Tuesday, October 11, 2011

My Kindle vs Print Dilemma

I have never understood the attraction for hardcover books. They’re big, heavy and take up space. And the covers always rip on me! Not to mention they come off and I’m always fiddling to put them back on. Don’t get me wrong, I love books, so much so that I have a very hard time parting with them. Browse through my collection and you’ll find books that go back twenty years. It got to the point that my husband didn’t have to tell me to downsize. I knew I had to, but boy was it hard. I ended up donating to the library those books I knew I’d never feel the urge to read a second time. That still left me with more than I can store. But, hey, we all have our obsessions. ;-)

You see, I live in an apartment that by my American standards is a little bit bigger than a cereal box. According to my Japanese friends it’s quite spacious. Says them. So, you can imagine how when the digital revolution came along bringing with it ereaders such as the Kindle how much I was salivating to get my hands on one. I could buy books, keep them, and they wouldn’t take up what little space I didn’t have left. Still, I found that with certain must buy authors I wanted to continue to pick up the print copies since I had the rest of the series in print.

One of those authors is Lynsay Sands. I love her Argeneau vampire series and I have them all. She has an anthology coming out this month, The Bite Before Christmas, and as far as I can tell it’s only in hardcover. Why, oh why? Say it isn’t so. I’ve searched and searched, but can’t find any paperback option. It’s hardcover or Kindle. It probably seems silly, but we all have those little areas in our life that we can get anal about. I have the entire series in paperback. I don’t want to spend triple the price for a hardcover that eats up a major portion of my stamp-sized home. (The dollar is weak against the yen, so paying in yen actually comes out to about $23 from Amazon Japan.) The Kindle edition is $9.99. Hardcover sales are down. Another Sands book comes out in April and it’s in paperback. So help me out here. What is the point of one book coming out in hardcover when all the rest are in paperback? I realize authors have little control over these decisions, but I sure would love to know how these decisions get made.

I’ll be buying this anthology. Whether I buy the hardcover or the Kindle edition, I’ll let you know.

But tell me, what would you do?

4 comments:

Mona Risk said...

Patrizia, I used to love printed books and have three bookcases full to the rim, plus boxes under the beds and in storage. But I too live in an appartment. I also travel a lot, so my ereader, Sony, is very precious to me and goes everywhere with me. Especially that I now discovered a lot of great romances at $0.99.

Jill James said...

Gabriella, I'll probably be buying the hardcover too. I love the Argeneau vampire series. I have all of them. See, if I get one on my Nook instead of in book form, I'll forget I have it.

Gabriella Hewitt said...

Mona--I do hear you. I find myself somewhat reluctant to pick up print copies lately b/c of the limited space. It really is convenient having all your books on one device.

Jill--I think you may have persuaded me. I sort of feel the same. Having one book on my Kindle of a series doesn't quite make sense. But it still annoys me. LOL!

Josie said...

I can't bring myself to purchase an e-reader yet, but I think it's only a matter of time. I'm in love with hardcover books.