eBooks and the Real Reader: Part 1 of an Occasional Series by Miriam Zolin [19.07.2011]
There’s a hum of conversation in publishing circles about eBooks and most of what you read is coming from perspectives of publishers and writers. I wanted to find out what some readers think about eBooks.
Are people reading eBooks?
Have eBooks changed their reading habits?
Whether they are already reading digital editions or not, what do they think their impact will be?
How much are they prepared to pay for an eBook?
I wanted to capture voices of people who are not writers, not publishers and not in any way involved in the creation or distribution of books or magazines. These are readers, pure and simple. I think we writers and publishers should be listening to them.
Let’s begin with Reader M-
Reader M- has a senior role in a government department. She and her husband have a young child and are about to have their second. I overheard her talking about eBooks one day with a colleague.
Miriam Zolin: You are one of two people I heard talking about eBooks recently.
M-: Yes, and the reason I was talking about it was because I’m thinking about getting an eReader.
MZ: Are you deciding which one to get? Has it got that far?
M-: Well the only one I really knew about was the Kindle, but then S- put me off a bit when she said that some of the stuff’s not available and that it is tied in to Amazon.
MZ: So she was saying there wasn’t much Australian content available on a Kindle, I think?
M-: Yes. She was saying that… and I think that’s because of the publishing restrictions. Every time I can’t get a book from overseas I think that’s what it is… But I’m not sure. Anyway, books are so much more expensive in Australia than overseas.
MZ: You really feel that?
M-: Yes, for sure. When I did my undergraduate degree we had an American lecturer come in and he set about 15 books for the semester. When he was finally standing in front of us in class, he was really apologetic because he said he had no idea how expensive books were here. Most of them were novels and some of them were older so you could get them in second had bookshops but he was just beside himself because he’d asked us to spend so much money. He had no idea.
MZ: So do you think eBooks would change that?
M-: I think the value of eBooks is that you can get your books on impulse as opposed to going ‘Oh, I have to get to the bookshop’ Even though I love the bookshop, I find that now I have a two year old, I just don’t get time. And I’d be in a different section for a start [laughs] I’d be enjoying myself in the children’s section. I read less now as well. So I think the benefit will be around accessibility.
MZ: So if you were somewhere and you heard about a book, you could find it and download it ready for reading?
M-: Yes, that’s what I like the idea of, that’s what the appeal for me is. And depending on the technology I hear that it’s not trying on your eyes like a computer screen is. My husband was encouraging me to get an iPad but it’s got the backlit screen and I think what I’d be looking for is the replication of the paper experience.
But I think with the Kindle, you actually feel like you’re reading a book. Not just a Kindle, any eReader.
I saw a lot of them when we were in Europe.
MZ: Are they more common there?
M-: They seem to be… on planes and on trains… that whole thing of travelling with your notebook, connecting, putting things in sockets, emailing… that was everywhere.
MZ: So if you started… if you found yourself an eReader and you started downloading books onto it to read, would you expect to pay the same price for an eBook as for a paper book?
M-: Umm, I haven’t really thought about it.
MZ: Let’s imagine a novel. A book you might pay $24.95 for in a bookshop, would you expect to pay the same amount for the book you download onto your eReader?
M-: I probably would expect to pay a little bit less… but I’d be happy if it was only a bit less. I suppose, I’d still be happy to pay for the pleasure of the book, and I would still experience the pleasure even without the physical book in my hand.
The other factor that attracts me to eBooks is that storing books is a problem, except that I can’t speak highly enough of physical books for my two year old.
MZ: So the physical book is still something you’d be reading to your child?
M-: Absolutely
MZ: What is it about the physical book that’s so important?
M-: Well, I think for them it’s a pace thing. When you read it to them or they are reading it to themselves – and I often, if I can’t find my child and he’s being really quiet, I’ll find him there looking at the books – there’s obviously an attraction in it for him, but he’s doing it at his own pace.
MZ: You notice when you’re reading to kids or they are looking at books that they love the pages turning, don’t they?
M-: Yes and also I want to reduce his amount of screen time. If he gets obsessive about something like Playschool, on TV, I distract him with a book.
MZ: What about for you? Does this idea of a physical thing still have a place? If you found an eReader that you liked and could download books you wanted to read would there still be a place in your life for physical books?
M-: It probably wouldn’t bother me because I’m not that attached to the physical book. I’m attached to the content. On the other hand my husband is very attached to the physical book. When he loans his books to people, he knows who’s got them. Whereas when I loan my books out to people, I send them out into the world; if I want it back I don’t loan it out.
So for me it’s about the content. And I’m not into visual content… I don’t need pictures. You know how people say ‘Do you want to read the book first or see the movie?’ I always want to read the book first.
Read other instalments in this series
Miriam Zolin is the publisher at extempore and the convener and coordinator at the National Jazz Writing Competition, now accepting entries! She reads and writes fiction, blogs, reviews and essays.
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