What the Heck Is Going On with Paperback Books???

[Jemima]

I am sad to hear that people are shifting to e-books.

Ebook acceptance isn't exactly universal. The main motivation for me in buying a Kindle was being able to store books in no space at all, but I'm finding that electronic books aren't all that useful when it comes to reference, cookbooks, DIY, and other sorts of books that I might want to read and re-read. This is why I'm searching for a reasonably priced paperback copy of V Is For Vengeance. I've got all of the Kinsey Millhone books through U and want a complete paperback collection. I enjoy re-reading these books every few years.

I'm mostly putting escapist fiction on the Kindle - the sort of thing that would ordinarily end up at Paperback Trader or in the donation bin at the library - along with a lot of free stuff that I may or may not like. I'm much inclined to buy a hard copy when I come across a book that I really enjoy. If it's any comfort, I doubt that real books will be entirely supplanted by ebooks in our lifetimes or even beyond.

[JaneV2.0]

My library system offers e-book downloads in a wide variety of formats and also makes pre-loaded e-readers available for loan to anyone who needs one. I can't think of a better use of tax dollars than our highest-rated network of libraries. Yay us!

[Jemima]

My library system offers e-book downloads in a wide variety of formats and also makes pre-loaded e-readers available for loan to anyone who needs one. I can't think of a better use of tax dollars than our highest-rated network of libraries. Yay us!

I am very much impressed! Probably won't happen here, but it's heartening to know that it's possible.

[razz]

Oh please, enough of the victim mode. Ebook circulation is 3 -6 % at most public libraries. The print form hasn't exactly disappeared.

Don't like it? Don't get an ebook reader. Chill.

My library's CEO suggests that the ebook number is getting closer to 40%.

[iris lily]

My library's CEO suggests that the ebook number is getting closer to 40%.

Is he talking about ebook download & sales overall, or library circulation, or your local library's experience? If 40% of your library's circulation is for ebooks that's a lot and is well out of the norm, and I wonder how much of the book budget goes to ebook.

At Digitalpalooza , the library conference for Overdrive users, the number put out to conference goers was 5% of library circulation. My local library is lower because many people don't have hand held devices, there is a large population here of underclass. Circulation figures of ebooks this summer is as high as 12% in some unofficial measures.

But there is no question that ebook use is growing at leaps and bounds. This USA Today article which is the only one I could quickly Google about this issue says that "According to Library Journal, public libraries increased their offerings by 185% this year. E-books will account for 8% of their materials budget in five years [2016], it says. " But that is a while and it's a projection for ONLY 8% of book budget.
which actually seems a little low to me.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/st...ing/51201652/1

My overall point is to ANM that books in libraries have not gone away. My library has 2,000 ebooks and 1.4 million other items. For me personally, the selection is far too limited and there's nothing there that I want, and the lack of graphics on library ebooks is another thing that limits my interest in them (although that's changing quickly.)

[ToomuchStuff]

Reading a big book at a computer is pretty rough anyway (yea it might work for Doctor Suess, but War and Peace not so much so), really you need an ebook reader to really do it comfortably.

It depends on your setup. Calibre is a free and open source ebook reader, that even the people I know with ebook readers like. This allows them to store their libraries on their computers while only taking what they need with them (leaves space on the ebook readers) and why I know more people using other stuff then Kindle (with its DRM that has already been shown to have issues).
Sit at a comfy desk or use it on a tablet pc. At the computer (I don't have an Ereader or tablet to test with), all one has to do is enlarge the print as needed (control + for most software I have dealt with). It auto bookmarks, so coming back to them is easy.

[frugalone]

I hear you.
I bought a Stephen King paperback recently and it was $9.99! Absurd. I do try to borrow ebooks from the library if I can...the selection is pretty poor, IMHO.

[The Storyteller]

Ebooks are a mixed bag for libraries. On the one hand, they are a great new way to get books into people's hands. On the other, they are very expensive, and the big six publishers aren't playing ball. There are only two of them that offer ebooks to libraries at all (which explains the lack of high demand items), and those two have weird pricing models. One charges 5 to 6 times as much as it costs for a hardback (compared to less than 10 bucks from Amazon), the other only licenses an item for 26 circulations. The average popular hard back can have 60 to 70 circs before it is worn out. Sure, you can get many titles from small publishers and independents, but those aren't the popular items everyone is looking for.

It is this lack of cooperation that makes me think publishers' true colors are finally showing. It is likely they have always resented libraries for loaning their products out for free, and they took it to court many years ago and lost. Now, rather than saying a library owns an item, they can say they are licensing that item to the library, which means they can put whatever restrictions on them they want. So, they are.

Then there are the platform fees. Libraries can't house these items on their own servers, so they must use jobbers to handle that. The big vendor is Overdrive, which charges astronomical platform fees, as much as $10,000+ per year for a small library, just to house their "purchases". So, the library purchases an item, but in order to make it accessible to the public, must pay usurious fees to Overdrive. So, say a library purchases 20,000 ebooks over time and maintains them on Overdrive. Should the library ever decide they want out of Overdrive, they essentially lose all of those ebooks.

Add to that the fact that this electronic resource can only "check out" to one patron at a time, which is absurd when you think about it. Sure, more than one person can't take a physical book home at a time, but there is nothing to stop 10 or 20 accessing a downloaded ebook except licensing and rules from the publisher.

So, neither libraries nor publishers are enamored of the most of the current ebook vendors out there, which is one reason why the publishers are resisting participation.

However, there is a new kid on the block. Called Freading. The library pays a fee for the year, but purchases no books. The library's customers have access to the entire collection carried by Freading over that period. The library never really owns an item, yet patrons have access to every item in Freading's inventory. And multiple users can access the same title at one time. The catch is, the library buys with their fee a number of tokens per week. Items are given token amounts based on their popularity. Once those tokens are used up by a patron, they are placed on a first come first serve basis reserve for their item. Once the week is up, the patron is notified and may download and read their item. The library may up the allotted tokens any time by simply paying more in fees for the remainder of the contracted period.

This basically makes this a per-use transaction. The vendor collects enough off the top to pay for servers and setup and maintenance, plus profit, and a fee goes to the publisher each time an item is checked out. So far, only one of the Big Six publishers have signed on to Freading, but this is likely the model that will meet their goal of making libraries pay for the amount of use their products get, so I think it is only a matter of time before they sign on.

Here is a great article on ebooks in libraries and the struggles they are having.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvin...-vs-libraries/


Regarding percentages of circ...

"Robin Nesbit, of the Columbus (OH) Metropolitan Library System told me that although her eBook circulation of 500,000 lends annually is only 3 percent of the system’s total, that number is growing by more than 200% a year. “Plus it’s at least 10% of our budget.” Between the cost of eBooks and a technology component, providing access to eBooks is three times as expensive for her as physical books."

[The Storyteller]

To the OPs question, I highly recommend ebooks as an alternative. Buy a good ereader (Kindle or Nook) or tablet and add both Kindle and Nook reader apps. The cost of ebooks are always less than hard backs or trade paperbacks, and not much more than a mass market paperback. If you have difficulty holding a book, an ereader would be ideal. Small, lightweight, and no page turning. Kindle tends to be very propietary, forcing you to use only Amazon products. Nook is a bit more free, and allows you to download library books. If you want options, I would recommend an inexpensive tablet (not one from Amazon or Barnes and Noble), and just download the apps of the vendors you like.

BTW, I do most of my reading now days on my HTC smartphone, with my Kindle, Nook, and Freading apps.

[The Storyteller]

On terminology...

A trade paperback is almost as large as a hardback, with similar print and a decent binding. A mass market paperback is small with small print and fits on a paperback spinner, and fits nicely in your hands. The paper of the trade paperback is higher quality and longer lasting than mass market, but slightly less (usually) than hardbacks.