Print books have traditionally been the go-to way to read, but in today’s world surrounded by technology, consumers now have audiobooks and ebooks to consider.
Books have been around since ancient times; they served as a method of telling stories, archiving history, and sharing information about the world. The first “books” can be seen in the creation of ancient scrolls in the 4th millennium BCE.
In the early first century, the first ‘to-go’ books were created by Romans with some of the first codices; these were made with parchment paper and bound with wooden covers.
The world’s earliest print book is called “The Diamond Sutra”, it is uncertain what exact date it was created but there has been a thought between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE.
The printing press was created by Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany around 1440 AD and became more widely available in Europe in the 1450s.
According to the most recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center from January 25 to February 8, 2021:
-75% of adults in the U.S. read books.
-32% of Americans claim they only read print books.
-33% say they read both print books and e-books.
-9% only read e-books.
-23% of the respondents claim they don’t read books at all.
Google is the most used online reading resource, particularly Google Books. Google’s online reading platform is almost as old as the search engine itself.
In 1996, Google co-founders supported the Stanford Digital Library. By 2002, Google Books was officially launched as a project to start digitizing books all over the world.
Amazon sells over 487 million ebooks through Kindle every year; they are responsible for approximately 67% of total ebook sales, and an additional 16% of ebooks are accessed via Kindle Unlimited.
In the last decade, the number of ebooks sold per year nearly tripled from 69 million in 2010 to 191 million in 2020.
Cost difference on average
Ebooks: $4.99 – $6.99
Print books: $14.99 – $17.99
Audiobooks: $14.99 – $20.99
There are subscription and library services that can make each format more affordable, but not every book will be available this way. Readers need to consider the typical cost and availability of the books they are interested in.
The pros and cons of different book formats
1. Ebooks
Pros:
-Entire libraries are available on a cell phone or tablet.
-They use very little data.
-Readers can take notes on the text and use built-in dictionaries.
-Readers can adjust the font size, letters, and background to increase visibility.
-E-readers can be purchased to read ebooks with less eye strain.
Cons:
-It requires electricity to charge.
-The devices to read them on are not cheap.
-Readers are staring at a screen more often.
-Ebooks can be hard to read in daylight without anti-glare screens.
2. Print books
Pros:
-They do not require batteries.
-They are recyclable.
-They can be easily shared.
Cons:
-They can be very expensive.
-They are less portable due to size.
-They can be difficult to store when readers have many of them.
3. Audiobooks
Pros:
-Multi-tasking.
-Perfectly portable.
-Increased accessibility.
-Good for storytime.
Cons:
-Readers lose that feeling of touching a book.
-Other peoples’ voices are in the reader’s head.
-The prices can be high.
– Readers have to adjust the speed.
