Do you enjoy reading e-books?
Posted on April 28, 2008
Filed Under Digital Content, E-Publishing |
I have been pleasantly surprised at the relatively high number of e-books I have sold of my book, Let’s Connect: Using LinkedIn to get ahead at work despite being available as a paperback too. I was thus prompted to ask around if people have started enjoying e-books over the paper versions, or are there some other reasons prompting them to go for e-books? Here is a summary of some of the responses I got:
Those who read e-books regularly
Michael Knight, Forensic IT Consultant / Technical Support Professional / Web & Graphic Designer: “I swear by e-books. If I am away on business they are invaluable for research and reference, and give me something to read on the train/plane. I read technical eBooks. Most real books I buy have a pdf version on the disk. I have books on every subject related to IT. I refer to them all the time for help and guidance.
Taylor De Laney, CEO at Taylor De Laney International: “I review them quickly for content. If they pertain to my field of business or interest and if it appears content rich and I feel I will learn something, then absolutely.”
Those who prefer paperback but still read e-books
Tharikh Babu S, Business Consultant at Steria: “I prefer a paperback, as I find it more relaxing and binding than an e-book. However, if theres no choice, i do read an ebook while on the move, but then just skim through the major points. There ia a human psychological feeling that reading an e-book is work related, whereas a paperback is not and helps you relax… maybe the teens now may have a different view since they are growing up in a world going paperless!”
Those who are sticking to the paper
Chris Visser, Product Quality Improvement Engineer at Philips Medical Systems: “I prefer a hard copy. I am one of those guys that like to add notes… In addition, I get triggered to read if the hard copy is around. And while thinking about it, and I know it is only perception, I have the feeling that a hardcopy is more genuine, more true, more correct…Sounds a bit old-fashioned, doesn’t it…?”
Andrew Ian Dodge, Freelance writer, game designer, broadcaster, creative professional and critic: “No, I find it hard to read a book on a screen. Ironic that my latest book is available as an e-book.”
E-books for work, paperback for leisure
Nick Myers, Senior Project Manager at Morse: “I like ebooks for anything work related, as it means I can carry a lot of useful reference material on one laptop, and not have to worry about whether or not I have the right book with me. For personal enjoyment, nothing beats the feel of turning a page in a novel you simply can’t put down!”
HarmJan Hobert, Sr. Consultant at Cataly Partners BV: “I wouldn’t go so far in saying I enjoy reading e-books, but they sure are practical sometimes. I collect business e-books on my laptop to be used as a quick reference or for searching a particular theory. A great way to have a lot of knowledge to your availability, without having to carry the weight of the books. In my free time I like to read a novel now and then. For this I prefer real books instead of e-books. After a days work I don’t want to spend too much time behind a screen anymore.”
Gordon Dymowski, Experienced Non-Profit Administrator/Consultant/Troubleshooter: “For trips and reading for pleasure, I prefer good old-fashioned books - that way, I can read at my leisure, get away from looking things up, and there’s just a great feel. For most of my immediate professional needs, I actually don’t mind e-books - in fact, I prefer them. It’s sometimes easier to print off a few pages from a PDF when I need to reference something than to find the exact place in a book. Of course, thanks to Librivox, I can get public domain audio books and catch up on some literary classics.”
J. Abildgaard, Business Development Manager at www.diarybook.ie: “I am working in the internet industry which means I am online every day and all day, and I use the internet for research and other work related issues. I have done some online studies, and I always end up printing everything, sometimes hundreds of pages, because I need to be able to use my pink, green and blue highlighters in order to remember what I read and where I read it. For pleasure, I wouldn’t dream of reading an e-book. There is nothing like a paperback…much more personal than an e-book, and it’s messy to fall asleep whit a laptop in your bed…much easier to wake up next to a crumbled paperback!”
Comments
19 Responses to “Do you enjoy reading e-books?”
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I might be considered out of date but I really need the hard copy. I need to hold it, smell it, feel its weight, perceive it as mine, either if we’re talking about business related books or other. But, when it comes to technical books, the PDF versions can be really valuable for quick reference and searches, and they do not take as much space on the shelf.
Nope!
I prefer to hold a real live book, turn the pages and save my eyes……..
I prefer ebooks for novels that would take me a few weeks to read between breaks and during trips. But in terms of reference guides (for work). ebook is not really an option because flipping back and forth within a book or multiple books is just faster.
Hi Ajay –
I enjoy reading.
E-books are just a vehicle, and so far none have provided the marvelous experience of a well-worn paperback carried in the back pocket of my jeans and pulled out and rolled open one-handed to the page where I left off whenever a few minutes of My Time comes available.
E-book display units (whether the Pocket PC or otherwise) are as convenient as little TVs and allow me to read in places I may not be able to reach my back pocket (in a coach-class airline seat, for instance), but they are at best a little electronic display that forces its limitations on my reading rather than duplicates or (ah, dreamer!) improves on the back-pocket paperback.
Cheers!
Robert
Hi Ajay
While I enjoy reading paper backs ,I still sometimes prefer the e books because of its ’storability’ and portability factors. Of course , wont deny it helps me stay in tune with today’s fashion (this on the lighter side of course).In all I would prefer an e book (mostly management and IT business ) which gives me the gist of the content in the beginning of the whole story.
Good luck !
Sridhar
I think with Amazon’s Kindle being available — I have heard and read it’s good — e-book are starting to be considered as viable.
I haven’t tried, maybe in the future.
Take care, have fun!
P
e-books rocks!
Isaac
I choose the type of book according to its content. For technical books, I prefer e-books, since they’re easier to search. But I prefer paperback ones if the books are just to be read on my spare time; fiction, non-fiction, etc.
Call me traditional or old fashioned but I love the paperbacks
Devesh
hey ajay,
prefer a paper book but i am open to e-books to. Paper books are a little more comfy or may be we are used to it more. but content is the king of any type of reading.
rgds,
divya
Ajay, your question is a simple one with many different answers. Some prefer reading hard back books, some paperback books and some have switched to e-books exclusively.
I prefer to read my books as e-books on a PDA. I use a Dell Axim X50V. One of the advantages of ebooks is the number of books I can carry around in a very small package. I currently carry about 30 full text books wherever I go. From technical tomes and reference works I can switch to adventure and sci-fi for a change up. All without hauling heavy paper books around. Reading in low light situations are enhanced by a backlit PDA.
I find the experience to be very engrossing, as much so as a paperback or hardback book.
While ebooks are mostly just scanned in paperback or hardback books, I find MicroSoft’s dot lit (.lit) to be the easiest to read. The Clear Type format is a joy to read and you can readily scale the text to larger type if you need it.
Project Gutenberg has many thousands of books that have been converted to electronic format.
MS Books have just about any book in e-format you might care to read.
Best of luck with your book.
Regards,
Ray Bilbo
Ajay -
My MBA program leveraged plenty of electonic materials (typically PDF and online research). It was not that enjoyable. I have never used a portable reader.
I might have had a different experience if my older (V7 and Microtek) monitors were as nice as my new Dell widescreen. Bright, crisp and subtle contrast…
I have tried and enjoyed several books on CD (I used to have a long commute). Straight through play was nice. But it was difficult to get back to a particular citation.
Have to say that I still prefer books.
ctc.
Hi Ajay
I am not an advocate of e-books. I have found them to be of very poor quality in terms of both writing style, quality and layout. I am an author but would never do an e-book even though I know it’s a popular format unless I did it properly and ensured the quality was there and I would be paying my editor to do that just the same as I pay her now with hard cover books.
Best wishes
Merydith Willoughby
I mostly read non-fiction job related material. For some reason, most authors want to be as complete as possible, publishing books of 700+ pages. Most of these creations have a considerable weight that makes them difficult to handle. Within a year they are outdated. And even when they are new, the major job is usually to scan through the table of contents to find something interesting, new, relevant.
The advantage of electronic material is the fact that they are easy to scan, usually cost less, and can be stored in an electronic format, making them available for people on the move.
Yet, for non-business use, I would still prefer the printed copy
Dear Ajay,
If the books are on
Reseach findings and analysis or on topics coveing work along with lots of data thn e-books are definitely a preferable choice.
But when it comes to more of leisure or general read I prefer paperback or hardbound. The fun is in reading it anywhere you want without the fear of the machines battery dying out, waiting for 5 mins to log in and log out and most of all a habit of having grown up on reading books on paper then on screen.
Regards,
Anushree
I have over 200 ebooks in my personal library. I like them because I do not have to find shelf space for them.
E-books, I think, is also about economies of scale. E-books “allow” books to be made available in small quantities, a huge advantage as compared to the print process where a minimum of 1000 copies have to be produced.
Print-On-Demand is an attempt to address this issue. It allows books to be produced one copy at a time thus allowing for books to be produced according to demand.
Visit http://www.cinnamonteal.in for more details. CinnamonTeal is India’s premier on-demand publisher.
Hi Ajay,
I still prefer paperbacks to E-books.
E-books might be convenient to some, but I just cannot get myself to read it. Its so impersonal, so a paperback for me anytime.
I agree with you – in fact, I am one of those who is getting tired of my computer screen. Although a laptop is all the tools I need to work with, besides my mobile, I feel I can avoid looking at it when there is an alternative – a paperback in this case.