E-Books

[SkyRider]

Can anyone tell me the aversion to e-books within the falconry community? They're easy to make, don't require shipping and never run out of print. I don't see why we haven't leapt on this as a community in which books sell out of print within a few years and take years (if ever) to be reprinted. Is there a reason behind this? Any thoughts?

[bdyelm]

I'd love to see some e-books. But I prefer actual copies.

[rkumetz]

Can anyone tell me the aversion to e-books within the falconry community? They're easy to make, don't require shipping and never run out of print. I don't see why we haven't leapt on this as a community in which books sell out of print within a few years and take years (if ever) to be reprinted. Is there a reason behind this? Any thoughts?

It has nothing to do with falconry. I simply hate reading more than a page or two on a computer or tablet. I like the ease of reading a good old paper book.

Recently a few falconry books have been done as "on demand" printed works which solves most of the problems you mention. They cost only slightly less than E books but you actually get a book in exchange for your cash.

[SkyRider]

For the record, it's not really about saving money or not wanting a physical copy for me. You can publish both versions as an author.

In my mind, if I were to write a falconry book, I would make an e-book version as well. I can make an e-book version for absolutely free and then any copy I sell can be pure profit. I don't have to pay a publisher or deal with a printer or worry about keeping stacks of books around my house, hoping someone buys them.

I just don't see why a book like "Desert Hawking with a Little Help from My Friends" hasn't been converted to an e-book. It's impossible to find and on the rare occasion it does appear, it's $300 and the author isn't making a penny on that. Make an e-book version for free, save yourself the hassle and sell copies that you, the author, actually make money on. Hell, you deserve it. You wrote the thing. Why should some random guy who bought your book years ago for $50 be able to flip it for $300 and you don't get a penny of it. Just my two cents.

[Breeze]

As a published author of a book on training tracking dogs (Making Scents of Tracking), I might be able to shed some light on this. E-books do give money to the author - a drop in the bucket to what a hard copy pays in royalties. E-books are more easily shared, which cuts into royalties yet again. As you mentioned, the author deserves some return on the effort to put that book together. It IS work. A small specialty market, like falconry, has very limited sales to begin with - unlike best seller novels where a small royalty, times hundreds of thousands of books, works out nicely.

[goshawkr]

Can anyone tell me the aversion to e-books within the falconry community? They're easy to make, don't require shipping and never run out of print. I don't see why we haven't leapt on this as a community in which books sell out of print within a few years and take years (if ever) to be reprinted. Is there a reason behind this? Any thoughts?

Ultimately it comes down to tradition (on the part of the authors) and a lack of demand (on the part of the readers).

I am disappointed by this, and I have nudged a few authors and publishers to make their stuff available as an ebook as well but didn't get much of a response.

I don't envision a time where I will not enjoy having a physical version of my favorite falconry books. I love seeing them on the shelf, I love the smell of dust on them, and I love taking them down and flipping through them.

However, there are a lot of reasons why I do most of my reading on my tablet:

• The book dosnt deprecate due to wear and tear,
• It dosnt give me a concussion when I fall asleep reading it
• Its much easier to set down and pick up right where I left off
• much easier to fit in the hand
• FAR easier to take a tablet with me when I am on the go and might have a moment to read
• I am a fickle reader, and its a lot easier for me to lug around 100 books on my tablet than carry around the 5 I might be in the mood for in physical format

In my profession, its almost universal to have a free version of an eBook go along with the physical copy of the technical books I buy. I'd love to see this as a practice for falconry books.

But I would settle for buying two copies - one print to look nice on the shelf and one to read. In fact, right now I am re-reading my electronic version of Edmund Bert's book while I admire the print copy sitting on the shelf.

Ultimately, if there are enough people asking for electronic versions of books, they will appear. (I do know that Harry McElroy is warm to the idea..... hint hint)

I just don't see why a book like "Desert Hawking with a Little Help from My Friends" hasn't been converted to an e-book. It's impossible to find and on the rare occasion it does appear, it's $300 and the author isn't making a penny on that. Make an e-book version for free, save yourself the hassle and sell copies that you, the author, actually make money on. Hell, you deserve it. You wrote the thing. Why should some random guy who bought your book years ago for $50 be able to flip it for $300 and you don't get a penny of it. Just my two cents.

It is only free to make an e-book version of a book if you have that book in an electronic format, and even then only if you have it in a format that can be converted. Your example of Desert Hawking with a Little Help came out some number of years ago, and its quite probably that the electronic version is not around any longer. Harry is also quite well known for always wanting to update his ideas. So if he had to recreate the manuscript in some manner, it would end up being different. Not that this is bad, mind you.

As a published author of a book on training tracking dogs (Making Scents of Tracking), I might be able to shed some light on this. E-books do give money to the author - a drop in the bucket to what a hard copy pays in royalties. E-books are more easily shared, which cuts into royalties yet again. As you mentioned, the author deserves some return on the effort to put that book together. It IS work. A small specialty market, like falconry, has very limited sales to begin with - unlike best seller novels where a small royalty, times hundreds of thousands of books, works out nicely.

Deb, I don't doubt that your experience is exactly how you state it.

However, its not that way across the board. Amazon has been trying to corner the market on both the selling of E-books and the devices used to consume them for a bit over 9 years, and a key aspect of their strategy all along has been to make sure that Authors are paid well for their content, although ultimately how well they are paid is up the relationship of the author with their publisher. Sometimes it seems the authors are paid a bit too well for the kindle version of a book since it will often sell for considerably more than the print price minus the cost of producing a physical book.

Now, I am certainly not trying to wave a flag for Amazon and the Kindle system even though I am an avid user of that particular setup. But its a good example of Authors being well paid for their content in an electronic format.

[Jack Brannon]

To read the "The Flying of Falcons" in any way other than from a leather-bound book in front of a fire with a good scotch after a day of duck hawking & a prime rib dinner would be SCRALIDGE!!!

Just my O. Off to AI falcons.

Jack

Jack Brannon
Victor, ID & McKinney, TX

[goshawkr]

To read the "The Flying of Falcons" in any way other than from a leather-bound book in front of a fire with a good scotch after a day of duck hawking & a prime rib dinner would be SCRALIDGE!!!

I agree that this is a very nice experience, and when I am enjoying some medicine in front of a fire, I still prefer a paper book.

I think that the combination of offering an E-book and on-demand print option gives most everyone what they want. The only difference is that on-demand printed books are generally not elegantly bound. They are usually paperbacks.

This is even true for books that are going through publishing houses, like Western Sporting. The E-book market and the physical book market are two seperate but overlapping markets. To the extent that these two markets compete with each other, they are still not ultimately taking dollars away that would be spent on the book and sending them somewhere else. If there were an electronic version of North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks, the people buying it are the exact same people who would be buying the physical copy. And, as I mentioned, the overall market is a bit bigger. For example, I bought a Kindle version of "H is for Hawk" and read it on my tablet, then had a chance to meet the author when she was promoting the book on a tour of the US so a bought a physical copy for her to sign. Its gunna be a great buy for a collector one day because it has never been read and never will be while I own it. If I had an electronic copy of NAFHH I still would have bought a physical copy so I can have a signed one sitting on my shelf.

In the last 4 years, I have purchased 5 physical falconry books. And of those, I have read about 1/2 of one of them, and about 2% of another one. One of those books was "H is for hawk" - and I did complete reading it as an Ebook.

I like getting my hands on an actual book. It's what I grew up with, it's what I enjoy. I love books! I'm anal about the condition they are kept in, and I'm anal about the condition they are in when I buy them. I have a collection of falconry books, and I like to pull them off the shelf and enjoy them. I'm not an electronics type of guy. I have a droid phone, and that is only because my work requires it. I'm not on twitterface, or any of the other social sites either. Just not a techy kind of guy I guess. If I had my way, I'd go back to the days when phones where on the wall, and they staid there. But that's just me. I don't own, and never have owned, an ipad, tablet, or any of the other tech items.

I guess I just like an actual book. My copy of Desert Hawking With a Little Help From My Friends is still in pristine condition, as are all of my books. I break them in properly, and yes, there is a correct way to break in a book. I use them all as reference books, and enjoy having that "library" to refer too.

I do like Geoff's idea of being able to take several books with him on a trip by having the tablet. THAT part, I like. But I still don't see myself buying one anytime soon.

Guess I'm still stuck in the past.

I dont think anyone loves books more than I do. I tried on more than one occaision to get locked in the library after it closed. I never tried very hard at that mind you, but it still is an idea of a delightful evening to have all those books to myself with no one to bug me while i enjoy them.

I worked on the Amazon Kindle when it was still a protoype, and had to take home one of the very first units made on a regular basis. One of the VPs for the Kindle project asked me if I would ever buy one and I told him I was sure I would, but it would several years down the road.

My wife adamantly proclaimed she would never use one because she just likes paper better. Then her eyese strarted failing her. Even though she was an avid reader she was having a tough time doing it. She had to wear two pairs of eyeglasses and use a magnifying lense and have extremely bright lighting. After a few years of suggesting she start reading on a tablet, I bought her one for christmas. She gave me that same look as if I had bought her a gyrfalcon (she is not a falconer). You know - "thanks for not understanding me and thanks for getting me something YOU wanted." 6 weeks later she was telling me it was the best gift she had ever recieved because she can enjoy reading again. The tablet font is infinately adjustable. Well, there are limits, but if you cant make the font big enough you cant operate off of a screen and need to switch to brail. And so is the contrast and lighting.

I certainly, once again, am not suggesting paper books go away. While some techies have been claiming the paper book is obsolete, I do not think that will ever be the case. However, the market for paper books is already in decline, and the pace of that decline will be rapidly increasing.

And you know, those of us that prefer a paper book can still use one to hold up our tablets.

[460shooter]

And you know, those of us that prefer a paper book can still use one to hold up our tablets.

I can't believe I just read that.....

[460shooter]

I like getting my hands on an actual book. It's what I grew up with, it's what I enjoy. I love books! I'm anal about the condition they are kept in, and I'm anal about the condition they are in when I buy them. I have a collection of falconry books, and I like to pull them off the shelf and enjoy them. I'm not an electronics type of guy. I have a droid phone, and that is only because my work requires it. I'm not on twitterface, or any of the other social sites either. Just not a techy kind of guy I guess. If I had my way, I'd go back to the days when phones where on the wall, and they staid there. But that's just me. I don't own, and never have owned, an ipad, tablet, or any of the other tech items.

I guess I just like an actual book. My copy of Desert Hawking With a Little Help From My Friends is still in pristine condition, as are all of my books. I break them in properly, and yes, there is a correct way to break in a book. I use them all as reference books, and enjoy having that "library" to refer too.

I do like Geoff's idea of being able to take several books with him on a trip by having the tablet. THAT part, I like. But I still don't see myself buying one anytime soon.

Guess I'm still stuck in the past.

[rkumetz]

Don't get me wrong. There are good reasons for E-books. I keep a complete set of manuals and datasheets for electronic components in my products on my laptop just in case I need them when I don't have an internet connection.
Most of them are not available in paper so the ones that I use often I take to a print shop and let them use their heavy duty copier to print them on 3-hole paper.

I also keep a complete set of Archery Focus magazines on my tablet to read on airplanes. That magazine is no longer available in print anyway.

I think that the combination of offering an E-book and on-demand print option gives most everyone what they want. The only difference is that on-demand printed books are generally not elegantly bound. They are usually paperbacks.