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.