There’s only one way to find out: FIGHT!*

53 comments

• 

  I have been converted over to eBooks for a while now. I still buy print books but those tend to be used not new unless I want to have the print format of an eBook I really love.

  I think that is how things will go eventually. I think people will still buy print but a substantial amount will only ever purchase the eBook.

  I think the real story will be ePublishers like Samhain or Loose Id getting noticed eventually here and getting a breakout hit on their hands.

  That is really what the big traditional presses are worried about. They can’t control the digital retail delivery & promotion market like they controlled retail space at Barnes & Noble.

  So eventually here some author with a favorable digital ePub contract is gonna make it big and then the New York presses are going to feel the heat of that type of competition. What author in their right mind would pass up the percentages ePubs offer when on top of that they have equal access to Amazon and B&N stores as any of the big guys.

  That will be when the real potential kicks in.

• 

  LOL, I love your list.
  *
  Since I discovered ebooks over 3 years ago I’ve barely read paper. I’ve got a Sony PRS that I absolutely love. It’s easy to use, has a really long battery life, holds hundreds of books and I can take it with me pretty much anywhere.
  *
  It does have the downside of possibly breaking if dropped, which did happen to me but since it was under warranty I just exchanged it. From what I see now it’s possible to get an eReader for about half the price from a couple of years ago and it will continue to go down, I’m sure.
  *
  I do still buy the occasional paper book, especially when it’s part of a series I’ve been collecting but 99% of my books are now ebooks.

• 

  I will not say the paper is going the same place as the dodo. But I do think e-books will get more dominant as the time goes on.
  I do have an e-reader (since dec) and I love it. It was quite an investment but the rewards are good.
  Most important thing about e-books is the price. They are so much cheaper than paper books. The library is cheaper but they don´t have m/m books.

• 

  I like both. I’ve read a lot more (by c.300%) since ebooks came along, though the good:bad ratio has upped in favour of bad since I started reading ebooks! But the good authors I’ve found have been worth all the bad stuff, and they tend to be authors who wouldn’t have got a break in traditional publishing for one reason or another.
  .
  I’ll happily buy an ebook anthology yet I’d never buy a print anthology – I guess in a way I’m more conservative with my print-buying habits but have a more try-anything-once attitude towards ebooks.
  .
  I can’t afford an ereader (I think the cheapest I’ve seen is £220, sorry but that’s my grocery shopping for the next couple of months) so I read on a laptop, which isn’t too bad. If I won the lottery I’d buy an ereader, though.

• 

  I buy my ebooks. 🙂
  .
  DRM is evil because makes ebooks a hassle. Let’s take the example of getting a new computer or a new reading device. In either case, your new device doesn’t have the same ID as your previous device, so the books that you purchased can’t be transferred to it (or from it, if it’s a new computer) or read on it. You can probably get this sorted out, but – hassle.
  .
  Using the example of Mobipocket DRM, your ebooks are validated against the store you purchased them from each time you try to transfer them to an ereader or even open them to read on the computer. What happens if that store goes out of business and your ebooks can’t be validated anymore? Either you crack the DRM or you lose your books.
  .
  I have a Hanlin v3 ereader, which I love, even if it isn’t the newest or sexiest ereader out there. However, last October, Hanlin went from supporting Mobi DRM to epub DRM. New firmware releases do not support Mobi DRM at all. (This was due to restrictions from Amazon, who owns Mobi.) Unless I crack the Mobi DRM on my books, I’m stuck with the pre-October firmware version, with all of its problems.
  .
  I have decided I’m not going to buy books with DRM. Those are, in nearly all cases, books that I can read as paper from my local library. Instead, i will use my book buying dollars (which are significant, since reading is my primary entertainment) to support publishers who sell books without DRM. (Thank you, Amber Quill, Loose Id, Dreamspinner, Samhain, MLR Press, and many others. You get my $$$.)
  .
  Also, piracy is not limited to ebooks. The Harry Potter books have never been released as ebooks, yet are among the top most-pirated ebooks out there. Had they been released as ebooks, how many people who downloaded a pirated copy would have paid for a legitimate copy? Probably impossible to quantify, but worth thinking on.

  • 

    Hmm – as I say – still not seeing the evil. What I’m seeing is a bona fide way of making it harder for people to share ebooks which from an author’s perspective is a good thing.
    –
    Jim Butcher encourages piracy – and JKR probably couldn’t care less, but then their next grocery bill isn’t dependent on royalties.

• 

  Anyone who wishes to crack their ebooks can do it handily with readily available tools. Or, I suspect but do not actually know, head to a piracy site to pick up the same book without the DRM instead of dealing with buying and cracking a book.

• 

  Hi Erastes

  Obvioulsy I couldn’t list as many reasons as to why ebooks are great compared to those you have listed for print. :). For me my preference for ebooks is a matter of convenience, accessibility, cost and the fact that you can change the font size of ebooks, none of which is possible with a print book. When I buy an ebook I download it right away and can read it that same day or night.

  *
  When I order a print book I have to wait for it to be shipped, pay exorbitant S & H charges, and maybe I’ll get it in 3 weeks. Alternatively, if the print book is available locally, I have to travel to the book store to get it. As to the font size, most print books don’t come in large print and recently I have had problems with my eyes so the small print hurts. 🙂 And let’s not forget that an ebook costs a whole lot less than print except if the ebook is released by Simon or Shuster or some of the more traditional print publishers who want to charge the same amount for print and ebooks.Those are my reasons.
  *
  With regard to DRM here are a few links to articles on the pros and cons of DRM.
  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102330373
  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100584020&ps=rs
  http://www.tinhat.com/ebooks_epublishing/epublishers_drm.html

  Most of us have more than one computer and if the ebook is DRM’d you only have one choice as to where you can read it.

  I now own a Kindle and I sometimes wake up in horror that the Kindle could go bust and leave me without books to read because all of amazon’s books are DRM’d

  As to piracy, I did a post several months ago about ebook piracy. Here’s the link
  http://www.gayromance.org/?p=561
  *

  I do recognize that authors are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every month because of ebook piracy but I don’t believe that DRM is the way to go. Many readers are avoiding formats that use DRM because they want to read their books on all of their electronic devices, not just one. I no longer buy books that use the version of pdf with DRM for the same reason.

  There is no easy solution. Readers of erotic books are wedded to ebooks so unless a writer wants to write general fiction this is going to be an ongoing issue. Sorry!

  BTW I do love my Kindle except for this one problem of DRM. I still have over a thousand books that are non DRM that I read on my computer.

• 

  I got my reader a little over a year ago and I love it. One of the upsides is that I can get access to m/m books much easier now and cheaper because I don’t have to pay for shipping and handling.
  What I find to be the downside is the fact that you can’t always easily flip to the the cover. I am a cover slut and I miss not able to quickly look at the cover and then go back to the page I was reading. Also I have bought books from ebook sites like Books on Board and the cover not actually come with the download, that is annoying.
  Still I find that ebooks are worth the extra hassle just because of the variety of books I am now able to buy.

• 

  I’d say a year ago, I was reading 80% ebooks, 20% on print. Right now… I am close to 95% ebooks, only very occasionally – when I couldnt find the ebook version, then I would get the print.

  It’s not really about the price (if you look at Kindle price – that’s ridiculously similar to print), it’s the convenience, the immediacy, the privacy etc. Not to mention it shortens the publishing lead-time. And also ease of use – I know – it sounds crazy. But now I can declare that I actually prefer to read on my iphone or eReader. It’s something people wouldn’t expect until they take the first step, get hooked and get used to it.

  Sorry, but I agree with Chris, DRM is evil. And a wrong tool to fight piracy. it’s the reason why I never got a Kindle, it’s borrowing books, not actually owning them. Common platforms/formats, ease of use and education is the answer. You can develop the most sophiscated tool to safeguard your ebook, there will still be pirated copies and it’s been proven again and again that majority of the people who pirate music/movie aren’t the buying type. They only want something cos it’s free.

  I’d be more worried if I am a publisher of school textbooks – I can see most people avoid paying for them if they could.

• 

  I use my ereader almost exclusively for m/m books, because, like Ingrid says, my local library doesn’t really carry much in the way of m/m, with the exception of the occasional book published by big name publishers, who would characterize the book as ‘general fiction’ rather than as m/m. I still buy paperbacks of more readily available genres, or I use the local library. I love hardcopy books, but I simply can’t afford to pay the $15-20 for a paperback m/m book when I can get an ebook for $5-6. The ereader was an investment, but ultimately, I save a lot of grocery money by using ebooks.
  ~~~~~~~~

  I’m not a fan of DRM although I understand and support the intention behind it. Authors see so little of the profit their books make already, and it is their livelihood, so they deserve to have their books purchased rather than pirated. However, I try to buy from sites that either don’t use drm or that allow you to download a book in multiple formats or who will accommodate changing technology by replacing formats if you ask them to. As a reader who pays money to purchase a book, I feel like I have the right to own the book as long as I choose, and shouldn’t be penalized by changing technology.
  ~~~~~~~~
  Some people have argued with me that the changes in ebook technology are similar to the changing technology of videos, like the battle between vhs and beta or between bluray and hd. And yeah, I think that makes sense. People grumbled about having to replace their beta max with vhs and my mom still wonders why she thought laserdiscs would remain popular, but there wasn’t wholesale piracy as a response.
  ~~~~~~~
  The difference for me, though, is that books have been around for so long, and have a strong tradition of being shared and lent and resold, that we place a different kind of cultural capital on book owning than we do on film or music. That’s changing, for sure, but I wish we could find a way to maintain ownership of the product, rather than the formatting and still prevent piracy. Kind of like the way you can only make so many copies of downloaded music or you can transfer the title on a car if you wish to sell it, or something like that. Why should an ebook have only one life when other consumer products have so many? Is the fact that a print book is a material object so much more important? Isn’t it the story we’re consuming, rather than the material?

• 

  I prefer e-books now. Not sure why, they just work better for me. I find them convenient and I use a netbook which I can type stuff for work using Word, surf the internet, listen to music, whatever I want. It’s basically just a baby computer like our desktop but I can toss it in my purse and go.
  *
  E-books are also kind of a cheat for me. I must have 600 or so e-books (many short stories) and I would NEVER buy that many paper books. Nope. But I can’t “see” e-books so I trick myself into buying more. Better for authors there. 🙂
  *
  What about libraries? I’ve read hundreds and hundred of books in the last 15 years and not a single author has benefited from my reading habits. I simply NEVER bought books, ever. What about paper books at used book stores and garage sales, or books that are paid for once and then 10 people read it as it is shared? I know that’s not the same as 10,000 people downloading a book but I guarantee you if that book were not available for free 10,000 people would not buy it. I’m not in favour of piracy of course, but 10,000 downloads does not translate into $10,000 in lost revenue.
  *
  DRM annoys me because you are ASSUMING that I am a criminal. If my computer hard drive dies you are saying to me “too bad, so sad, send me your money again.” I bought that book, I have the right to read it as many times as I want on whichever computer I choose to use at the time. Imagine buying paper books that you could only read in the house you lived in when you bought it. When you move you aren’t allowed to take it. That doesn’t make sense, nor does DRM to me. What percentage of people who buy an e-book put it up on-line for everyone to access. I’m not talking someone who shares one book with a friend, but makes it available for public access? I’m not sure that information is availabe but to presume that all e-book purchasers are doing it for nefarious purposes annoys me. Don’t tar me with the same brush. And as Chris said, there are a ton of programs you can download to crack the DRM so it’s kind of pointless anyway.
  *
  I also can’t get the books I read (even the paper ones) here in my city. Some the GLBT bookstore carries but none of our mainstream bookstores carry m/m. I don’t want to have to buy them on-line and pay for shipping and yes, it’s twice as expensive. I can get two e-books or one paper. Hmmm. No brainer to me.

  • 

    I’ll reply longer to everyone later – but you say:
    –
    “10,000 downloads does not translate into $10,000 in lost revenue.”
    –
    I’m afraid it does, though. That’s EXACTLY what it means. I get approx $1 per book.

    • 

      But do you really believe all 10,000 of those people would actually buy the book? 99% of them would simply ignore it’s existence likely. I’m just saying that just because someone downloads it doesn’t mean they would pay cash for it if that was the only avenue available. I agree it’s a loss of income and yes it should be illegal but downloads don’t translate directly into potential sales.

      • 

        The point is, people deserve to be paid for their work. Take the example of 10K downloads. If only 10% of those people (who buy into the “oh, it’s good advertising” BS) were to actually BUY the book, it’d mean $1000 for the writer. Say, 700 after taxes.

        And writers do benefit from SALES to libraries. (In fact, in the UK, writers get paid a few cents when someone checks out their books.) And a library book really is good advertising because if I like a library book, odds are I’ll buy it. When someone’s already got a free download, there is NO incentive to shell out $ for that same book.

      • 

        The point is, people deserve to be paid for their work. Take the example of 10K downloads. If only 10% of those people (who buy into the “oh, it’s good advertising” BS) were to actually BUY the book, it’d mean $1000 for the writer. Say, 700 after taxes.

        And writers do benefit from SALES to libraries. (In fact, in the UK, writers get paid a few cents when someone checks out their books.) A library book really is good advertising because if I like a library book, odds are I’ll buy it. When someone’s already got a free download, there is NO incentive to shell out $ for that same book.

• 

  “I’m afraid it does, though. That’s EXACTLY what it means. I get approx $1 per book.”

  Really? If you give a book away for free on Amazon and 10,000 copies are downloaded…

  Does because 10,000 people downloaded the free eBook mean 10,000 people have read the eBook or 10,000 people would have spent that much in sales if the eBook had not been for free?

  Even I do not think that is the way things work.

  You are approximating lost sales on a figure that does not tell you why people downloaded the file by mistake or did they delete it or what they did or would have done if the eBook had cost a dollar.

  • 

    Not sure what you mean, TP. What I’m saying is that when I find a site where – for example – there’s one that I found the other day where Standish had been downloaded 400 times. If those 400 people had bought the book instead of stealing it (and Standish is not even AVAILABLE yet in ebook format, so this was stolen by someone who got hold of the editing copy) I would have made $1.66 per copy. e.g. $664. With ebooks I make slightly less, around $1 in royalties per ebook sold, so every person that illegally downloads rather than buying a legiimate copy from an esite or the publisher takes $1 from me. (obviously a lot more from the publisher)
    –
    I don’t see how anyone would download a pirate copy by mistake – as you need to join a site (usually) – then click through to a 3rd party, then click on a download link.

    • 

      Programs do download stuff randomly or by mistake and they often delete it even. Sometimes people download the same file multiple times using search and download automated scripts searching for some file with “stand” in the name.

      You are assuming that ALL of those 10,000 downloads were downloaded by different people so they could be attributed to lost sales.

      I am saying a portion may not have even known what that file was or cared or even kept it.

      10,000 downloads does not equate to 10,000 in lost sales anymore than that free eBook offered on Amazon equates to 10,000 sales.

    • 

      Erastes – That pirate copy was not necessarily made from the editing copies of Standish, just like the pirated copies of Harry Potter generally not from editing copies. It’s as or more likely that someone scanned and converted the book – it might sound difficult to do, but I’ve seen some pictures and descriptions of setups that would make it easy, fast, and cheap to do.
      .
      Also, I think there’s recognition that many people who use pirate sites are actually hoarders and just acquire files/books/etc to have rather than to read. Those people do not represent lost sales.

• 

  DRM is in the best interest for authors, publishers, and booksellers. It is a pain in the ass, frustrating and prohibitive to readers, who are treated like and assumed to be criminals. Though I am all for authors getting their royalties, and I don’t condone piracy at all, I agree with whoever said “DRM allows for digital censorship” and many times it simply doesn’t work as there are many cracks to the code. There has to be a better way and I do think it will come, though the growing pains while it evolves for readers are significant. Here are a few other interesting articles on the subject:
  http://www.teleread.org/publishersdrm.htm
  http://www.fictionmatters.com/2009/03/26/npr-ebooks-and-drm/
   
  I have a Sony eReader, which I love dearly. Is it perfect? No. Would I really miss it if were gone? Yes, in fact, my partner has been reading on it for about a week now and I’m itching to get it back because it means I am left to a laptop, which isn’t nearly as convenient to both read on and lug around, or one of my print books (which actually is making some of your points, I guess…). *g* I may need to buy her her own.
   
  Because of the type (brand) of reader it is, I have my entire collection backed up on two different computers, an external hard drive and a CD outside of the house so that I will not need to repurchase the books at least if the house buns down or the device dies. All of my books are in PDF, non-DRM format, so I can save and read them anywhere that has either the free PDF reader, has PDF as a reading option, or can easily convert (if necessary). I don’t share them, nor have I have ever pirated them.
   
  The reader itself is the size of a hardback — but thinner — so it fits in my bag perfectly.
   
  I buy print versions of books that I have really liked once I have purchased them in eformat (and tried them out for less money), so some authors actually get double royalties from me.
   
  I love ebooks as a reviewer because I can pull quotes — especially longer ones — directly from the file as opposed to retyping.
   
  I can change the font size of the ebook on the reader.
   
  I can get an ebook immediately, without leaving my house and without shipping costs.
   
  I suspect that some time in the future libraries will be accepting eformats of books for donation. Libraries around here are lending some ebooks, and I see them evolving with and to the technology and demand. I don’t think ebooks will replace print books — at least in our lifetime — and as a librarian I feel I can safely say that. Additionally, I won’t be eliminating my print collection at home just because I have the reader.
   
  I saying all of that, and as a user of a reader and lover of ebooks, I think there are definitely downsides to ebooks — many of which you mentioned — and that we are in the infancy of the technology. I am eager to watch where we go from here.

• 

  I read everything on my PC or Kindle these days. I received a Kindle for Christmas and totally adore it. It’s easier to take with you, you can change the font size for easier viewing, and I can indulge my obsession for m/m romance without scaring my fiance for life.

  Plus, ebooks are cheaper on my pocketbook (well, in theory they are. But with the amount I read…*grins*) and it’s much easier to get them. When a book comes out, I can go to my computer and download directly instead of paying shipping and handling fees or I have to go to the nearest book store (which is a few towns over). And I like the ‘sample’ that you can download before you buy.

  My fiance will tell you he likes the ebook version because I no longer have tons of books laying around the house. 🙂

  The downside of ebooks (for me), is not being able to share a really good book with someone. If I read something I liked, I’d loan it out to someone to read to get them hooked on that author too. 🙂 And I agree with the person who said they couldn’t flip to the cover easily. I like to look at the pretty covers when I’m reading.

• 

  I read ebooks almost exclusively. For one, I love how convenient it is. Two, I have arthritic hands and holding open a book is very painful for me. Three, the font size in most paper backs is two small for me and I have to keep switching to reading glasses even though I already wear bifocals.

  ***

  I love that my reader has a backlight because I read in bed a lot and with paper, I have to wear a headlamp, which is a PITA. And I can make the font a lot larger. I can also edit, highlight and bookmark passages for further use.

  ****

  So, really, I just prefer it all around and have come to really hate reading paper books.

  ****

  Because of this, if I cannot get a book in ebook format, I will not buy it now. I don’t care who the author is or how much I’ve loved them in the past, I won’t buy it or I’ll think really hard about it.

  ****

  About the DRM, it sucks. It does nothing to deter pirates as I think many of those people post pirated copies just because they are pissed to begin with at being forced into a certain format.

  ****

  And really, at this stage of the game, paper books are being uploaded just as fast because the technology is easy to get and use. So you can’t really argue paper vs ebook with piracy. Maybe at the moment ebooks are easier, but pirating is not exclusive to ebooks.

  ****

  All DRM does is punish the customer who actually pays for books. I refuse to buy any ebook with DRM. First, I have a reader that I prefer to read with and if I cannot get a book in a format that my reader reads, then I just don’t buy the book. Simple.

  ****

  There have been many books I’ve wanted to buy, but my reader couldn’t read the format so tough luck to the author. An actual paying customer didn’t buy her/his book because of DRM.

  ****

  And I’ll be honest, I’ve bought more books since getting my ereader than I ever did with paper. With paper, I often used the library or UBS. Why pay $7.99 for a book that I can get for free or used cheaply. But with ebooks, you cannot do that so I actually buy them. Which is a way better deal for the author. And I read this over and over by ebook readers that they buy way more than they used to.

  ****

  I will also say that I think it also sucks that because of the piracy issue many of us who are honest get beaten up if we share an ebook with a friend. What is wrong with that? I’m really getting rebellious against constantly being treated like I’m some kind of nasty criminal because I want to read a book in the format that I like and maybe want to share with a friend, like I would/could with paper.

  ****

  You hit a sore spot Erastes. Any more, while I do feel for authors, as a reader of ebooks, my sympathy level is dropping more and more the longer we are forced to take it up the butt when all we want to do is read and buy books easily and at a good price. The more DRM that slapped onto an ebook so I can’t buy it, the more I could care less about author/publisher problems with this. And I’m one of those readers who even pays for books I’ve gotten free to review or beta read just to support authors.

  I think I shouldn’t jump into these convers anymore. Raises my blood pressure. snort

  • 

    I do think ebooks should be able to be re-sold. Individually. But the thing is, in a group of, say, 20 friends, if each one “loans” her book to those 20 and they “loan” copies to 20 more… you do the math.

    There’s a tremendous difference, to me, between sending a file copy to a friend who has, for instance, lost a job and doesn’t have cash for books and posting a book on a website for unlimited downloads just to be popular with the “friends” on that site. A few loose files won’t hurt anyone. Wholesale theft and redistribution does hurt–and the only one that benefits are the pirate sites that sell advertising.

• 

  I welcome ebooks, both the books themselves and the culture they bring with them. I feel this way as an author and as a reader. If I may beg your indulgence, let me explain.

  I was published last fall for the first time; I sold last fall, too. I signed my contract in October and had my book in my hand in December. I sold a second, a third, and now a fourth in between now and then. My second came out last week. My third comes out in a month and a half, my fourth the month after that. At the rate I’m writing and my publisher is buying (and producing), I could mark my one year anniversary of being sold by having more than more than seven novels in print—to say nothing of the short stories and novellas in process as well. In the traditional print only world, at my one year anniversary I would have one book out, if I were lucky. The irony is, I’m published in ebook AND print.

  As a reader, I went from hardly buying any books at all to buying liberally and frequently, and once I get my iPad this number will rise exponentially. The books I want to buy are not available at my library or at my local bookseller I have to save up and pay high print prices to get them: or I can pay $8-10 and have them in eformat IMMEDIATELY. There are books I have bought in both ebook and print form: the ebook because I cannot wait and the print because they were that good. I have print-only books I’ll buy in e-form once I have a reader because I want to be able to lend them but also carry them everywhere.

  I do not agree that every pirated sale is a lost sale. Yes, there are sales lost by piracy, and I feel it should be fought overall. But I am strongly against focusing so much on thieves that the focus is gone from the paying customers. I cannot and will not try unknown authors whose first chapters can’t assure me they Know Their Shit and will tell a well-written, ripping yarn in paperback. I will take a chance on a $5 ebook about pirates because I hope it’s good. I will not spend $15 plus shipping.

  I mentioned I had a book out last week. Anyone who ordered a paperback directly from my publisher is probably just getting the book now. In the time between that release and this moment, I have shot up to eighth place (then fell back to nine, but I was at eight) on my publisher’s bestseller overall wall from ebook sales I have received an email every day from readers telling me they liked the story and that they’re recommending it to their friends. I am all over the map with a brand-new book, with tons of purchases and some really great word of mouth: and that’s all from e-ink. At least four of those readers, too, have told me they’re buying me in paperback for a keeper shelf. So that’s $8 per ebook and then $18 per paperback, together. No, not everyone will do that. No, four people will not send my kid to college. But I don’t think for a minute that even half those e-book readers would have forked over $20 for an author who is still very unknown, no matter how hot Anne Cain’s covers are. And I could never hold as many giveaways and be as liberal with reviewers if I were giving away paperbacks. And it wouldn’t happen as quickly.

  Interestingly, I haven’t yet received a Google Alert that it’s being pirated. I’m sure it is, but I haven’t seen it myself at this point.

  So I’m good with ebooks. I fully appreciate the “I miss paper sentiment.” I do too. Even with my iPad it’s not going to be the same as taking a book to the tub. I don’t get half excited at downloading my pdf of my book as I do holding the author copies. Paper books are always going to be the glitter for me. But I also look back with nostalgia at the days when there were no cell phones and I really do think it would be romantic to ride in a horse and buggy. But I’m keeping my car, and I’m upgrading my phone because I need to be able to text easier. I think the future is e, I really do. I hope paper is always around. But I feel like going with an electronic-centered publisher was one of the smartest decisions I ever made.

  Oh, and DRM. No. I don’t like it. It may cost me some sales, I suppose, but I’d rather take that than Big Brother. I’ve bought whole albums of music artists and put them on auto-buys because someone sent me two free songs. I’d like to think the same thing happens with books. No, not everyone shares my ethics. But I’m okay with that. No DRM, please.

  Great topic, great discussion.

• 

  I like paper. My problem is STORING it. I have boxes and boxes of paperbacks, not counting sacks and boxes and car-trunkloads I’ve given away over the years.
  ~
  This is where the ebooks come in. I can buy the book for $2-5 (a paperback costs me $8), read it and decide if I need a paper copy.
  ~
  These days the paperbacks I buy for me are either trade paperbacks from friends or non-ebook authors I like. Or books for class.
  ~
  Also, between my arthritic hands and elbows and my legally blind eyes, ebooks are a wonderful thing. I love my Sony 505 to death. I would miss it if it went away. But I would miss my stacks of paper books more.

• 

  I still haven’t been convinced enough to buy an e-reader yet. I see the advantages, yes, but so far they don’t outweigh the drawbacks for me. For one thing every time I think about it I imagine how many paper books I can buy just for the cost of the reader, before even buying the books! Also, I already carry enough junk around and am resistent to carrying yet another gadget around, especially when it only does one thing. If I was going to spend that amount of money on a device I’d probably rather buy an iPhone instead that’s useful for lots of things, as well as being able to read on it.
  ~
  And it seems like there’s so much hassle between formats, DRM and pricing and when they are available, IF they are available at all. I just think it’s not time yet.
  ~
  Not being able to easily do the things we do with print books. Hard to give them as a gift. Impossible to loan them to people or sell them on eBay! And I know, loaning a friend of mine a book means the writer doesn’t get anything, but if that loan makes them buy the rest of the writer’s books, it’s free advertising! I loaned my brother a Terry Pratchett paperback. He now owns everything published by Pratchett, so loaning it out increased Pratchett’s sales! Couldn’t have done it with an e-book.
  ~
  I like the point that they can’t be signed either! I treasure my author signed books. Especially the Pratchetts, knowing he probably won’t ever do a signing tour again.

• 

  I love paper books. I will always love them – there is nothing in this world that can be compared to the smell of newly printed book or the feel of it in your hand. But, when it comes to m/m books, I will always buy an e-book. Always.
  ~
  Why? There are no m/m books in my country, so I have to buy them in English. And the difference in prices is huge for me. In the country where average salary is approximately 500 $, the difference of seven (J. Lanyon’s The Dark Tide for example) or more dollars between paperback and e-book is HUGE. Before The Book Depository put my country on the list, the difference was even larger due to the shipping costs.
  ~
  I don’t have a reader, so I read them on my computer and it’s not practical, but otherwise I probably won’t buy them and read them at all. I am thinking about investing in a reader in the future, since there are so many other books that will not be translated for years if at all. The e-books mean more options for me as a reader. Without them, I would completely turn to libraries and buy only selected books. I would probably never heard about Josh Lanyon, Jordan Castillo Price, Charlie Cochrane or Erastes for that matter.
  ~
  The question of availability is important as well. Aunt Lynn, LVLM, Heidi Cullinan and others also made some good points, so I won’t repeat them. The e-books will never completely replace the paper books for me, but they are part of my reading habits now and they are here to stay – permanently.

• 

  To quote Angela Sparrow: “I like paper. My problem is STORING it. I have boxes and boxes of paperbacks, not counting sacks and boxes and car-trunkloads I’ve given away over the years.”
  *
  When I moved to California I couldn’t take all my books with me. The books I re-bought to fill the shelves in my teeny apartment QUICKLY filled the shelves.
  *
  Getting a Kindle was a matter of space for me, in the long run. The more books I could buy for the kindle, the less I’d have to buy and take up physical space with.
  *
  I’m sorry you have to deal with piracy, but you’d be dealing with it even if your books weren’t in ebook format. Plenty of books that aren’t available in ebook format can be downloaded if you know where to go.
  *
  If it makes you feel any better, I bought Transgressions for my Kindle (just when it was released) and read it.
  *
  I think ebooks and regular books can exist simultaneously. I don’t think it’s an either/or thing. But ebooks are just better for some people. People with disabilities that makes it hard for them to turn a page or hold a book, people who have limited space and so on. My favorite example is my friend Mary Lynn who is extremely allergic to book mites. She has to buy all of her books brand new, and keep them in glass cases when she’s not reading them. Having an ebook reader would eliminate all of that hassle.
  *
  But then there’s my friend who gets al of her books from the library. It’s really up to personal choice, and I don’t think that embracing ebooks = discounting the importance of paper books.

• 

  I prefer print, but most of the m/m books I have are ebook. From my understanding, ebooks are cheaper for publishers, and I can understand going cheaper in this economy though it hurts the author. However, I hold the personal belief that if a book is in print, it’s most likely better in quality than an ebook. That being said, I have a bunch of ebooks I would buy in print in a heartbeat.
  –
  There was a debate on a journal involving pricing of an ebook verses a print. The debate was when a person buys a book, any format, they are buying the intellectual property to read it, therefore an ebook should cost as much as the print. It made me wonder, why can’t there be a happy medium, or at least a compromise?
  –
  Why not make it like some DVDs with digital copy? Buy a print book, maybe a dollar or two more expensive than usual, and receive a certificate with a code that you can punch into the publisher’s website for a free digital copy. Now you can read your book on the go as easily as in your bathtub. Vice versa, if you buy just the ebook (cheaper than print), you also get a certificate good for 40-35% off the print book, an incentive to buy and support the author through print. It’s not a feasible idea, it doesn’t get rid of piracy of DRM, but it’s the only one I’ve got.

• 

  I have an e reader and it’s great for portability, price of books, especially if you have to include postage to the price, which is the case of most m/m books, and storage ( I hear you Angelia!), but (isn’t there always a but?) I still prefer print. You just can’t “flick” through an e book, you know, to check how long it is going to take before something is actually going to happen :), or to verify facts that have gone before. So,call me a stick in the mud or techno-phobic give me print any day.
  Also, DRM totally a pain, as it makes even transferring books between my computer and my e-reader impossible (which may be due to my technophobia problem…)

• 

  I started reading ebooks when I was initiated to M/M: they were and still are easy available via Internet and a lot cheaper than the paperbacks (if they’re at all available as such). I read M/M almost exclusively as ebooks and as I haven’t read much else for quite some time ebooks take up to 99% of the books I read at the moment.
  I don’t own an ebook reader, though, so I read the books on my PC or laptop and that lessens the reading experience I love so much with paperbacks considerably. On the other hand, I tend to buy more ebooks than paperbacks and I’m more likely to try something new or “take a risk” when buying, e.g. in case I’m not sure I’ll like a book.
  When I buy M/M paperbacks I pay even more attention to reviews and such due to the higher costs. And when a book is rather huge I go for the paperback – it’s a pain reading long books on PC or laptop.
  *
  I won’t buy an e-reader soon because I don’t see enough reasons to buy an expensive device that has yet to establish itself and lacks a reliable/universal technical standard in terms of file format. The market is just too confusing at the moment and I’m sure as hell no “early adopter”.
  Add to that the fact that the ebook market is still in its early beginnings in Germany with the publishers still fighting for the “print status quo” as much as about prices, DRM and the potential of ebooks in general. So against this background I GENERALLY prefer paperbacks. But ask me again when I finally might have bought an e-reader.
  *
  But still I think I’m rather conservative when it comes to my books – I need to cuddle with my favourites. 😉 The idea alone of reading an all-time-fav as ebook makes me shudder. It’s a psychological thing, I guess. 😉 Anyway, I’m all for “e” and I think, as has been mentioned already, that the future will be “e”, too, and I’m looking forward to it. It’s a really interesting and exciting development these days.
  *
  In terms of DRM, everything has been said, I guess. I’m not willing to pay for a consumer-unfriendly system. I think it’s one of the huge tasks for the industry to come up with a solution that motivates more people to pay than to seek illegal sources. A certain company managed this quite well in other areas (and instead of the industries in question, btw), and I just wonder when we’ll have the “ibook”. 😉
  *
  Having said all this, I eventually think that I’d rather go for an ipad or a similar device than an e-reader. If it’s “e”, than I want it all and not just the reading device alone.
  My guess is that the current e-reader models won’t dominate the market of digital reading devices in the future. They might just be a kind of “temporary solution”. And there will be whole new categories/definitions of books. The cool thing is that all this is probably only the beginning.

  Just my 2 cents. And very long, I’m afraid, sorry for that. Great discussion, very interesting to read all the different opinions! 🙂

• 

  I said “My guess is that the current e-reader models won’t dominate the market of digital reading devices in the future. They might just be a kind of “temporary solution”.”
  *
  I didn’t express myself well. What I mean is that e-readers as a device with only one function – reading ebooks – won’t dominate the market. They do now for obvious reasons but more as a “bridge” to the multi-functional devices that are raring to go already.
  *
  But who knows? Maybe the audio books will be the unexpected winner of the fight between e and paper because people in the near future won’t read anymore the way we do now.
  😉

• 

  Short and sweet(ish): I love print books. The smell and feel are far superior. The space required to store them, however, is sadly lacking in my home.

  ~

  I don’t have a ereader. I download all ebooks to my computer and read them there. And I like ebooks just as much as print. It’s a different experience, in a way, but neither better nor worse, for all that. Just different.

  ~

  I can’t say I prefer one to the other. I might feel differently if more m/m books were available in print for comparable prices to paperbacks bought in a bookshop. And often, that’s the deciding factor for people, I think. Many publishers offer limited selections in print (if they offer any print books at all). If there’s someting I really want to read, usually it’s ebooks or nothing because those are my choices.

  ~

  Piracy is a whole other topic, which I have very strong feelings about, but I’ll save that for the appropriate time and place. 🙂

  ~

  ~Tis

• 

  Here’s the thing. Theoretically, I prefer dead tree versions. I’m a writer, and anything I get published is just that little bit more special if it’s on paper.

  BUT. I have noticed that since I got my Sony PRS-505, a strange thing has happened. My tbr pile of actual paper books keeps getting bigger, because anything I buy on paper is much less likely to get read.

  I have bought all of the historical m/m romance books in the series of which Transgressions was a part, and very nice they look too on my bookshelf, but to my shame I have read only one of them. Because I haven’t had time? No. Because I simply prefer reading on my e-book reader.

  And that is totally leaving aside the question of how many books it only becomes feasible for me to buy because they are available in e-form – I’m UK based, so $17.99 plus shipping from the US? When I win the lottery, maybe.

• 

  Oh, and don’t get me started on the issue of reading in public and completely embarrassing m/m covers…

• 

  I live in Hicksville in a 3rd world country. Ebooks for me, no contest!
  *
  Ok so it’s not so bad here cos we still get internet, but since I moved from the States, I had to get used to 1MB speed instead of the 30MB before.
  *
  And I’m glad I’ve been buying 100s of ebooks before I moved, cos my 30 yaoi manga and 30 M/M printed books plus my kids books took all of 2 suitcases (had to throw out lots of my clothes but anything for Asami and Takaba!).
  *
  I love my Sony Reader. I read in bed all the time but I have to say I hate falling asleep while reading and having that thing hit me in the nose. I look like a fool. 🙂
  *
  I buy all my ebooks. I’ve only won maybe 3 free ebooks so far and I actually feel bad that my favorite authors don’t get money from me that way.
  *
  And I want to buy Standish ebook!!! If I read another “I LOVE FLEURY!” from anybody, I’m gonna be so mad! I want to love Fleury too! 🙁

  • 

    Don’t feel bad about winning e-books. They are for promotion and I’m always happy when someone who’s read my books wins a new one. I’m not sure you could get a print book through Customs in Malaysia and I’m glad you can get them at all!

• 

  My one and only problem with e-books is that I have nothing on which to read them, other than my desktop. And that is a major PITA. Like you, Erastes, I won’t be able to afford an e-reader until their prices plummet — and I mean drastically.

• 

  Having a computer-induced headache at the moment (too many work hours in front of the damn screen), so I’ll keep this short and sweet: hate reading on computer, avoid ebooks whenever possible, love paper, love holding a real object for my money, fantasizes about floor-to-ceiling wooden bookcases with pretty sliding ladder too. So I’m with you all the way Erastes, except for the throwing-at-the-cat part. That might damage the book. *g*
  *
  And I won’t consider the possibilty of maybe perhaps possibly thinking of buying an e-reader someday until they settle on ONE frickin format, or build a reader that reads them all. I’m buying ebooks in .lit those days and as far as I know no reader reads them.

  • 

    Mary M.
    The ebook Reader “BeBook” reads .lit.(plus 19 other formats)
    -Endless Ideas BV-

• 

  I don’t have an ereader. I do have a lot of ebooks on the computer(desktop and laptop). They are less expensive and most of them aren’t available in print yet. If a book comes out in print first, then that’s how I buy it. Or if it’s part of a series that I started in print, I’ll stick with print. One thing I don’t like about ereaders is that most of them can only work with one or two formats. That limits its usability for me. I wouldn’t want to be restricted to buying from only one or two companies.
  I’ll never give up print books if for no other reason than power. We had a 5 1/2 day power outage here a couple years ago. Without print books, I would have gone very, very crazy.

• 

  I don’t like e-books because I’m rather abusive to my books. For example, I drenched one in root beer the other day. I think an e-reader would last about five minutes in my hands before I killed it (lunch box related incident).

  More importantly though, I never want my books to go obsolete. I have to buy new music when the format changes (8tracks->tapes->CDs->MP3s) I definitely don’t want to have to replace all of my books the same way because Amazon stopped supporting the Kindle and wants everyone to buy the new and improved Kindle Mark 8.

  Unfortunately, lots of the books I want to read are *only* out as ebooks. I’m going to have to just break down and get one eventually, but it will never replace a physical book.

• 

  I’m not sure I can say I prefer either. Both have their good points and their bad. However, when I travel, I’m thankful for ebooks! I always take my laptop, and now, I also take over 100 books with me. No more worrying about which 10 books I need to make room for in my pack and how much extra weight that will add. I don’t have a reader. All my books are in pdf format and therefore work on either my MAC or PC.
  ~
  If I love an ebook, I try to have it in paper as well, as I love paper when I’m home and don’t want to deal with the laptop. One of the sadder things about m/m is that many of the ones I like aren’t available in paper, so for those, I still need my laptop.
  ~
  As for the piracy issue, don’t get me started.

• 

  I don’t own an ereader and can’t see buying one, but almost all the M/M erotica I buy is DRMless PDFs. No special reader or special software needed—it JUST WORKS anywhere I want it to. I only buy print books for other stuff though (stuff that’s not M/M erotica), for a few reasons.
  –
  My one DRM’d ebook experience (a FREE book!) was horrible; had to use a cruddy reader and couldn’t transfer it to a new computer. (I’m in IT don’t feel like it was mostly my fault.) Wow, I’d never pay for that experience.
  –
  iTunes music DRM (when it had DRM) and Audible DRM JUST WORKS, like DRMless PDFs, and it’s very flexible. I can do things I should be able to. It doesn’t sound like this is the case with ebook DRM so…why should I buy it?
  –
  Hopefully in 5 years, book publishers (perhaps with nudging from Apple) will wise up and drop DRM, like music publishers did. (Music DRM was always stupid anyway since, you know…CDs existed…DRMless digital music….)
  –
  I’m vastly oversimplifying to keep this “short” (hah!), but in summary: DRM’s a pain for paying customers, but it doesn’t stop illegal stuff. This helps companies who sell DRM tech, but it doesn’t help authors or publishers (who overestimate “lost sales” from piracy, as others have pointed out). As with most things in life, if it’s more trouble than it’s worth to me…I won’t buy it.

• 

  I have a very old, very obsolete ebook reader(formatwise). Most books need to be converted before I can put them on my reader. If the book has drm, I can’t put it on my ereader. There is no point for me to buying that book.

• 

  I’ve been a fan of ebooks for a long time, and almost any m/m books I’ve bought for years have been in ebook version. The few I’ve bought in print…sadly, are still sitting on my book shelves gathering dust and I haven’t gotten around to reading them.
  –
  I’ve always been a huge reader, with periods in my life where I’ve read a book or two a day. So I’m not dissing print books at all. However, over the years I’ve also become a gadget girl. I do love my gadgets. *g* Each year the gadgets get a little better and a little more practical. As that’s happened, I’ve switched over to ebooks almost exclusively. I have a Kindle and an iPhone and I read on both because I can sync between them. I still occasionally read on my laptop as well, but I’m totally sweet on my Kindle. 🙂
  –
  A year ago I was reading mainly m/m ebooks, but still reading some print books in other genres. Now, however, with very few exceptions (like Harry Potter) pretty much if I can’t buy a book in the Kindle store or in PRC format at a different store and upload it to my Kindle, I don’t read it. Well, I guess that’s not exactly true. Because I also have the Stanza app on my iPhone, so I can read almost *any* ebook format in Stanza. The things I can’t get in PRC, I just read in Stanza. But my point here is that I haven’t read a print book in probably a year. I still like the idea of them, like the way they look…but in real life, ebooks are just so much more convenient and so much more practical for me.

• 

  I’m just not sure about that last reason, throwing the paperback at the cat….. I own most of Louis L’Amour’s westerns in paperback and I wouldn’t throw one at any stupid animal. Some are falling apart cause I’ve read them so often and throwing them wouldn’t help at all. I don’t own any of M.L. Rhodes’ books in paperback, but I if I did, I wouldn’t throw one them either.
  *
  I read alot of ebooks on my pc. I would like to request a kindle for a birthday or christmas, but family might want to know what I’m reading and I’m not ready to reveal all to them yet.

• 

  I prefer print books because the battery will never go dead. And I buy a few favorite authors new, but I also buy used books. (betterworld.com raises money for literacy and keeps books out of landfills… and it is NOT Amazon.)

  Unlike the folks here who have their unread books on a shelf, I have a couple dozen e-books on my drive (prizes, purchases, sample reads) that I’ve never read. I work on this machine. When I want to relax, I turn the computer off.

  Kindle: never. Any company that pulled Amazonfail, the Snatchback, the ‘you must use our POD’ or we won’t sell your books, the price-setting and extortionate pressuring of publishers … no, sorry, I don’t believe in catering to the already too-powerful. Something small, inexpensive, solar-powered by ambient light, and waterproof is what I’m waiting for… Actually, waterproof isn’t necessary if someone were to make a damp-resistant e-book that could be mounted on a tub-clamp and the pages turned by a vocal cue. THAT would be truly useful. And I’m starting to think a notebook would be better–I don’t like unitaskers much.

  I hadn’t thought of the format issue, but that’s a good point, too. I’d want to get books in some simple, universal format, not something that will be out of date in a couple of years… assuming the company that issues it doesn’t go under.

  DRM… No. I think it’s a waste of time and mainly serves to irritate the reader. Thieves will find ways around any protection, and the only people who’ll be foiled are those who don’t want to screw around with hacking in… which is to say, people who actually buy the book.

  When I write, I’ll often have several reference books strewn around my desk. Much as I love Wikipedia, I can’t do that online–split screen isn’t the same as having the whole book right there and not having to wait for it to load.

  Ebooks are undoubtedly the wave of the future, assuming the human race doesn’t overload the planet to the point where everything breaks down. But I find screen-reading a chore and when I read for pleasure–one of my oldest and most reliable pleasures–I want a real book.

• 

  I received my Sony reader a year ago and I absolutely love it. I travel quite a lot and simply pop it in my purse or backpack and, voila, I have everything written by the amazing Josh Lanyon, Charlie Cochrane, Sir AC Doyle, and a bunch of brand new authors and SO many others in one convenient little device. I, too, was hesitant because I adore paper, the smell of paper, the crack a new book makes when first opened. But its convenience won me over. It’s quite sturdy too, perfect for bathtub and beach reading:)

  As I said, I love to discover new writers so I purchase quite a lot of ebooks (which are cheaper) by newbies. Some are perfectly dreadful, but then there are others who are amazing, like my discovery of Tere Michaels and Sean Kennedy’s Tigers and Devils.

  I always purchase books legally. I always think of the author. After all, I want Josh, et al, to write for *ever* and I support them one hundred percent. In fact, if I really like an ebook, I usually purchase the paper version for my bookshelf.

• 

  There are a couple of things to add to all of the other pro ebooker anti drm folks up top.

  First, the last 5-10 books I bought in paper never got read until a repurchased them in ebook form. (you’ll notice I said purchased) At that point I realized that paper books were a waste of my money. I’ve also noticed that while I used to be willing to shell out for a nice hard cover because they where beautiful — carefully chosen font, chapter headers and bindings — that’s no longer the case. The binding are less and less sturdy and all of the details seem to be forgotten. MM is even worse.

  I’ve been reading digital for 7-8 yrs, been through multiple devices and formats and many other changes. Everything about my reading experience has changed and not all because of book media. It’s also about the amount of time I spend reading other things — email, rss feeds, etc. My lifestyle as a whole has changed. I’m now self employed. Sometimes the only time I have for book reading is the 5 mins on line, the 20 min break, etc. reading on my phone, my ipod, my sony all just work so much better in my life. Does that mean I no longer just sit and read for hours? No, but that kind of time is much less available. Does that make me a less desirable customer?

  The last thing that tipped me over to ebooks was also mentioned above: the space. I like to assemble a library — a library where I can go back to old favorites; one where if I read something that reminds me either of another story the author has written or a different story all together, I can go back and find that story and reread it — without having to worry about compatibility or drm. Comparing ebooks and paper from the author’s side, it is my understanding that currently the cost differential in ebooks v print in a single publisher is more about the cost of publishing, the author makes the same money. Publishers selling digital and certainly those who are fighting it seem to be implying that we, the readers, view digital as disposable and paper as permanent. Why is that? I certainly value my digital library as much if not more then my paper. I invest money and time in back ups and organization. Drm and multiple formats are a an annoyance and barrier to all of those things. The message I feel that I am getting here is that I’m a less legitimate reader and consumer in this instance since I don’t revere paper enough. This is about content, delivery and use. I would love to have epubs make the layout, cover and font choices just as important in epublishing as it used to be in paper. That would really make my digital library complete.

• 

  I currently live in a country where customs had someone use a black marker to color in her wedding pics because she had a sleeveless wedding gown and her shoulders and cleavage was visible. When I was moving I had to cover most of my books with brown paper to hide any ‘pornographic’ pics, i.e. any skin showing. Bringing porn or religious(bible) or political material is punishable by death by beheading.
  So ebooks have been my savior. It’s the only way I can read esp m/m books. If my kindle was discovered I would probably be thrown out of the country. I am sure even in other countries that ebooks are the only way some pple can read banned material by the govt.
  Suzi.

• 

  “what is so EVIL about D.R.M?”

  1) As you yourself point out, “What happens if the format starts changing as rapidly as it does for games and digital music?” Twenty years from now, we aren’t going to be using the same e-readers. Without DRM, one can change an e-book one owns into the next generation’s technology format. With DRM, one can’t do that.

  2) ePub e-books with DRM are usually tied in with Adobe Digital Editions. I hate Adobe Digital Editions, not only because it doesn’t do the sorts of things I want an e-reader to do, but also because it doesn’t allow me to choose my own typeface. I’m partially sighted, so this is a big, big issue for me.

  3) From a purely ethical stance, I object to a publisher telling me that I can only read an e-book on the devices that the publisher considers proper. If I buy an e-book, I want to be able to read it in whatever fashion I want. If I can’t do this, then I don’t truly own the e-book.

  4) As various people have pointed out, DRM doesn’t stop piracy, because it can be cracked. And if there’s a print version available of the book, piracy is even easier; I could scan, OCR, and post online a print book in one hour flat. DRM simply stops honest readers from buying e-books, because they hate having to jump through hoops that they wouldn’t have to jump through if they bought a print book.

  If publishers are absolutely wedded to this useless method of combating piracy, I suggest they switch to social DRM.

  To answer your original question, I like both e-books and print books. I’m partially sighted, so it’s easier for me to read electronic text, but I continue to buy print books from my favorite authors.

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