i have a kindle, and i must say it's way cool that the books are wicked cheap. the thing is, i love having physical books, i love the way they feel. books are an experience that a kindle can't live up to. it's unlikely that they'll truly disappear, ever, no matter what happens... well, not for quite some time anyway. the money problem could be a problem, but... i don't really know how that'll actually play out.
I see it as a change that will take time and end up in something like I suggested in my original note. I could see the fiction market changing first with limited prints going to specific big markets with the other markets getting an immediate paperback print rather than everyone getting hardback first and then paperback later. Anyone in the paperback market could still order a hardback Online.
Eventually, all hardback would be order only. The transition to limited hardcover to order only could be made with special editions like I suggested to encourage people who still want hardcovers to begin ordering Online. The cost in savings could eventually allow publishers to make all Online hardcover releases special editions with extras and so on.
Of course I don't think this will happen like in the next year or anything but in the next decade I could see a definite phasing of all hardcover to Online sales and pre-orders. Probably fiction first and then non-fiction.
But wine was the great assassin of both tradition and propriety...
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
E-books could spell the end for hardbacks, warns Hachette chief
31/08/2009 04:32:35 AM
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I wouldn't put too much stock into that anytime soon
31/08/2009 05:07:02 AM
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I agree with you very much on that last sentence.
31/08/2009 05:50:37 AM
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I only buy hardcovers and am willing to pay a premium for them
31/08/2009 05:11:26 AM
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I like tradepaper backs too.
31/08/2009 05:17:08 AM
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Re: I like tradepaper backs too.
31/08/2009 02:16:25 PM
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I imagine that it's paperbacks which are under more of a threat
31/08/2009 04:26:26 PM
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Re: I imagine that it's paperbacks which are under more of a threat
01/09/2009 05:46:12 AM
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Re: I imagine that it's paperbacks which are under more of a threat
01/09/2009 04:21:08 PM
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well, i'd say yes, but no...
31/08/2009 07:22:51 PM
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Re: well, i'd say yes, but no...
01/09/2009 06:02:14 AM
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yeah... one of the cool things is that i no longer have to wait fo paperbacks....
01/09/2009 10:00:19 PM
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