Ravi Speaks:-Will e-books replace real physical books soon?

^{My book-“38 years of selling.”}

 Ravi Speaks:

^{Updated on 19.03.2023}

WILL E-BOOKS REPLACE REAL PHYSICAL BOOKS SOON?

Would you rather read an e-book or a physical version? 

It may come as a surprise, but for most people, old-school paper printing still wins out. The proportion of adults who have read an e-book in the US in the whole 12 months fell to 25 percent in 2019. At the time of this writing, e-books accounted for 21 percent of the total sales of books around the world. “People love to show what they have read” said an ‘expert’ in publication. He further said, “The book lover loves to keep track of what he reads, and it’s about signaling to the rest of the world. It’s about decorating your house, it’s about collecting, I suppose because people are completists, right? They want to express that about themselves. “

In my case:

I got to know about the importance of both e-book and print copies when my book “38 Years Of Selling” got published and came into the open market for sale. Of course, it has been amply available on all channels and has been getting a satisfactory response as well. What I wanted to convey here was its more readership on the digital platform through e-book sales as compared to the physical print sales. I found a unique distinction in the set and type of readers in these two types as well. The sales on the digital side have been more of the people belonging to the professional segment mainly of the people in the far-flung areas/countries away from my surrounding areas-whereas the purchases of the physical copies happening more profoundly in our country mainly of my specialty-segment,acquaintances, and the social segment. 

Although it is available on the following ebook platforms:-

For Print or Physical copies, one can easily get it on the following platforms:-

For Notion press.-https://notionpress.com/read/38-years-of-selling

For amazon.com (International) =====https://www.amazon.com/dp/1638066183

For amazon.co.uk(Europe)======https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1638066183

Do you think e-books will replace physical books? 

The answer is obvious, but not so soon. E-books are not only practical and inexpensive but also more environmentally friendly than paper books. I strongly believe that e-books should replace physical books. But the e-book version only costs around $3.65 and, of course, does not require shipping. While digital media has revolutionized other industries such as news publishing and the music business, people still love having physical books, according to Meryl Halls, executive director of the UK Booksellers Association, and books for children, while crime fiction, romance novels, and crime novels prefer to be read through an electronic reader.

Print books are still superior: –

E-books certainly offer readers some convenience. However, the disadvantages can be harmful to the human body and that must not be left ignored. Until we fix many of the problems caused by e-book use, print books will still be superior.

With real books, readers can easily flip back and forth and mark the pages with a paper clip or marker. They can turn to something they may have forgotten or even just go back and admire the premonition that leads them to the plot twist they are in right now. However, e-books don’t always allow for such smooth navigation. They may take time to respond, causing a delay when turning the pages. If e-books are supposed to replace printed books, these problems cannot be overlooked. Until technology improves, we cannot say that e-books are better than their printed counterparts. Most e-book readers have LED displays that emit blue light, an area of ​​the light spectrum that is harmful to the human eye. Prolonged viewing of such a screen can affect our internal clock and cause problems such as lack of sleep. While reading printed books at night and using a lamp can cause similar problems, the effects of reading on a blue light screen are more severe as the energy released is greater than that of a regular lamp. Of course, some e-book readers, like some Kindle models, have e-ink screens that eliminate this problem. But again, until this technology is available to all e-book readers, we can’t do without physical books entirely.

In Pandemic times: –

The pandemic sped up the transition to greater use of digital materials, especially in higher education. Revenue in the college segment fell 5.7% to $3.10 billion, which the AAP attributed in part to “the widespread adoption of low-cost e-textbooks for both sale and rent.” As the pandemic caused widespread disruption to Elhi’s normal routines, 2020 sales in the PreK-12 education category fell 12.9% to $3.84 billion.

Why expensive?

The answer lies in desktop publishing. Book publishers pay higher license fees for e-books because of desktop publishing. This is a very important factor that explains why e-books are so expensive. Book publishers treat e-books as print books with 10% lower production costs.

What does it take to be recognized as a bestseller?

The consensus is that you need to sell at least 5,000 books in a week, or maybe 10,000 if you want to get on a bestseller list, any bestseller list. Also, it gets complicated based on the list you want to land on.

The major E-Book Platforms: – 

The following eight are the main platforms that are used worldwide for the e-book platform. 1. Amazon · 2. Smash words · 3. Google Play · 4. Ingram Spark · 5. Blurb · 6. Lulu · 7. Pay hip · 8. Kobo. The usage of these platforms, of course, is increasing, and it is not a denying of the fact that the future will be that of the e-culture only but at present the scenario is opposite and people have the preference for the print-stuff more than on date.

While I’m a Kindle user of the Amazon platform myself and can’t deny the convenience of e-books still looking at various drawbacks and the above reasons- I don’t think they can really replace physical books at least soon.

Percentage and revenue contribution of E-books (special reference to the USA): –

In the US, e-books with an ISBN number were down 4.8% in March 2020, raising $74 million only. In the first three months of the year, e-books were down 5.7% and the format had sales of $232 million. In August 2021, the American Publishers Association, which primarily represents large book publishers, reported that its members’s-book sales accounted for 13.7% of sales. Note that this number represents the revenue from the sales of popular e-books to consumers by established specialty publishers. The sale of educational and specialized publications, as well as sales through desktop publishing platforms, are largely excluded. And these categories typically include a much higher percentage of digital sales. In October, the research firm NPD Group reported that “e-books account for 18% of sales or over one in six books sold.”

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