Webscriptions VS Dead Tree Format

[seawasp]

Or "which one is better for you?".

This is a question I get asked fairly frequently, including just today in a comment by fallenpegasus to my last post.

The answer is not QUITE as simple as it appears. Monetarily, I'm pretty sure that Webscriptions (the Electronic Text version of DK that you pay for) gives me more money per copy than the dead tree format. However, the dead tree format is what most people track, including distributors and large book chains like Amazon, Borders, B&N, etc., so an electronic sale doesn't have any effect on their numbers -- which will very likely affect the volume of re-orders they place with distributors and the future volume of orders for NEW books by me.

OBVIOUSLY, therefore, as loyal readers and supporters of my literary ventures, your only option is to buy BOTH! ;)

Comments

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

i just picked up mountain magic. i'm looking forward to reading it (i'm on a book buying moratorium, making exceptions for very very authors...but i will still buy books by people i know)

Thanks!

[seawasp]

Let me know how you like "Diamonds" when you finish it. :)

Heh.

[groblek.livejournal.com]

Noted for when I have the cash to spare to buy multiple formats.

Re: Heh.

[seawasp]

Well, you don't NEED to eat, do you?... oh, you do. Get the upgrade to photosynthesis, man!

[cygny.livejournal.com]

And the electronic version can be found where?

On...

[seawasp]

http://www.webscription.net/ , Baen's Webscriptions site.

Re: On...

[cygny.livejournal.com]

Cool, going to check it out :) And hey, if I like and there's a reprint in the end, who knows :) Hey, when you're really famous and everything, I can then brag that I was a fan as of the start ;)

[(Anonymous)]

Of course. I put the electronic version on my Rocket ebook, and use the dead tree versions to lend to addict others.

Of the four dead tree copies of Digital Knight I bought, I'm now down to one. (I meant to get some for the library I work at, but every time I had money to spend, our distributor was out of copies. Darn budget mess, mutter mutter.)

And Mountain Magic has DIFFERENT stories in the middle of each version. Dead tree version has Kuttner's Hogben stories, the electronic version has Silver John stories by Wellman.

So buy both.

Shana

Eeeeexcellent.

[seawasp]

That's the way I like to hear people talk. Four copies to one person who serves as a pusher.

Yeah, due to Kuttner's estate having very wierd ideas about electronic rights, Baen can't put them up, so the Ebook version has Wellman's stuff instead. So in the case of Mountain Magic, there's actually a reason to get the Ebook version besides crass monetary ones for the authors.

[fallenpegasus]

If you're going to keep lending out copies with the expectation that they will go away, why not sign up for BookCrossing.com?

It makes a lot more fun to lend away books.

[(Anonymous)]

My theory is, if I really like a book, I buy extra copies, so that I can lend them to other people and still have my own.

But in this particular case, I made outright gifts of them.

Now that I'm down to one dead tree version, I'm hesitant to lend it. But my brother has it on his to read list, after he finishes the Vorkosigan books.

[cateagle.livejournal.com]

But of course, 'tis only logical. ;) 'Sides, you've already made my "always buy" list on the virtue of DK and what I've read so far of "Diamonds".

Thank you!

[seawasp]

I hope I will remain on that list for many years to come. Boundary is harder to write than either DK or Diamonds, but may well end up being better than they are, too.

Re: Thank you!

[cateagle.livejournal.com]

I finished "Diamonds" and left a very positive review on Amazon.

[fallenpegasus]

And/or lean on Jim Baen to set the WebScription numbers to BookScan...

Dead Tree vs Live Electron

[voicefromshadow.livejournal.com]

Well.. Mountain Magic aside I do own one of each of Both books. (plus one I sent overseas). Electronic copies are hard to get autographed (grin) but they also don't go out of print. Its more fun to read a book in your hand but Ebooks take up far less space...and I'm running out of furniture to build with boxes of books.

Re: Dead Tree vs Live Electron

[seawasp]

The autograph problem is an interesting one. I suppose once the conversion really happens, it'll be just a matter of using a stylus to scribe across the displayed front page or whatever. I don't know if that will "feel" the same way to recipients. Certainly I can't see how you'll end up with collectibles out of it.