Why ereaders like the “Kindle” from Amazon and the “Nook” from Barnes and Noble may replace traditional books. (“ebooks” are books that can be read on a hand held reading device and an “ereader” is the device itself. There dozens on the market with the Kindle and the Book are currently the leaders)
1) One ereader, at the present time, can hold 3500 books - they are about the size of a paper back, weigh less and are about three eights of inch thick.
2) Cost of books on ereaders:
a) There are about 2,000,000 books available for free
b) There are about 800,000 books available that sell for between a $1.00 and $15.00- most best sellers are $9.99(the cost for a ereader is now $139.00 - the original price a few years ago was about $400)
3) Ebooks are available in 8 print sizes at the press of a button.
From 8 point to 72 point
4) Most ebooks are available in print size as large or larger than most other large print books.
5) Amazon has stated that their goal is to have every book that has ever been printed in any language available on ereaders within two years.
5) Ebooks will never go out of print.
6) Ereaders keep track of where you were when you last stopped reading - no more book marks or lost places. You may be reading many books at the same time and the ereader will keep track of where you were in each book when you stopped reading.
7) Batteries can last up to thirty days and can be recharged over night. (can keep reading while they charge)
8) You can search for a word or a phrase in all the books, or a specific book, on your ebook reader. It will list on the screen each book that has the word or the phrase and the number of times the word or phrase appears in each book. You can then click on a certain book and it will list all the sentences the word or phrase appears in. Click again and you will be at the appropriate page.
9) You can underline right on the ereader screen and then search for all the underlined sentences.
10) You can make your own notes to remain on your ereader..
11) Pages turn at the press of a button, faster than turning pages manually.
12) Only one hand is needed for reading thus freeing up the other hand to eat, feed the baby, etc.
13) Ereaders are wonderful for folks with arthritis with fingers that do not work well.
14) About 25 categories of book listed by best selling.
15) Moving the on screen cursor over a word automatically shows the definition at the top or bottom of the screen.
16) Books can be loaded into the ereader in about 15 seconds. (The entire Bible, The
complete works of Shakespear , etc. in less than 30 seconds)
17) You can looks up books by title or author
18) No trips to the library to pick up and drop off books - no overdue books.
19) Ereaders are handy and quick to use. You can even read a bit while waiting in line at the Post Office.
20) 169 newspapers, 90 magazines and Journals are instantly available from around the
world.
21) You can read the first chapter of most books on the ereader for free, then decide if you want to buy the book or not.
22) You can loan a book once to another person from your ereader to their ereader for two weeks at no additional charge.
23) You can register up to six people on the same account. If anyone of the six people order a book, it then become available to all six people at no additional charge.
Why authors like ebooks:
1) Authors receive about a 8% royalty of the selling price of a book published by
a publisher.
2) Authors receive 70% of a self published book on ereaders. They would rather get
70% of a $10.00 book rather than 8% of a $30.00 book (a difference of over $4.00 per book) Note: An known author has turned down an advance by a publisher of $500,000 recently because he thought he could make more money by self publishing on
an ereader.
3) Authors can set the price of their book rather than publishers.
4) Authors can add an appendix or a correction to a book on your ereader at any time - now or 10 years from now and do it in seconds automatically.
5) Authors can keep total control of their book (copy rights, etc)
6) Books will stay available even if sales start to slow. Publishers now quit publishing books if their sales fall below a certain point so the author stops receiving royalty Payments.
7) Authors can have their book formatted for ereaders for about $200. So anybody who
can make their book available to millions of people without spending a lot of money.
8) When an author finishes writing a book, it can be made available to the reading public immediately, they don’t have to wait to find a publisher and then wait to get the book printed.
What does this mean for bookstores and libraries?
1) Book stores, as we know them, may go out of business - Border books (501stores) has already declared bankruptcy., The Barnes and Noble chain has been up for sale for over a year. Hundreds of small books store are already closed or declining. Other chains are closed: Daltons-750 stores, Crown 198-stores, Walden- 81 stores.
2) Libraries will disappear or change dramatically and maybe become a place to check out eraders.
Misc info.
1) Some schools have abandoned books and now supply or require ereaders for all their
students.
2) College students will no longer have to spend thousands of dollars on books as
ereaders will be drastically cheaper.
3) Students, of all ages, won't have to haul around book bags - just one ereader.
4) Millions of trees and tons of ink will be saved.
Answer to skeptics:
"I just like the feel of a book in my hands - not a mechanical device"
Maybe people don't know themselves very well. It is difficult to find someone who felt that way before buying an ereader and did not change mind quickly after they began using it. Also, it would be difficult to find someone who has given up their ereader and gone back to reading traditional books?
What people really like is reading and we associate that pleasure with a book. But the pleasure is in the reading not the method.
