The Book Conundrum

[penk]

So I'm in the final 18 hours or so of Arisia, and spent a little time this afternoon in the dealers room (after my duties at Registration were over). I noticed a couple paperbacks on sale that I was interested in. One is Glen Cook's A Passage at Arms, certianly one of the best books I've ever read, and one I had thought was out of print. My copy of the book has long since disintegrated, so finding it available again is a win.

Except.. I have no interest in purchasing paperbacks - or even hardbacks for that matter.

I used to collect books like crazy, and had quite a pile stored up. Since I've been reading more and more on my iPhone, my interest in picking up chunks of dead tree (and the hassle inherent therein) is diminishing.

But alas, publishers haven't figured out that selling a book digitally is a simple and effective way to make money with virtually no overhead. They already have the book printed and in digital form. Making it available for download is a minor step.

I firmly believe that digital books are the next step in written media. I just wish the publishers would catch up and let me buy books that I want to read, when i want to read them, and not simply offer the latest Stephen King novel at a stupidly inflated price.

I foresee a thriving black market for digital books until the publishers get their collective heads out of their asses and start putting their libraries out at reasonable prices.

Comments

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

Your complaint seems 3-4 years out of date to me. The world you're calling for is already in the process of arriving. Lots and lots and LOTS of books are already available electronically via Kindle (etc.), and more are coming out every day. But yes, you have to pay for them (and yes, there's DRM attached so they don't end up with the torrent kiddies), and no, that price isn't actually "stupidly inflated". When you're Stephen King you get to command a premium price for your newest work. If you don't like it, borrow the dead-tree version from your library -- or wait a while for it to come down.

[penk.livejournal.com]

Well, my issue is that a book that is already in print is being sold on the B&N and Amazon stores at a price that to me is stupidly inflated. Modern books are already in digital form when sent to the printer. The overhead of getting that book out for download, and downloading it to a million kindles is pennies compared to getting a dead-tree version to a million users - so why is it being sold at the same price as a paperback?