I wrote a book. Yeah yeah, don't all groan at once. Like who hasn't written a book or shown up at a dinner party with homemade wine? It happens. Get a grip. I won't do that again.
But let's just say you have a book. Nobody wants to read the thing, or drink homebrew wine, and apart from lying through their teeth or killing the host's potted plants, what does one say?
To make matters worse does one use kdp print on demand to waste paper on the thing? Sure, homebrew makes a nice weedkiller but what good is yet another book on paper? If it's not getting read in ebook format, where all it kills is a few electrons, why kill trees to print the thing?
For that matter, why put books or any written or graphic material on paper anymore?
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"I wrote a book. Yeah yeah, don't all groan at once." Haha Your post is hilarious. :) I don't know if book paper is obsolete or not, but I prefer reading physical books. I like holding a physical book in my hands rather than a tablet or phone.
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It's a conversation we have on a regular basis with my fellows authors, there are still readers for whom nothing replaces paper - and I can understand that when it comes to beautiful books. But I think it's an endangered species - I'm a dinosaur and yet I read mostly ebooks! PS I love the way you say it :D
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Me too Stephanie Munch . Love ebooks, or e-anything. Takes up way less space. And I can hug a few more trees that way. In fact, my stupid book is going to say in e-form, on principle.
Full disclosure: Yeah, aye... I took a look at formatting a manuscript for print on demand, and by crikey, what a pain in the bahookie! Templates this, PDFs that, fonts the other, and lets not even mention the bleeding table of contents or pagination. Headers and footers..... bollocks: nuf said. Paper is dead! Long live the ebook!
... sorry, Maurice Vaughan, but once you've read that physical book, where do you put it?
I'm going out to hug a tree.
Cheers, me mates!
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Some people still prefer the "feel" of a book. I have a Kindle and I read physical books too.
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If you deny people the option of a physical book, you're negating a part of your potential audience. Formatting is easy, once you know how. Just follow the instructions or let sites do it for you. Use tools like Draft2Digital to create ePub's. They do a very good job of conversion. And it's FREE. You can also use Calibre which is EXCELLENT at converting Word documents into ePubs. Again, free.
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I have a Novella on Amazon that may never be printed. We seem to be in a transition. There are advantages to paper books, I own lots, but ebooks are easier to get to the customer. Soon coffee table books will be displayed on screens on the coffee table or on screens for hi-rez images on the wall. There are advantages to both. It may depend on who your target audience is.
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Good points, both, David E. Gates and David Kleve ! But in my case, I have no audience and potential is a filthy, fudge-factor word, like hope or faith. I have read that paper to ebook sales is around 4 to 1 (or greater). Perhaps the physical book is a trophy to show off, 'Oye! Look at me. I read a book. So there. See how smart I am!'
I do love the idea of coffee table books you show off on a wall display. Guests show up, (hopefully without the homemade wine), see your wall display and know how erudite and truly trendy you are. I wondered what would become of coffee table books with the inevitable transition away from paper.
Anyone remember a Seinfeld episode where Cramer came up with a coffee table book that had fold out legs, to actually become a coffee table? Crikey, that was brill.
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I either save the physical books after I finish reading them, Morgan Aitken, or I give them away.
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I prefer physical books but as ebooks move forward there are people who have become used to reading from devices, phones, Kindel's and Tablets. I think some of those ebooks will include animations and/or audio to emphasize some story aspect. Pictures hanging on the wall will cycle a series of images or video clips. Maybe based on the mood of the viewer. I expect to see holograms on walls also giving views of object near and far.
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KDP is a great option for a Kindle book because it is automatically uploaded and having it on Amazon makes for better SEO (it shows up in search). Printed books still get made, but it is more and more expensive (see California and BC forests burning), and there is a global printing shortage that doesn't seem to look like it will resolve any time soon. (I could hear one of my printers sweating over the phone earlier this year when I told him my book client wanted a reprint of 3,000 books.) Unless you need to sell them at the back of the room of an event or have a couple on hand for PR purposes, use KDP or Booklocker (a reputable POD), or do a short run at a book printer (printers that specialize in books are cheaper because they don't have to reconfigure their press for other jobs). BUT, to get it printed by a printer, other than KDP or Booklocker, you also need to hire a graphic designer to ensure the files are compatable.
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I use both, but then again I still prefer to read via paperback than ebook. Think it's all a personal choice.
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We're tactile creatures. Printed media will always be around in some form. Way easier for a company to drop instructions in the box instead of QR-coding and maintaining a web space. That said, I love my Kobo and rarely buy printed books anymore.
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Fantastic info @D.E. White ! Ebooks make the most money, closely followed by audiobooks. -- you have made my day! And that of a few nervous trees.
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I prefer to read paper books. They hurt my eyes less when I read. And they don't distract me with notifications while trying to read. But yes the environmental impact of paper books is a problem that shouldn't be ignored.
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Some people like the physical feel of a book. Not everyone, mostly older generations, have use or understanding of tablets, kindles, etc.
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A book on my nightstand insures a good sleep! Old school
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Good point, @David E. Gates. Like my mum, for instance. Told me she'd read it when it was a real book! (Sigh)
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The thing about the electronic format is that I can't make notes in the margins or doodle as I ponder a thought. I am a tactile reader/learner. I can't dog-ear a page either. Yes, I pay for the book, so I can despoil it if I want to for really quick retrieval. Also, I don't have to be near a plug or worry about battery life. I remember when "use plastic and save trees" was the motto. Now it's "plastic bad, use paper as we manage tree farms so support the industry." Also, the electronic device doesn't bend ... a paperback I can hold up and read laying down and when I fall asleep, it doesn't stay "on" (or have some nosy program turn off automatically that I have to reboot if I wake up and want to read some more!) and it doesn't give me a concussion if it falls. Also, I was taught, if you spend money, you should have something tangible to show for it even if it's a piece of paper (receipt). Yes, I am one of those rabid, unapologetic consumers who wants to sit among my possessions and, like Daffy-duck, say, "Mine. Mine. All Mine." Why? When you grow up poor, you want to see the things you've worked like serf for. :)
Hiya @Jenean McBrearty ... that's Scrooge McDuck -- an uncle or cousin of Daffy's I believe. ... 'a concussion if it falls...' yup, I hear ya. LOL
And not to quibble, but my kindle and my android e-readers allow me to despoil (e-despoiling, mind) books to my heart's content. Also, it's e-books or nothing, for the likes of me. I'm nowhere near a bookstore, or even a road -- and the the third-world hell-hole I'm stuck in hasn't a post office in sight... let alone a literate population to speak of, so books would be kinda useless here.
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Not to be too pedantic, but Scrooge McDuck is not related to Daffy Duck. The latter is Warner Bros. The former is Disney. (I did a lot of research into Disney when I was younger. Never thought it would be useful! LOL).
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HI@Morgan Aitken...You make a great point. A boat would sink from too many books. Electronic stuff (I was going to use the REAL "S" word) allows long distance enjoyment of many things. Isn't that the wonder of modernity? Something for everyone. The technology gets better and better, and the content gets worse and worse. Unless you're in 3rd world, and then .... the world is nasty, brutish and short. So, we'll ignore that. You did make me contemplate the Zombie Apocalypse or being stranded on an island, however ... as long as the battery holds out, you have access to billions of books. You should read one of mine. :)
FYI: Scrooge was Disney, Daffy, Warner Brothers. There's a cartoon about Daffy and Bugs hunting/warring over Aladin's lamp. Daffy finally wins, but the genie shrinks Daffy to pint-size. At the end, DAffy gets a diamond and he's running around screaming Mine! Mine! All Mine! Then he stops, looks at the camera, and says, "I'm a miser, but I'm a happy miser!" There's a piece of esoteric information, right? Darling Daughter got me a collection of WWII war-time cartoons for Christmas, and it's a treasure.
Whoops, I stand corrected on the duck genealogy. Funny, you should mention the battery @Jenean McBrearty ... it did go flat, someone -- not to mention names -- left the ice-maker on over night (when the solar panels are really inefficient). Good thing my phone (e reading app) was well charged.