Comments on: Actual books vs. Ebooks

By: Bookwormom

Bookwormom — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:06:24 +0000

Marial~ I’m sure a reader must be a plus over actual books when you travel so much. When the prices come down I might try a reader simply for the backlight. LOL Sounds ridiculous I know, but my Hubby works an odd shift & likes to read before bed & those little booklights just don’t do the trick. I use a facemask, but a backlit reader would be better. We’ll see.

~Amanda

By: Marial

Marial — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:37:45 +0000

I also buy harlequin titles via my reader, because of the price difference when they are bundled. I do most of my reading at night, so the backlight on the reader is handy at those times, which is another plus for ebooks. However, I am a member of a book club that I get discounted prices that are often better than ebooks prices, so in that instance the print books win. I do a lot of travelling for work, so for that reason I have grown to prefer my reader—it is so much easier on plane rides.
That said, I like print books for cookbooks, anything with illustrations or pictures in it.

By: BevBB

BevBB — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:35:05 +0000

I’m not an expert on papermaking by any means but I have studied the process and the main reason wood pulp is the most used in paper is that it’s simply more more durable longterm, which is what we want the books to do – last. Every continent has native fibers that have traditionally been used to make paper, though. And after all, a lot of natural cloth is plant fiber. The problem is that they each have different strengths and weaknesses from wood, but their greatest advantage is that they grow faster than trees. So, it would be a balancing act.

But then most things in life are.

Oh, and I hate it when a print book in the middle of a series is released in a completely different size, like a trade in the middle of a mass market paperback group. Grrrr. I’d actually take an ebook over that.

By: Bookwormom

Bookwormom — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:56:47 +0000

BevBB~ I never thought of other fibers for books. I’m glad you brought that up. It’s a wonderful idea & hopefully someone with some ingenuity & some backing will start trying it out. I always love a nice box of linen stationery.

As for breaking up sets, I agree. Once I start collecting a series, I want them all in the same format. It’s an issue that can drive me batty if an author’s books change format mid series. Genrerally they go from paperback to hardcover & while I’m happy it’s an ‘upgrade’ for her, it means my collection won’t match.

~Amanda

By: BevBB

BevBB — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:22:59 +0000

I do think that there’s a certain aspect of of “collecting” that keeps people away from electronic books. I know that I actually enjoy ebooks but still don’t like to “break up sets” in terms of having some books in a series in ebook and some in paperback. And I’m not going to intentionally buy two, so that means for now I’m pretty much sticking to epublished in electronic form and print in print. Plus, too, I like the generally smaller size of ebooks that are meant to be published that way. Again, I think they suit the format better. Call me traditional.

Oh, and regarding the future of paper books and trees. Nothing says paper has to be made from wood. Or only from wood. Fine paper generally has some type of other plant fiber in it to give it a sheen and texture but where do you think the terms “trash” and “rags” came from in the print business? It isn’t just about the content of what’s printed. It’s about what the substrate is made from. Whenever wood pulp is in short supply, and that has always happened a lot, whatever is available gets used. That could be just about any type of fiberous material, which almost always includes throwaway old rags of all kinds added to all kinds of plant fibers.