E-book format has become so much popular in the last few years, especially with so much e-readers available on the market. But, turning pages on the Kindle will never offer that same feeling as the delight you get from those cracking sounds when you’re opening old book. It was predicted that digital books will destroy printed ones, but we are seeing that the situation is reversed now. Sales of digital books are down and sellers of printed books are on the rebound. So, what is actually happening? We are playing games, working and even socializing in electronic way, but when it’s time to read some story do we prefer digital experience at the tip of our fingers or old fashioned paper books?
Let’s compare both of them with some arguments against each other. Well, not everyone loves the smell of old books and if they are big, they are not always handy. Imagine reading a book that has over 1000 pages after you’ve been holding it for a few hours in your hands. Bookshops are also not available anytime, any place or anywhere. And even if you do find one, there’s a high chance your book is not there, or even if it’s there it may be written in a foreign language. On the other hand, many love to read something written in the margins and appreciate the feeling of having books in their hands. When you’re reading a physical book you are not disturbed with other distractions such as getting notifications of messages every few minutes. I have to admit that I have many books in digital pdf format. I usually read them on my PC and if I like them, I will also buy the book in physical form.
The question is, will at some point in the future books ride out of the technology wave. From 2008 to 2010 sales of e-books skyrocketed to almost 1300% just because of the release of improved digital e-readers. Some people were predicting that by the year 2014 books would totally push out the printed versions. I think we can say that paper books are still not dead, as a matter of fact, last year there was 2% of an increase in sales! Various publishers are pushing the prices of e-books higher, thus driving more readers to paper books.
I think what’s really important is the storytelling and content, not the actual format. What do you prefer?
