Berengaria's Blog: That Eternal Question, Print or Digital

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

That Eternal Question, Print or Digital

There is a very clever article on The Huffington Post about the demise of the print industry, written by J.A. Konrath.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ja-konrath/is-print-dead_b_583959.html

As a primarily electronically published author, I’m a big fan of digital publishing. No trees destroyed, no remaindered books pulped and adding to the mountain of garbage we produce each day, no transportation costs adding to our carbon footprint.

Then there is the speed and ease of purchase. Anywhere I am in the world, no matter what time of day or night, I can go to a publisher’s website, and download the book of my choice and be reading inside a few minutes. For considerably less than I would pay in a traditional, brick-and-mortar store. Or I can go to one of the big multi-publisher sites and scroll around through the genres to find half a dozen new books or new-to-me authors, just like in a bookstore, only I can be reading them in moments without ever leaving my comfy chair.

As an author I acknowledge there’s something special about holding my book in my hands, and autographing it for a fan. Quite a few of my books are out in print and I love having copies of them. I also hate the downside of e-publishing where people pirate my book and “share” it with their one thousand closest friends, without giving thought to the fact that if they don’t pay me for my work, I’m not going to be able to pay my bills. Another factor is one of the saddest things I’ve seen is a book lover sitting surrounded by her books, crying because she has to get rid of many of them due to lack of space in her home. For her, the trauma was similar to farewelling old friends. At least with digital books, thousands can be stored safely on a single external hard drive.

Overall I see digital publishing as the way of the future, although print books will probably be around for many years yet. So my answer to that eternal question, Print or Digital, is both for now.