Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Some years ago I lost my copy of Anthony Trollope’s “The Last Chronicle of Barset” and I went to a bookstore to get a fresh copy. There were none on the shelves, but they eventually found me a copy. It cost about $ 15. A few months later I bought a Kindle and discovered that I could download the eBook version of this book for free.

There are voluntary, non-profit organisations that have uploaded 19th century and some early 20th century books into the internet that can be downloaded free. They are books in the public domain. You can even download free, audio versions of many of these books.

Though many might like to read off physical books, can they afford this luxury when eBooks are available for free? Hence, the demand for physical books that are in the public domain will diminish and it may become economically unfeasible for publishers to print these books.

Hence, the big question: will the classics soon go out of print?

I agree with you that it's much more feasible these days to download the classics for free. I own a Kindle, and although I still prefer to read physical books, why would I spend money when I can get it for free? However, that's just me, and I'm sure that there are people who would still be willing to pay to own physical books.

Also, we must not forget the absolutely lovely reprinted editions with gorgeous covers. There are so many different covers being issued for the classics, and with so many book lovers around, I do not think the demand for them will completely diminish.

Hi, you asked the same question on the UK Book Club forum a few days ago and I responded there - here's a c&p of my reply:

There's a theoretical concern that higher availability in ebook format will lead to lower demand for hard copies, but it doesn't seem to be supported by the stats so far. That seems to hold true even for classics: in the UK, annual sales of new copies of classic texts increased by 10% between 2010 and 2016.

But even if the number of classics printed was falling due to lower demand, that lower demand would in itself lead to lower prices for second-hand copies, so hard copies might well become more affordable rather than less so. If there are two copies of Trollope and ten people wanting them, each copy will sell for a premium price. If eight of those people are happy with their ebook format, the two hard copies will have a much lower financial value. Bad news for collectors who want to sell, I suppose, but good news for those who want to buy, keep or read.

Debstr wrote: "Hi, you asked the same question on the UK Book Club forum a few days ago and I responded there - here's a c&p of my reply:

There's a theoretical concern that higher availability in ebook format wi..."

Nah. Books go out of print all the time, great books and less-great books. (Try to find old Zelazny in a store! My library doesn't even have it - I was lucky to find a copy on Amazon.) SOME books will go out of print, the less popular and less well-loved books. The Last Chronicle of Barset would fall into that group. Few people read Trollope, as compared to Dickens or Austen or Shakespeare. Be grateful for Gutenberg, because I suspect The Last Chronicle would have gone out of print with or without Gutenberg - so, at least you can still find an e-copy!

I agree with Nadine. So many books go out of print all the time, and a lot of classics are in and out of print periodically based on trends and other factors (anniversary editions, movies or tv shows etc) so I think it kind of goes both ways. The Gutenberg allows these books to be readily accessible to anyone who wants them, and that is good. It's plausible that it could harm print copies but ebooks are already doing that to a degree. I like reading hard copies, but most of those I get from my library.

Also, don't underestimate the way that education is driving (or not driving) the demand for print copies of classic books. In the high school district where I teach, we have 11 high schools and we don't have 1:1 devices. Although so students will find ways to access a novel from novel study on their phone, most students will need the physical copy. Last year, I'd guess my school district bought $10k+ of novels: The Scarlet Letter, The Things They Carried, 1984 and Brave New World, and lots more. Although most of the novels we read are from the last 60 years, some are not, and are in the public domain, but we still purchase novels. I'm sure this is the case all across the U.S., in both high schools and colleges.

I confess/ admit. My name is Carrie, an Im a book border. I can't help it!!!!! I love them. I love the look, smell, feel of them. I like the weight of a great book. I love what's inside the most ! I try to have all the classics in print so someday just in case* ( Fahrenheit 451 anyone?) books DO go out of print / become obsolete (or if you wanna get 1984, ) someone dictates what I can read I will hide away all these books so I can share with the world all the good, knowledge and escapism that I can.

I think that the bonus of Kindle is that now books won't go out of print and also be unavailable.

I stuck with real books for a long while, even though as someone who travelled and moved continents several times, real books weren't the better choice. It's having babies that's changed things for me because before where it was just inconvenient to buy/store/move those books, with night time nursing sessions it became inconvenient to read real books. I need the lightweight and self lit kindles to be able to read these days and I can't say I actually mind the shift, to be honest.

I do not believe they will ever completely go OOP - well not in my lifetime anyway! Some do but then become popular and voila, back they are in print in new editions with gorgeous covers and informative introductory essays.

And there is another reason for print to remain around ... I've recently discovered that some of the free or very inexpensive (US $1.99 for example) copies of classics are actually abridged editions -- and there is nothing in the description of the book before you download it or in the book itself to let you know. How did I find out? Well one book was something I'd read years ago and when I started it again, I knew something was wrong. Went digging on my bookshelves, found my old tattered print copy and sure enough, it was an abridged copy!

Similar thing happened yesterday - I downloaded an inexpensive copy of Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and started to read it. I decided to go on GR and add it to my 'currently reading' shelf, and as I was doing so, saw someone had posted a warning at the beginning of her review 'if your copy starts with 'x', it is not a complete copy. It should start with 'y' instead.' Well dang, my copy started with 'x'! Once again, nothing anywhere to alert that abridged. (BTW, I went digging through my bookshelves for my old print copy and sure enough, it starts at 'y').

Something similar happened to a friend with her ebook copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

They say you get what you pay for... I think this is mostly a risk with the individual downloads, not the complete works downloads - but who knows? And I'd certainly be leery of any
genre 'collections' -- i.e. 50 great classic whatevers.

After I finish checking the free or inexpensive classics I've downloaded in ebook to see if any of those are abridged as well, I'm going to be emailing a few publishers and sending out some social media blasts. I have no objection to publishing abridged editions, but they need to be clearly marked as such - both in the download descriptions and in the books themselves on the copyright pages at least if not the title pages. I personally do not read abridged books.

Theresa wrote: "I do not believe they will ever completely go OOP - well not in my lifetime anyway! Some do but then become popular and voila, back they are in print in new editions with gorgeous covers and inform..."

That's awful! You should have to put in on the title page! You can't just shorten an author's work and then not say anything about it!