By Elizabeth Rinaldi
THE BATTLE HAS BEGUN, E-READER VS. BOOKS!! WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?!?!
For the longest time, books ruled the world. Stories were told in small print on the fresh pages of a new book and one was forced to endure the musty old library or bookstore in order to acquire it. After purchasing the book, hours of “fun” were then laid out ahead of you consisting of headaches from squinting, paper cuts from turning and folding the pages, and wasted time finding a comfortable spot that had proper lighting in order for you to read. But alas! Now there is a new player in the game, your friendly neighborhood e-reader! He has swooped in and knocked away painful squinting, paper cuts, and aching muscles and replaced them with adjustable font, protective covers (with no paper), and backlights that allow you to read anywhere!
BOOKS VS. E-READERS, WHICH ONE WILL YOU CHOOSE???
The biggest question that everyone is asking is will these new e-readers eventually replace actual books? The popularity that these new e-readers are receiving makes many wonder if books will last through this battle. According to the Harris Polls, 1 in 6 Americans use an e-reader with predictions that 1 in 6 are likely to purchase one in the next six months. There are many qualities that are associated with each of the subjects and in this article everything will be questioned; availability, prices, uses/perks, and overall popularity. Everything will be evaluated and weighed and the facts laid out straight.
So lets talk availability. The availability that e-readers create for novels is unquestioned. One no longer has to go out of their way to take a trip to the bookstore or wait a week for a book to arrive. They now have the ability to buy a book and instantly have it appear in front of them with just one click of a button or tap on a screen. With just one different characteristic, internet connection, the e-reader changes the game. The new e-readers allow the owners to connect to the internet and order books online like one would do with Amazon. However before when a book was ordered from Amazon one had to not only pay for the book but a delivery charge as well (and extra if you wanted an overnight delivery). Then one had to wait a whole week or more for the book to arrive in the mailbox. Knowing how most serious readers are, waiting one week for a book to arrive after waiting a whole year for it to come out is not an ideal situation. But it was what had to be endured in order to get that book. Well not anymore! Now, the connection to Amazon or the Barnes & Nobles online store is done directly from the e-reader instead of a computer. You can now scroll through an online store or just search for a specific book, find it, tap on it, and it will immediately start downloading to your e-reader and be available to read within seconds. This is a very strong argument for the side of technology, but serious readers reply with the fact that they prefer to hold an actual book. While the e-readers make the availability of books much higher, most say that the enjoyment of reading the book is lost in the technology.
"The enjoyment of a book comes from how you read it. "
Curling up on the couch to read under the lamplight, the “new book smell”, and the feel of the pages as you turn them all attribute to the comfortable, homey experience of reading a book. These are not qualities that you find in an e-reader. You do not need lamplight because there is a backlight, it has a “new plastic smell”, and there are no pages to touch, but a screen instead to swipe or tap.
Another quality that an e-reader has is the pricing of the products. This also ties in with the availability. Looking at the short term affects, a book can be about $20 on average for a new book, while a new e-reader can go for about $250 on average. This right here can push people away and make them want to stick with the classic route of reading. However, looking at the long-term affects, we see that in the end, an e-reader is the cheaper and more affordable way to go. While an e-reader might be more expensive initially, every book purchased after that is cheaper. Barnes and Noble shows that normally a book can range in price on an e-reader for about $5-10 whereas a bookstore would normally charge double that. On the release date of a new book the bookstore charges around $20-22 for the hardback book. But an e-reader will charge $9.99 for the same exact book, still on the RELEASE DATE. That is incredible. No more having to wait forever for a new book to arrive and then pay an outrageous amount for it. Public libraries are even jumping in on this new craze. Most libraries are setting up systems where one can log in under their Member ID and rent books through the library. But now the books can be sent directly to an e-reader. You no longer need to drive across town to the library. No more worrying about forgotten or lost library cards. It is now possible to rent your favorite books from the library, digitally from home! Although this is amazing for those who own an e-reader and it has the power to change the rate at which people purchase and read books, it can have a dangerous affect on the reading industry; specifically, for owners of independent bookstores.
Everyone is aware of how bookstores make their money, with the profits that come from selling the books on their shelves. The more expensive the book, the more money the store makes when they sell it. It should be pretty easy to understand why e-readers can hurt the individual bookstore owner. Bigger bookstores such as Barnes & Noble have it easier. They are a mainstream name that comes up whenever one mentions books. Hundreds of authors début their new novels there and thousands upon thousands of books line the shelves. Selling a small percentage of those books at cheaper prices through an e-reader doesn’t do much damage to a store on the level of Barnes & Noble. But to a small town individually owned bookstore, this is a big blow. These smaller stores already have less merchandise than the bigger stores and they already sell them at slightly cheaper prices so that they have something to compete with. Offering books for prices even lower than what the non-commercial stores are offering basically cuts out the little man. No family owned book store sells e-readers and they have no way of offering their customers e-books for the e-readers. Essentially, they are screwed.
While the reading industry going in a digital direction can be bad for some, for many others it has amazing perks. For individuals owning an e-reader, be prepared to have all your favorite gadgets in one place. Internet, HD videos, music, pictures, games, apps, ANGRY BIRDS, it’s all there! The newest versions of e-readers keep coming out with more and more cool things set up inside the hardware. Most e-readers have internet for the purchasing of the e-books but the internet can also be used for things like Facebook and email. Netflix is now involved with e-readers and movies can be uploaded in the blink of an eye. There’s Pandora, all types of apps to be downloaded, and the ability to upload all your pictures. The perks of an e-reader come mighty indeed. Now you’re probably thinking, what about the authors, the ones who actually write the books, don’t they suffer from this new invention? The answer is no, quite the opposite in fact. The authors get the best perks out of everyone. While most people think that the invention of e-readers and their low prices for books might hurt the author, the actual truth is that it doesn’t. Many authors who try to make a living off of selling their books rely on the royalties that they receive. According to Timothy Geigner, authors typically make between 10-15% for hardback books and between 6-9% for paperback. But through e-readers, authors make anywhere between 25% and 50%. By cutting out the middle man, authors use less people trying to get their books out into the public. Therefore, less people need to be paid for helping the author and the author can rack in more royalties. Unfortunately, this also means that yet again, the little man (being the small store owners) suffers from this new technology.
We have heard why the authors and individuals love the e-reader and why the middle man suffers from it. Both the good and the bad have been presented. Now the question is, what is the overall popularity of an e-reader vs. a book? Taking the time to look around, there are starting to be more and more people carrying around an e-reader rather than a book. But so far books are still the leading source of portable reading that is seen. There are more people holding a book than an e-reader. This can be for many different reasons. The e-readers are still seen as too expensive, people love holding an actual book, or because a lot of people don’t like to read. The books might be winning for now, but a change is coming. More and more e-readers are coming out with lower, more affordable prices. With today’s economy people who enjoy reading books might only be able to continue to do so with an e-reader. And some people actually expressed an interest in reading if they had an e-reader. A poll taken in a few of my classes on UNC Charlotte’s campus showed some interesting results. I asked my classmates (by show of hands), “if you normally don’t like to read but you actually had an e-reader, would you?” 1 out of every 3 of my classmates who don’t like to read announced that if they actually had an e-reader they would. For the people who don’t like to read, a good majority of them use the excuse that they just can’t find a book that they like. There’s too many to choose from and they don’t like going into the bookstores to have to look for one that might interest them. With an e-reader in hand, this hunt becomes a lot less complicated. It is so much easier to search for a potential book that one might like, in any genre, through an e-reader. Add the awesome perks that come with it and voila! More people are interested in reading.
BOOKS AND E-READERS AT A TIE! BATTLE PREDICTED TO CARRY ON FOR MANY YEARS!!
While the technology for an e-reader and the buzz it is creating is very new, books have been around longer. They are deeply rooted into our society, our culture, and our basic lives. This battle is going to take longer than just a couple years to sort itself out. It’s not that easy to unseat a long living ruler like a book. As to who will win this inevitable battle? No one can tell. The facts might point in the direction of technology, but the fact is, if books have been around for this long then they must be doing something right. Let’s hope that’s enough to survive.
Works Cited
Geigner, Timothy. "Author Says eBooks Will Hurt Authors Because Of Royalty Rates." (2011): n. page. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110818/04304815584/author-says-ebooks-will-hurt-authors-because-royalty-rates.shtml.
Corso, Regina A. "One in Six Americans Now Use E-Reader with One in Six Likely to Purchase in Next Six Months." 2011. Web. 30 Nov 2011. <http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/mid/1508/articleId/864/ctl/ReadCustom Default/Default.asp&xgt;.
, ed. "Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet ." CNET.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov 2011. <http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/barnes-noble-nook-tablet/4505-3126_7-35059751.html?tag=mncol;txt
