A recent survey found that half of all readers had no interest in buying e-books and that the vast majority of people who buy e-books continue to buy print books as well.
Among them are author Marilyn Johnson, who’s written books about libraries (This Book Is Overdue) and the art of obituary writing (The Dead Beat). She says that “if you took my (physical) books away, I’d go crazy, but now that I’ve gotten hooked to readers (first a Kindle and now an iPad), I can’t imagine doing without that (digital) library.”
She finds her e-reader is essential when she’s traveling. She even buys or borrows an e-book copy of a book she already owns “just to lighten my load and continue reading as I move through the landscape.”
Johnson straddles any divide between print and digital.
Her ideal reading experience crosses all formats: “Hear the author read on an audiobook, read it myself on the page or e-reader, and own it in a beautiful dust jacket, alphabetized on a shelf, with my notes in the margins and an old review stuck in the pages, ready to be pulled down whenever I want.”
ebooks v paper
I have an e-ink Kindle. My preference is to read on my Kindle. I have Amazon Prime so have free shipping and the following situation arises frequently.
I want to read book X.
Kindle version of book X = $9.99 or more.
Paper version of book is $6.59
Because I have Prime I can have the paper copy on my doorstep within two days for $6.59.
I just tend to buy the cheaper version. If the Kindle version was the same as the paper version I typically get the Kindle version.