Stephen King, American author best known for his enormously popular horror novels. King was the 2003 recipient of The National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Taken at the 2007 New York Comicon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Everyone says paperback books will soon be a thing of the past. E-books are the way to go. They are cheaper and more easily accessible. If this is the truth, then why is one of the world’s most well-known authors opting to publish his next book in paper-format only?
According to an article on BBC News’ Website titled, “Stephen King opts to only offer novel in book from [sic],” the book Joyland will be released in June 2013 in paperback only.
So you may be thinking, why paperback? Here is an excerpt from the article:
“I loved the paperbacks I grew up with as a kid, and for that reason, we’re going to hold off on e-publishing this one for the time being,” said King.”
According to the article, King released a book in e-format in 2000 titled Riding the Bullet. It was so successful that the website crashed due to an overload of traffic. However, within hours, his book was being offered for free on the Internet.
I would find it extremely frustrating if something I worked so hard on was being offered for free within hours of me releasing it. No matter who the author is, they deserve to be paid for their time.
According to the article, he sold installments online of the book The Plant. However, he only completed six chapters because he said he would quit writing the novel if readers didn’t pay for it.
Here is another short excerpt from the article:
He later revealed that he made a profit of more than £300,000, yet he brought the experiment to a halt, claiming: ‘Book-readers don’t regard electronic books as real books.’”
I know if I was an author, I would prefer to see my book in paper-format. E-books are nice and convenient. However, if I spent countless hours writing a book, I would want something to show for it. I would want to be able to carry it around to show family and friends. I would want to be able to proudly display it on my bookshelf or coffee table. A book is more than a story, it is a piece of art.
King is going against the grain so-to-speak. It could be a good experiment and will prove if paper books still stand a chance in this digital age.
In the article, King said, “”Joyland will be coming out in paperback, and folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book…”
What are your thoughts? Do you think it is a smart move or do you think it will hurt sales? Are you willing to pay a little more for a paperback book as compared with a digital book?
Related articles
- New Stephen King Thriller Coming Next June (artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com)
- King reverts to type with Joyland (guardian.co.uk)
