E-BOOKS VS PRINT BOOKS. HOW DO YOU SWING?

Hi folks,

Just interested in your views and opinions on e-books vs printed books. Is it one or the other in your view or do you see a place where both have merit? Does your opinion stem from a reader’s mindset or as a writer?

I’ve experienced a reversal in the past year. A year ago, I saw nothing I liked about e-books. Of course, that was before I purchased a Kindle. My opinion was that I loved “real” books—I loved the way they looked, the way they smelled, the way they felt in my hand. I had the idea that reading a book on an e-reader was most likely to be the same experience as when I read anything on the computer screen. I did it because I had to for some material, but never enjoyed it.

In fact, when I had a new book coming out, I had an entire set routine. I smelled it--wonderful smell! Especially when it’s your book! Then, I reread it even though I’d pretty well memorized it already from all the rewrites and edits and galleys and all of that. And then… I slept with it. Truth.

I knew I wouldn’t ever be able to capture that feel with an e-reader.

But… like a lot of things… I was wrong.

My first experience with an e-reader was when I downloaded the free Kindle version for my desktop. The first book I read on it pretty well confirmed my suspicions. It wasn’t a cool experience at all. It was exactly what I thought it would be. Like reading something from Wikipedia on my ‘puter.

If I would have gone by my experience with the desktop, I might not ever have gotten my Kindle. But, the fact is, more and more books I wanted to read were only available as e-books. Not to mention that other books I wanted to read that were also in print were infinitely cheaper and quicker to obtain as e-books, rather than the print version. To get the print copy, I had to either physically travel to a bookstore or else order off the Internet. Ordering copies took time—when I bought a book on my Kindle, I received it in mere seconds. Not only did I save on the cover price, I saved on the gas I would have used in going to the bookstore, the time I saved as well as the ease—and, not to mention, the bookstore might not have any available copies. Ordering off the Internet took time and cost me postage. Convenience-wise and price-wise, e-books have enormous advantages.

But, the biggest factor of all was that with the very first book I read on my Kindle I found that it felt even better in my mitts than a physical book did! I was shocked to discover that. It didn’t smell like a new print book, sure, but the fact is that new books don’t really have all that much of a smell anyway. It’s more of a delusion we feed ourselves, to be honest. And, to be honest, although book-sniffing is more socially acceptable than say, bicycle-seat sniffing, neither would be in most folks Top Ten sensory experiences to be savored...

What’s happened is that I thought I read a lot of books in my pre-Kindle days—I’d average three novels per week. That has doubled these days with my Kindle. I’m averaging almost a novel a day now. I take my Kindle everywhere—it’s actually easier to carry around than a novel. It’s certainly easier to carry around than a number of novels and that’s what I carry these days. As of this morning, I have almost 200 novels on my Kindle and I’m nowhere near its capacity. I can be at the doctor’s office or anywhere and I’m not stuck with just the novel I brought with me. There's another advantage my Kindle has--I can upload the manuscript I'm working on to it and work on that wherever I am. I also review books for fellow writers and when I'm waiting in the dentist's office and I get tired of reading the novel I'm on, I can pull up my friend's mss and read it. To have the material that's on my Kindle and available within seconds, I'd have to tote around a wheelbarrow of print versions. And, I've got a bad back so Kindles are better for my health...

I also read it in the bathtub. I throw that in because I read a post on a blog where someone made a joke that they couldn’t read their e-reader in the bathtub. Fortunately, I’m blessed with at least average coordination and have never dropped mine. I suppose if one had some kind of debilitating disease that rendered them unable to hold onto something that weighs a few ounces they should probably stick to print books, but I’m blessed in that I can walk and chew gum at the same time and a Kindle in the tub isn’t that insurmountable obstacle to have to overcome that some would claim. And, if I did have an accident and dropped it into the tub and ruined it—well, the truth is I’ve saved enough from buying e-books rather than the print version that I’ve already saved enough to have paid for half a dozen Kindles. And, if it did “drown” and I had to buy a new one… well, all the books I’d already bought would appear on my new version. If I dropped a print book, I’d just have a swollen, unreadable book…

The more I think about and consider the arguments against e-books in favor of print books, the more I see the same kinds of arguments Luddites always make. Actually, I’m old enough to remember when we changed from chiseled stone tablets to papyrus and the arguments today seem similar. I remember well when that happened. No longer did I have the pleasure of relaxing in the cave with a novel where the pages weighed ten pounds each. Now, those were novels for he-men! You couldn’t be a sissy and heft those things to peruse! And then, I’d just gotten used to papyrus—talk about the smell! now there was a smell you couldn’t get with paper—imagine sheepskin and a rainy day—if you dropped one of those puppies in the bathtub you really had a smell experience (you’ve smelled wet wool, right?)—and then the printing press came along and I had to change all over again and give up all the pleasures of papyrus and animal skins. It never ends! They just keep throwing all these dang changes at us!

I think that many folks today who are resisting e-books for the “smell” the “feel” and all that are kind of in the same camp as people were at any change in books. For those who are of that mindset, I do have some barrels of whale oil. If you’re still resisting electricity I can give you a great price…

Another thing to consider--those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Check out the historical clamor when electricity came along, especially in the New England whaling burgs... 

Maybe I'm fibbing a little when I say I "remember" stone tablets and papyrus and sheepskins--but I do remember when paperbacks came on the scene and there were thousands of literary Chicken Littles running around screaming that the skies were falling and so was "literature." Turned out about the same way as I see e-books turning out. More people published, more books available at lower prices for readers...

I guess my own position is clear… I understand others have a different point-of-view and that’s fine. If everyone thought the same, we’d still be lighting our lanterns with whale oil. I’d be interested in hearing counter-arguments.

Blue skies,

Les

P.S. For those who've moved into e-books, here's a couple you might want to check out:

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