With the increasing role of e-readers in the world of books,
debates are happening around the world about whether or not to hold on to hard
copy books or go completely digital.
Everyone has his or her own opinion, and each format has its own
advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take
a look at the differences between the two formats.
E-Book Advantages
Considering the cost of printing, distribution, and retail
sales, e-book pricing will continue to hold an advantage from an individual
book outlook. Unless some crazy new
system comes out that has never been thought of before, it will forever be
easier to distribute and sell books in a digital format because of the lack of
cost behind duplicating a file as opposed to completely printing another book.
Marketing and promotional works will also be less
expensive. The downfall to this may be
that the authors have to do most of the work themselves, but it has already
been more than proven that writers can be more than successful running their
own marketing strategies at a much lesser price than what traditional
publishers will offer.
Distribution is also much easier in the e-book world. With hard copy books, they have to be
printed, packaged, shipped, received, displayed, and then sold. With e-books, once the book has been
formatted for digital use, it’s done.
All a customer has to do is click, pay, and download.
Royalties will be another huge advantage in regards to
e-books. Traditional book publishers
will offer a royalty of anywhere between 10-20%, depending on the author’s
previous history in writing. With
e-books, although the cost is less expensive in the store, writers can expect
to receive anywhere from 40-70% in royalties for each book sold.
Storage ability is another big factor. If you want to carry around a bunch of hard
copy books, you will need a backpack, suitcase, or some really big and strong
arms with nothing else to carry. With
the e-book format, you can literally carry millions of books all on one device.
Yet another key benefit of e-book publishing, which could be
considered by many as the biggest perk, is that it gives authors who would
otherwise be ignored by traditional publishers the opportunity to get their
book to the market. The big publishers
will offer 90% of their time to their top 10%, leaving the rest of their
attention to be spread across thousands of other authors. This doesn’t leave a lot of attention for
anyone. With e-books, anyone can be published
if they are willing to do the work.
Finally, a big perk of going with an e-book format is the
ability to share media. With your basic
hard copy, photos are the only form of media you can share with the
reader. With the digital format, videos,
photos, audio, links and more can all be shared without much if any additional
cost to the publisher/distributor.
Hard Copy Book
Advantages
Durability is a big advantage with hard copy books. E-books have to be read on a computer,
tablet, or smartphone. If you aren’t
familiar with any of these devices, they can break rather easily. This isn’t the case with a hard copy
book. The worst that will probably
happen to a paperback/hardcover book is some pages may get ripped and the cover
will most likely get frayed. Between the
two, the hard copy book is much more durable.
Some people would also say that it’s also easier to read a
hard copy book. Continuously looking at
a computer screen/tablet can be very strenuous on the eyes, and you don’t have
that kind of strain when you are reading a paper book. In this circumstance, a hard copy book has
the lead.
Another key selling point for a hard copy book is that it is
readily available. When reading on an
e-reader, you have to turn the e-reader on and wait for it to boot, which isn’t
that big of a deal unless you’re in a hurry to find some quick
information. More importantly, however,
is the fact that an electronic device has a battery life and a hard copy book
does not. A paper book is never going to
die in the middle of a chapter…that is unless someone runs up and lights it on
fire.
An additional benefit to a hard copy book is the overall cost. This isn’t to be confused with the
cost of one individual book, but the cost of what it takes to read a digital
copy versus a hard copy. In the end, in
order to read a digital copy, the reader needs a device to read it on. The cheapest e-reader someone can purchase
will cost around $100. That’s a pretty
hefty investment for someone who just wants to read a book.
Although this may seem like a minute detail, hard copy books
also have specific sensory effects that e-books cannot provide. For one thing, you can actually see how far
through you are in the book. Not that
you cannot see what page you are on with an e-reader, but being able to
visually see how far you’ve gotten into a book can create a sense of
accomplishment for a reader.
Additionally, many hardcore fans of hard copies particularly enjoy the
look and smell of what paper books offer.
The feel of the book in a person’s hand and the smell of the paper bring
reminiscent memories of childhood or maybe even a book that made an impact on
the reader’s life. All of these things
cannot be achieved by using an electronic device.
Conclusion
All and all, it really comes down to the individual
reader. Each book format has its own
perks and downfalls, and it’s up to the consumer to decide which they would
like to take advantage of. In my
personal opinion, I think it depends on the content of the book. If I wanted to sit down and just read a book,
in almost all cases I would prefer a hard copy, mostly because of the sensory
effect. However, when it comes to
textbooks used in classes and books filled with media-heavy content, I would
prefer a digital copy. Photographs are often
more vibrant and available to zoom and save, and many textbooks can include
videos and links that you otherwise would not be able to take advantage of with
a hard copy book. With all that said,
which do you prefer?
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