool, especially as we are no longer in an ‘or’ world but an ‘and’ world.
Hi Ron, another great post / article, much appreciated! I read this on my HTC cell phone…ha ha. $25 coupon? No seriously … Am currently experiencing pains in my right arm so am unable to use the PC as much…hence checking emails on here! Yes indeed…I think there will always be a place for pbooks but with technology advancing at such a fast rate you soon have a greater swing to ebooks I think. Maybe one day there will be an ereader that makes a coffee at the same time! God bless / cheers Dave AscensionForYou
Excellent observations! Actually, a lot of people are doing the same thing especially with the access to more features other than reading. Applications are fun, entertaining and sometimes addicting too. And I agree also that printed books are never to go away. Sometimes, it just feels so right to read books that you can actually feel the pages.
Thanks for the article. I remember wondering why anyone would want a remote control when it’s so easy just to get up and flip the channel. I figured remotes would always remain a novelty gadget. I also remember telling my daughter that digital photography would never replace oldschool film and chemicals. Well, it seems I got those predictions wrong. And I suspect you may have got this one wrong.
It’s interesting that you made your observations in an airport, not a train station. Who would want to be buckled into a seat, looking out at clouds when you could be clickity clacking from the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam? Yes, there are still passenger trains, but. . .
Personally I still prefer holding a book in my hand and flipping pages. But, then again, I also prefer listening to music on a pair of circa 1950 monoblock Heathkit amplifiers—just love the way the tubes glow.
It’s not so much that books will die out, it’s more that us old folks who love them will die out.
Dan,
I spend 2 hours a day on a train plus a handful of train trips, including one coming up on Thursday. I’ve been observing train riders for year.
Ron