Print Versus Digital Editions

http://digitalpublishing101.com/digital-publishing-101/digital-publishing-basics/print-versus-digital-editions/


This article delves into the thought process behind choosing to have a book published in print or digitally. The diverse layout of a book that is sent to print can utilize a table of contents, footnotes, and endnotes while ebooks need to go through an editing process which removes special fonts, sidebars, and tables. Books with a heavy usage of illustrations should be sent to print, while books that relate to romance, crime, and fantasy should be sold though ebooks. Most books, whether they are bought as ebooks or as books in print, are discovered through book stores. This is a trend that is subject to change but for now, it is the most common way for books to be discovered. 

“Many people discover a book through bookshops, even if they later purchase the ebook, and most traditional media attention is still focused on printed books.”

“We’re still learning about digital norms, so don’t let past print failures prevent you from trying a digital edition, including much shorter and much longer works than you’d consider in print.”

“One interesting aspect of the emerging ebook market is how long an ebook has to be, and whether print conventions still apply.”

The evolution of books forming their way into print has allowed for authors to make their work easier to accesses for their readers, however, they have to take in all of these things into consideration when choosing the medium. I feel like because some authors receive more recognition through print while others receive more recognition through ebooks, print will never die. The more books that are published as ebooks the more knowledge readers and publishers can have about reading preferences. Since ebooks are  a fairly new medium in which books can be published, the longer they are out, the more stable the market for digital books and books on print will be. The patterns that have already developed in the ebook world will either diminish or grow to be stronger, either way, time is of essence in regards to digital and print. 

Paper Vs. Plasma

Zomorodi, Manoush (2014, september 17) Paper Vs. Plasma: How the Digital Reading Shift is impacting Your Brain

http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/paper-vs-plasma-how-digital-reading-shift-impacting-your-brain/

Reading on paper is easier for brains to process the information, where as reading on a screen or tablet makes it harder for readers to concentrate. The more you read on tablets the more non-linear the brain becomes making it harder for the reader to concentrate on what he or she is reading. It is recommended for people to read from both tablets and print in order to exercise the two types of brain power the brain produces from the two mediums. 

"The more you read on screens, the more your mind shifts towards "non-linear" reading—a practice that involves things like skimming a screen or having our eyes dart around a web page."

“I think the evidence someday will be able to show us that what we’re after is a discerning ‘bi-literate’ brain,” says Wolf. “That’s going to take some wisdom on our part.”

To me, reading has always been reading, I never put much thought into the different kinds of brain power that reading requires. Stimulating the different ways of reading is crucial especially to this new generation that sees more literature on print than they do on tablets should be more of a known fact. I personally cannot focus as well when I read on tablets but I always thought that it was just personal preference, however, since it affects everyone, textbooks that are becoming digital should stay in print format. Having less things go into print and more things on tablets is better for the environment as well as cheaper but it does not benefit those reading from them. 

The Great E-Book pricing Question

Gaughran, David (2014, April 7) The Great E-Book Pricing Question

http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/the-great-e-book-pricing-question/

This article posting covers the basics and confusions that occur in marking prices in print as well as issues. It addresses the massively overrated view of market prices affecting value and the differences in prices of novels in print versus novels published as e-books. This posting explains the different aspects of pricing literature and encourages authors to think acknowledge the pricing differences between the two mediums because of the advantages and disadvantages the books in print and e-books hold.

"Economic value is not the same as market price. If a consumer is willing to buy a good, it implies that the customer places a higher value on the good than the market price."

"Marketing isn’t simply about reaching consumers but also about convincing them to place a value on the product higher than the price-tag. The higher the price, the harder that job will be."

"None of these long-standing phenomena have done anything to devalue books in readers’ minds. If anything it has done the opposite. And besides, shouldn’t we be in favor of making reading cheap? Don’t we want more people reading books?"

I loved the encouragement that the author pushes amongst fellow authors. Having a higher or lower price will not affect the value of the book, hard work will. He also manages to fit in every aspect of the printing process and distributing while still touching upon the differences between the two mediums. I do, however, think that although the rice does not establish value, it is a disservice to underpay an artist for their work and I fell as if some digital l books are a disservice to their hard work. 

No, Print Isn't Dead

Link to article

Carr, Nicholas (2013, October 13) Print Isn't Deadhttp://theweek.com/article/index/250984/no-print-isnt-dead
The article stated by explaining the creation of the paper and how it evolved from the time it was created to now. It continued by listing numerical facts about how the paper consumption per capita had declined in the last decade yet print itself is not facing a threat. The writer explained why print was never going to die because of the ways the brain read things online and on paper. He explained how the brain read in these two different circumstances and why print was favorable to online at times as well as vise versa. He gave several examples where print was favorable which closed the argument off with the reader having a clear understanding as to why print was no where near its death bed.
"Printed books still account for about three quarters of overall book sales in the United States, and if sales of used books, which have been booming, are taken into account, that percentage likely rises higher. A recent survey revealed that even the biggest fans of e-books continue to purchase a lot of printed volumes.""What's striking is that the prospects for print have improved even as the use of media-friendly mobile computers and apps has exploded. If physical publications were dying, you would think their condition should be deteriorating rapidly now, not stabilizing.""The differences between page and screen go beyond the simple tactile pleasures of good paper stock. To the human mind, a sequence of pages bound together into a physical object is very different from a flat screen that displays only a single "page" of information at a time. The physical presence of the printed pages, and the ability to flip back and forth through them, turns out to be important to the mind's ability to navigate written works, particularly lengthy and complicated ones. We quickly develop a mental map of the contents of a printed text, as if its argument or story were a voyage unfolding through space."To me, there is nothing more refreshing than opening a magazine and reading it, but I know that this isn't the case for everyone. However, although there are preferences towards digital and tangible the brain is what keeps them both alive and in business. I can listen to a book on tape as I drive or maybe even read it on my iPad but I can not study off of anything that is digital because I feel as if my mind doesn't process it as well. Even though my school offers out textbooks online, mostly everyone asks for the physical copy because of the brains ways to understand them easier. I also think that people are used to reading tangible books and seeing people read them because after all, the online world is a fairly new thing. Maybe in the future the sales of hard copies will decrease while the online versions will increase, but it is clear that i will not be happening anytime soon. 

Is Print Really Dead?

Link to article 

David, John. P. (2014, Frebruary 11) Is Print Really Dead? 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-p-david/long-live-print_b_4435344.html

As the article starts off with a personal story of the findings of a daily newspaper, the author expresses the hardships of finding a local newspaper. It then goes into different types of forms of print and the their success rate. The Newsweek revealed that most of its profits were coming from subscriptions rather than advertisements which supported the fact that print was not dying while the New York Magazine was said to be decreasing its quantity from once a week to twice a month which counteracted that argument. The article also touched upon the website allrecipies.com that launched its magazine despite of its online popularity. This topic allowed the writer to go more into depth about the importance of print and why it still successes despite the fact that online is free and more accessible.

"most people search online for recipes which they already know or are aware of. However, they will read a magazine to get inspiration or to learn about new recipes. A print magazine, with nice pictures and inventive ideas, can still inspire people to do and buy things in ways that the web can't."


"Publishers said the magazine would mainly be supported by subscriber fees, rather than advertising."

"When it comes to forming habits, nothing competes with the predictability of a print cycle and the physical act of turning pages. Even in their weakened state, stories in newspapers have greater impact than stories that appear only online."

Although the ease to get information online is becoming more and more accessible to people and the amount of publications that are being sent to print are decreasing, print itself will not die out. The custom of getting a tangible newspaper one can flip through will not die because it works as a form of preference. Even though I go digital or go home, every time a new issue of my favorite magazine comes out I make sure to physically go pic it up rather than download it onto my iPad. Making a fold at the top of the pages I am interest in, carrying it to the beach with me, and staking it on top of the the piles of old magazines I have are some of the things I love about print. I feel as I have more leisure and appreciation when it comes to a tangible magazine where as online I feel as if I would scroll so fast I would the miss things. Print or online works just like any other choice,there will always be people that favorite one choice while there are others who favorite the other choice, and as long as the difference between print and online remain the same, it will never die out because preferences never die out.