Will authors ever again experience the magic of holding in their hand the product of their imagination in the form of a book? Or has the digital usurper that is the e-book struck the death knell for the good old paperback? 

In this post, we’ll weigh up all the options between e-book and printed books. Keep reading if you’re not sure whether to publish an e-book or paperback book.

Once upon a time, all an author wanted to do was to thumb through the pages of their newly finished book, enjoying the fresh aroma of its sheets and just-dried ink. 

Now there’s a newcomer on the market – the e-book – and in this post we’ll be looking at the best option for authors. Keep reading to find out about e-books versus print books. 

What is an e-book?

An e-book is a digital version of a book; rather than holding it in your hand, you might instead hold a mobile phone and read a book, or you can purchase a special e-book reader (otherwise known as an e-reader) such as Kindle or Kobo, which offer a more comfortable reading experience. 

The main difference while reading an e-book and printed book are that the pages of an e-book are turned by swiping with your finger, which “turns the page” of the e-book (what it really does is switch to the next screen on your e-reader). 

E-books are popular with people who like to read while out and about, such as while they’re commuting. They allow readers to take their favourite books along with them; book lovers can read it using their mobile phone through an e-reading app or via an e-reader.

This means that you can pack up your whole library of books and take them on holiday with you without worrying about the weight or how you’re going to fit all those books in your suitcase. 

On the other hand, with a physical book, when packing for your hols, you’re faced with the agonising question of “which book shall I take with me?”

Benefits of e-books

E-readers offer a range of features, all designed to make reading on a digital device more pleasurable.  For example, when reading outside, the specially developed screen can be adjusted to limit glare from the sun so you don’t harm your eyes. 

As well as providing ambient lighting, with e-books, you can easily bookmark pages, highlight passages from the book, make annotations or even have the book read aloud to you.

Then there’s the price of a digital book, which is generally much lower than that of a paperback – plus they often come with added extras such as bonus video content to watch or links to follow leading to relevant internet resources. 

There’s another huge boon of the e-book: have you ever purchased a book and just can’t wait to get stuck in? Another great advantage of digital books is that delivery is instantaneous, so there’s no more waiting around for your book to arrive.

E-books and authors

What does all this mean for an author? E-books offer a lot of advantages when you’re publishing a book. 

Publishing an e-book is a more streamlined process than publishing a physical book, although much of the process remains the same: the book still needs to be designed, and typeset, however, rather than printing it, it must be converted into the correct type of digital file.

Although formatting an e-book is different from formatting printed books, the e-book will look exactly like the print book you’ve envisioned; it simply comes in digital form. 

Since you don’t need to go through the process of printing your book, which entails choosing the right print options, ordering pre-proof copies and signing them off to be published, an e-book offers a more efficient and less pricey way to publish a book. 

A huge benefit of an ebook is its cost. Producing an e-book, without the need for printers and all the rigmarole that comes with the printing process, save both time and money. However, this is not the end of the story. 

In the battle between e-books and print books, it’s not a case of one or the other; the two actually complement each other. Rather than opting to publish an e-book or a print book, authors these days tend to do both. 

The advantage of doing this is that e-books can be used as a marketing tool by which authors use the e-book as a platform to launch a print book. The digital version of your book can serve as a way to popularise the book before you go ahead and produce a physical copy. In this way, you can test the waters before producing print copies. 

A lot of readers buy both formats – because there’s no denying that holding a physical version of a favourite book continues to hold the same magic for book lovers. 

This is borne out by the statistics: while e-books have enjoyed massive growth in popularity, selling 95 million copies in 2019, print book sales outstripped them by far, with a record-breaking 395 million books sold during the same period – almost three times as many as their digital counterparts.

Conclusion

The great news is that e-books make it much more accessible (cheaper) for people to publish than previously, giving talented authors, who have nevertheless been bypassed by agents or publishers, much more scope than before to produce their own work. 

At Wellness Books, we look for authors just like this – talented writers with a powerful and positive message which is just bursting to be told. 

Use the button below to contact Wellness Books founder Shirley McLellan to find out how we can help you self-publish and bring your book to life.