Reading, ethics and costs.

[SpokeyDokey]

If authors/publishers were not happy with the deal they get from eg Amazon then they wouldn't publish on the platform, surely.

I am a very happy Kindler and have been for many years. No ethical concerns whatsoever.

Cost effective, simple to use, avoids the boring book shop visit and all the town centre parking faff, plus ideal for no light on bedtime reading when one or the other of us wants to sleep and the other wants to read.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

If authors/publishers were not happy with the deal they get from eg Amazon then they wouldn't publish on the platform, surely

See above on abuse of monopoly position.

Publishing on Amazon is normally the only realistic option.

 

[T4tomo]

TLDR, but I tend to buy physical books from charity shop and then usually donate them back afterwards

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

There was. Point when some ebooks cost more than their physical equivalents due to VAT being applied to them. They are now zero rated, since a change in May 2020 so should be cheaper to produce and be sold at a lower cost whilst still maintaining a profit margin. Must admin the variation in the OP does surprise me though.

Round this way there are a number little libraries round here, you know the type where a wooden box of sorts is placed beside a road, that I make good use of.

 

[presta]

The best value paper book I ever had was from MFI for free. I asked if I could buy it, and they said I could have it. I've also downloaded several for free as PDF files.
The most odd is the one with about a quarter of the pages bound upside down.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

I don't understand what ethics you are questioning. Cat Pat upstream thought of one - the ecological ethic - I still can't come up with any other.
Along what line are you thinking?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I switched to Kindle for reading many years ago
I find reading on that much better for "getting into the book" than a physical book

Back in the day "when Moses were a lad" there were lots of small bookshops all over the place

there was something called something like "The Net Book Agreement" where a book cost the same in ever shop

then the like of Waterstones and WHSmith broke away from it - probably because they could see where things were going
That sounded the death knell for the little books shops that were in every town

I generally use Amazon to get the books - I presume (hope??) that the writers get a reasonable deal
and it gives me access to some books I would never have found elsewhere
hence I have found and read a lot of books about experiences of people in boats/ship/aircraft from WW2 written by the people themselves - not professional writers and you can tell - but far more raw and personal

If I know I have already bought the book I do sometimes get it from some more dodgy places on the WWW and then email it to the Kindle

I avoid doing that with book I have not already bought in another format but I have been tempted and really don;t want to give more money to the giant that Amazon has become

anyway - I currently have about 10 books waiting to be read on my Kindle!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Cat Pat

Lol, you forgot the "mad"
I just remembered why I started downloading Ebooks: because I used to go abroad and come back with a suitcase full of paper books!
To buy books from abroad to the UK the shipping costs were high, must be astronomical now post Brexit.
Ebooks are cheaper, more convenient for us furreigners

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Lol, you forgot the "mad"
I just remembered why I started downloading Ebooks: because I used to go abroad and come back with a suitcase full of paper books!
To buy books from abroad to the UK the shipping costs were high, must be astronomical now post Brexit.
Ebooks are cheaper, more convenient for us furreigners

I used to go on holiday with 6 or 7 books

and then I generally found I ran out
Luckily a lot of places I went to had a sort of library of books people had left behind for others to read

so I often ended up reading them as well

with a Kindle I can put 20 books on it before I go and read for as long I I like and not run out

I often have 2 books on the go at once - one more serious than the other - so I can choose what to read depending on my mood

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I used to go on holiday with 6 or 7 books

and then I generally found I ran out
Luckily a lot of places I went to had a sort of library of books people had left behind for others to read

so I often ended up reading them as well

with a Kindle I can put 20 books on it before I go and read for as long I I like and not run out

I often have 2 books on the go at once - one more serious than the other - so I can choose what to read depending on my mood

You haven't quite grasped my post lol
I used to come back with a suitcase full of books, because I'm bilingual, well, actually I can read in 3 languages.
I wanted to read books by foreign authors in the original language.
This was many years ago, before Ebooks became widespread.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

You haven't quite grasped my post lol
I used to come back with a suitcase full of books, because I'm bilingual, well, actually I can read in 3 languages.
I wanted to read books by foreign authors in the original language.
This was many years ago, before Ebooks became widespread.

Ah - that makes sense - I misunderstood!!

 

[Yellow Fang]

It takes me a long time to read a book, so I don't worry about the cost too much. I spend more money on coffee, because I do a lot of my reading in coffee shops.
If I bought a kindle then I could download lots of cheap books, but never get around to reading them.

 

[Reynard]

Another good recommend for free reads are online places like fanfiction.net and AO3 aka Archive of Our Own.

Not everyone's taste, but if, like me, you enjoy reading fiction set in a particular universe e.g. Trek, Harry Potter or just about any other 'verse under the sun, then it's worth a furkle. As it's fanfic, it's all not-for-profit, but amongst some truly dreadful stuff, are some real gems that would hold a candle against professional authors. And sometimes better the premise by the original author.

Some people lurk, others give feedback on the stories, which can range from a drabble (100 words) to epic length (several hundred thousand words). And to be fair, there's worse ways of spending time online.

 

[Drago]

I publish my violent thrillers on Amazon and the deal is pretty good. Depending on the exact arrangement is in the order of 60p in the pound, more than they'd likely get for a physical book sale.

Fans please note - I am working on the sequel, which is very murdery and fisticuffy, with a bit of gratuitous sex thrown in, but MH issues caused a delay. I shall resume work soon.

 

[Time Waster]

Hi,
Should it not be the other way around?
The Ebook is more ethical because paper, ink and glue are not produced, no need of transport, so little carbon footprint.
You can't throw an Ebook to landfill either.
You can buy an Ebook from other retailers than A****n if you feel the retailer is unethical.
Personally, I'll happily ready an Ebook on any platform, but if I want to own an illustrated cookery book I'll want the hard copy.
Some art books, graphic novels, technical manuals, really are a better experience on hardback.
For light reading I head to the charity shops, but often I found some really great challenging reads in them.
Even your local library lets you borrow online, no problem of ethics there.

Batteries, plastics, electronics, etc in kindles and ebook readers. They have to be made from materials that are mined or drilled for. Then do they always get recycled or dumped? I know there is the electronic waste regulations but wasn't there cases of them ending up in a dump on the side of an African river somewhere very poor?? Then there is the question of author earning for their hard work. Then what is the cost for getting thee e-book to you? Isn't it partly a form of cloud computing with data centres with all their energy and water costs??

I do not think any of this is crystal clear for any method of reading. I do have one thing my partner said. Isn't it wrong for things to be too cheap? I mean it promotes consumerism but also you do not get anything goood for long if it is sold too cheaply. If you do not pay much for the book in any media then there is less for the author to get. What is the author's percentage on 72 pence?? How many books do you have to sell to get the minimum wage for that ebook??? Nothing cheap is completely innocent and good. Take fast fashion sold cheaply but then thrown away quickly too. It all adds up.

I personally do not have a view. I am likely to get thee 72 pence e-book as I am really only checking it out and might not get through the book anyway. However I do have less ethics than others so it does not bother me much.