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My book is currently out in digital format, but I have had several people contact me to say they would like to get it in print. That's coming soon, but it takes a little longer to prepare. I think it's probably always best to have the option available!





My book is available on hardcover and all digital formats. Probably 90% of my sales are on digital formats. For short stories, you are probably good having it available on just ebooks.

Also keep in mind: if I'm a fan, I will go back and buy the ebook format of a book I read twenty years ago just because I want a copy of it for re-reading in digital format. I have several books in both hardback and ebook, and I know from others that I see on these boards that I am not alone.
- an avid reader

But as a reader, I think I prefer ebooks. It's easier to get hold of them, and being able to sample without spending hours in a bookshop is a boon!

I think I disagree with this. I prefer to have a book not an eboook. Although it does save time, I just think that there's something about spending time in the bookstore that attracts me the way scrolling through a website doesn't. I do have a kindle, and I think that it is very practical, but if I like an ebook a lot I always want to have a physical copy on my bookshelf - and sometimes that is not possible, because some books are only ebooks. So I think that having books in print and as ebooks is the best choice.

Oh, I agree. I'm not saying that physical books will go the way of the dodo. I think the two formats will exist side by side for a very long time. I can't say how things will change in the future (not having a delorean), but I wouldn't be surprised if ebooks eventually become the standard way we all buy and read books, whilst hardcopy books become more luxury items.
It's not always practical to have a physical book due to a lack of space (for example, I've recently moved into a small flat with my partner, and I've have to get rid of a lot of my books as we didn't have the space for them).
A lot of authors, myself included, have had to turn to independent publishing as a way to get our work out there. As I'm sure many know, it's really hard to get published traditionally these days. Very few agents and publishers are willing to take a chance on an author. No matter how good they are, if they aren't marketable, they aren't interested. so we only get our books published as ebooks. Maybe, if we're really lucky, we'll land that publishing deal we all dream of!
Apologies if I'm preaching to the converted!
I will say though, each to their own. I personally love the idea of ebooks, and will quite happily just get ebooks from now on (unless I can get a signed copy from my favourite authors).

Nevertheless, in my house we have a bookshelves everywhere, and now that we're running out of space, we're building them overhead in the hall. After that, we'll find another place. We reread our favorite books again and again, but I can see how printed books would only be so much clutter for people who only read a book once and then on to the next. E-books are practical that way.
P.J. and others.
Preaching to the converted is required and welcome. We need to support each other as best we may, so a little bit of reaffirmation is always good.
I was eBook only but have chosen to go inde now and will be re-issuing all my work as both eBooks and paperbacks because I agree there is a future for all formats. I shall have a Kindle soon but will never give up the tactile pleasure of the printed. Even though my library is groaning with shelves that are overstuffed.
Regards, davidrory
Preaching to the converted is required and welcome. We need to support each other as best we may, so a little bit of reaffirmation is always good.
I was eBook only but have chosen to go inde now and will be re-issuing all my work as both eBooks and paperbacks because I agree there is a future for all formats. I shall have a Kindle soon but will never give up the tactile pleasure of the printed. Even though my library is groaning with shelves that are overstuffed.
Regards, davidrory

If you are doing short stories, I wouldn't bother doing print of those (the design and formatting costs add up) until you may have an anthology of them. Then I think it's a good idea to put them in a POD form as well. Then your book can show up in libraries and friends/family/fans across the country can order it from Amazon or their local bookstore for those who prefer print.

I've published my first book as an ebook but have been asked so many times for a physical copy that I'm bringing out a paperback in February and I think I'll do this with the rest of my books too. If the demand is there then I'll try my best to cater to it.

Yes, there are still people like me out there. Crazy isn't it?
As a writer I offer my books (two novels, both published by small indie presses, not self-pubbed) in paper and electrons, and the sales are just about even between the two. But I have a short story collection that I am putting together that I will release as an ebook only.
The reason for the short stories going out e-only is because I think short story collections as books (especially single author) sell very poorly for indie authors. The e format is much more forgiving, and people seem more willing to take a look at an indie ebook.
Short stories, novellas, epic tomes, doesn't matter they all weigh the same, right?



Also, with small children around I can't leave out books unless I want them to be destroyed, while I can lock out my phone to protect it.
Plus, I'm a sucker for a good deal, and love the opportunity to sample an author's work through a $0.99 short story. This is how I've discovered a few of my favorite, new authors.
I think this is an untapped resource for authors to pull in new readers. While, I often balk at the idea of spending $15 on a full length novel by an unfamiliar author, even when the book comes highly recommended, risking $1 for what might turn out to be a wonderful afternoon read seems worth the risk to me.
Though, I should add that if I truly love a book and treasure it, I will purchase it in hardback edition (even if I have it in ebook format) so I can add it to my physical book collection. I'm not alone in this practice. I have several friends that with repurchase a book in physical form if they truly loved it.

The deals that are available for books from new authors, plus the many, many free books I was able to pick up this way, far outweigh my need to 'hold' a book in my hands.
That's not to say that I will never purchase another paperback or hardcover but those will be few and far between. I simply don't have the space in my house to accommodate all those books. And I still buy the new releases from my favorite authors because the ebook cost for those usually match the paperback price.

That's a good point, and I think eBooks will lead to a modest resurgence of novellas and short stories, and that's a good thing. I like the way that I can find single short stories on my Kindle, but when I used to subscribe to the Microsoft Reader version of magazines like Analog, I couldn't pick out, say, all short stories by Stephen Baxter, or all stories I had categorized a certain way (because all stories in an issue were lumped together).
I ran out of shelf space about a decade ago. If I buy a physical book, I have to throw one away. Them's the rules! So I buy pretty much everything electronically unless it's a book I wrote.


Efforts are underway exploring making my suspense thriller into a movie/TV series, but I don't know how sweet that would smell on the screen. I guess you'd have to provide your own spray for that book smell scent.

Books mentioned in this topic
Gift of the Bouda (other topics)Succumbing to Gravity (other topics)
I would love to hear what you prefer to read on!