Comments on: Tuesday Discussion Items

By: HotStuff 2.0 » Blog Archive » Word of the Day: “hardcovers”

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:05:35 +0000

[...] Discussion Items [web link]Agnostic, Maybe (21/Jul/2010)“…says ebook sales outpace hardcovers amazon com inc [...]

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:22:00 +0000

True. There is a convenience to the Kindle and other ereaders that make back the price in the device over time as you buy more and more books at the discounted Kindle or iBooks rate. Could this be a renaissance for reading? As people’s money goes further with the ebook editions, will people buy more books?

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:57:11 +0000

I think the success of Kindle editions in relation to hardbacks has more to do with the price scaling of newly-released books. Most people who are standing in a bookstore, looking for a copy of a book that’s been out for a while, are going to grab the mass-market paperback edition, not a hardcover copy that’s two or three times the price.

But, if you’re someone who likes to read the new releases while they’re still hot, the e-version makes financial sense (if you’ve already shelled out for the reading device, of course). A Kindle book is usually significantly cheaper than the hardcover edition of the same book, which is all that’s available in print. There’s also the instant-delivery factor for people who would otherwise line up at B&N at midnight (or 6 AM) for a big release.

If you’re not into reading brand-new material, however, I think you’re still more likely to grab an old-fashioned paperback.