Don't Give Up On Print Books Yet

Recently, I read an interesting statistics regarding ownership of e-readers in the US. It got me thinking that for many out there in publishing, the moves they are making now in terms of "shifting" to an electonic market may be a bit hasty. The statistic showed that only about a 1/4 of the adults out there own e-readers. Now, they didn't specify what type but I do have to guess that people with iPads probably are clumped into this group as well.

So what does this tell us?

On the first level, it says that there is still 3/4 of the population that are not making the move to e-readers. Why? We can only guess. For some it may be the cost of the books. For others, it may be the argument of the "feel of the book." For others, it may be a dread fear of technology. Regardless of why, the numbers still say there is a huge number of readers out there not on that e-book bandwagon.

What I find interesting is the number of publishing companies that are now thinking they want to dive into the digital only market. I guess I have to question...WHY? If the money is tough to come by right now, why would you invest in a product that can only read 1/4 of the readership and, in many cases, at a cheaper cost? It would seem to me that a better move would be to focus in on that other 3/4.

I also find it interesting when I hear of the number of writers out there putting all of their eggs in one basket and really pushing this e-pub only movement. I do have to stress, I am talking here about NEW authors. Those authors tossing their backlists into an e-pub program might as well. This may be a way to extend the life of their books. The people I am talking about are those new writers.

I know what these people are saying though. They do this because the print market won't take their books. Yes, I know part of that is because the traditional publishers are scaling back, but in far more cases (clearly an overwhelming majority) it is simply because the writing is not good. (But I digress here).

I personally applaud publishers such as Harlequin who utilize the e-pub market as a way to both extend the life of an author as well as a promotion tool. The free reads online, the links to electronic stories that are connected to the main print books. This is a great use of the technology.

In the end, I would simply have to say, let's stop and think a bit. No, we don't have to live in the dark ages. Yes, we should pay attention to technology. But, don't abandon that other 3/4.

Scott

P.S. We also have to remember that when we hear of people buying books online, this doesn't mean they are buying electronic books. They are buying print books via the internet. Don't confuse that.