Question of the week:
“Knowing that the profit margin / royalties in paperback formats is minimal, do you still try to obtain that format? Why or why not?”
Yes, I would as a writer and do as a reader.
I am sorely afraid that we are all basically in agreement this week and just about all that can be said has been said.
But, for what it’s worth, here are my thoughts.
I LOVE BOOKS.
I mean, really.
I am a book hoarder married to another book hoarder. At last gestimation, we own about 3,000.
I thinned out a good number a few years ago, (which was really a small portion), but we probably added half as many since.
As yet, I have not seen my name as ‘author’ on any paperbacks, but I have a number personally autographed specifically to me. You really can’t get an ebooks signed.
I DO have magazines and a compilation with my name as writer, and I stare at those once in a while. (I was sorely depressed when one decided to go only online instead of print. Nevertheless, my name is there. I have it another anthology and an e-zine article with my byline saved; I wish I had thought to save more.)
As a reader, yes, I have Kindle on a tablet, on my PC and on my phone. I do read on them, but I much rather holding a book in my hands. I prefer having several books around, started. I have several books started on Kindle, but it isn’t the same. They don’t ‘catch my eye’, so I don’t grab and read. It really isn’t the same.
That being said, my poor arthritic hands do well using a device. It is easier to hold, and I don’t even have to hold it; it can lie or be propped on a table, the arm of a sofa, my lap, etc.
It’s easier to read while I am eating!
I can read on my tablet while on my treadmill; it doesn’t slip, it stays flat, and I can readily brush a ‘page’ away.
Frankly, since many books are not available in paperback, and many people offer discounts or freebies on Kindle, the PRICE are what has fills my Kindle. (I have a Nook app, but I have never used it.)
However, we don’t really ‘own’ Kindle books. It took me a while to realize that we don’t download Kindle books completely. I have had some others sent to me, (ARCs, or ordered), that are indeed downloaded from sources other than Kindle to my PC. I have also saved them on my external hard drive. (Those number around 5, I believe; I have at this moment there are 209 in my Kindle library.)
Amazon is going ridiculously well, but what happens if, somehow, someway, it goes under?
We will no longer have those books, (for which we have paid)?
I would rather hold my own book, give my own book, plus give many to my friends, and buy those of my friends and favorite writers, IF my money was more abundant. As it is, I don’t even order as many ebooks as I would like.
Paperbacks…or even hardbacks, ebooks, for that matter, audiobooks.
As I said, I love books, and I love them in all forms.
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
I had to laugh at your comment: “It’s easier to read while I am eating.” When I’m at home, sitting alone at the kitchen table, I ALWAYS have my iPad propped up in front of me and my attention is on a book. It’s much easier to wipe down an iPad screen than to get food or a coffee stain off a page!
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Oh, absolutely! Books, esp paperbacks, will NOT stay opened, (and you can’t ‘turn’ the pages with one clean knuckle, either!)
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This is one reason I like ebooks.
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Tonette, you need a book holder like I have. LOL It’s a bamboo rack into which you prop your book, and it’s pages are held in place with little arms. I can adjust mine to any angle. Reading at the table while I eat (on a rare occasion) is no problem with a book. LOL Most of the time I’m in conversation with my husband during a meal though (another avid reader…of books, real ones 🙂 ).
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All well and good; I have had some, but you still have to turn pages.
Good for you with your husband. When we were first married, he wanted to read while we ate. When the kids came, we had family dinners. Then our work schedules conflicted. If we eat together alone now, we’re usually watching a movie or show.
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I understand. A lot of people do that. As long as your happy with that setup, that’s all that matters, but I don’t mind turning the pages on a book. LOL
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your observation about whether we actually POSSESS E-books obtained from Amazon is one that hit me hard when I first realized that only about half of those titles (I’d purchased) were stored on my Kindle device. The other half were stored somewhere in Amazon’s “cloud” I suppose.
I have an author friend who has (not sure how) “downloaded” all of the E-books she’s purchased into a format that she has stored on her PC. So if / when the cloud goes wonky or Amazon changes its policies, she still POSSESSES the readable test of the titles she’s purchased.
I wish I had the time, energy, and know-how to do the same thing.
For one reason, it would be actually easier for me to read on my PC than on a kindle device!
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I have a number of books on my PC, but as much as I love my PC, and how comfortable I am writing there more than anywhere else, for reading, not so much. I will be looking into downloading books completely.
BTW. do you save your important files? When I lost a lot in a crash, I bought a good external hard drive. I also save my WIPs on flash drives.
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I save all of my files on an external hard drive, as well as a copy on a thumb drive (flash drive) that I keep with me constantly.
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My files are backed up every night on a flash drive and by emailing them to myself using military date as a file number in my “Backup” Gmail File. I also have an external harddrive where I back up everything about once a month. You can never be too careful with all your hard work.
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I had been saving my WIPs on flash drives, but my ‘starts/ideas’ and terribly, many recipes of mine ready for another blog got wiped out; it would have been way too expensive for the Geek Squad to go line-by-line to retrieve them, since we all had a lot of ‘junk’ on the PC. I have some also on the “Cloud”, which came with the PC.It’s convenient because my phone can pick up what I put there.I certainly don’t try to write on my phone. I still put my works on flash drives.
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Jeff, I have the program on my PC to download ebooks. It’s a free program through Kindle. Check with them.
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