Cookbook ebooks low sales for a reason?

[contadina]

I wonder if there aren't two main reasons why cookery books are not selling digitally. Firstly, I think people like to browse over cookery books, drooling over lovely big pictures. Secondly, they may, like me, save recipes on their computer, which you can transfer to your kindle. My husband made me a little wooden stand so that I can follow recipes in the kitchen using it and I now prefer it to using cookery books (which are nice to browse but awkward to have open out in the kitchen.

[the.fee.fairy]

I think it depends on the format.

I've got a few ebook cookery books and if they're PDF it's ok because i can transfer them from my computer to my USB stick and go and print the page that i need for that recipe.

If they're Epub or Mobi or PRC or whatever other formats there are, then it's a pain in the behind because i have to use the ebook reader to read it and can't print from it because i can't open it on a PC anywhere to print.

having an e-recipe book is ok, but if other ebook readers are like mine, then the screen turns off after so many minutes (mine is 6 minutes - i read fast.) so if you've got an instruction like 'simmer for 10 minutes, stirring continuously' then the ebook will turn off while i'm doing that bit. It's not a good idea to hold the reader over a sacuepan of hot stuff :)

So I think that PDF files are the way to go for recipe books, as long as they can be moved between PC, ebook reader and USB stick so that people can print. For example, i have an ebook reader, so i'll read through the book on there, but i don't have a PC with printer, just a laptop, so I have to move the book to a USB stick to take it to print out the page i want.

This means that those books that won't move, or you can't select and print a certain page are useless as ebooks.

Having said that...i do prefer a good paper recipe book every time! My ebook reader (a chinese knock-off...naturally ;)) reads all formats and has a colour screen so i can see all the pictures. I still prefer to have a paper book though, the smell of it, the feel of it, and in 10 years time it's picked up everything it's been through.

[red]

i would imagine non fiction in general is less popular in digital format

I'm not ready to give up actual books and actual cds etc - and even print my own recipes from my website out and put them in a folder for easy use in the kitchen. I have a netbook i use at the kitchen table, so more and more i follow recipes online (mine or otherwise), but most people dont have a kitchen big enough for a table etc. - so it is no surprise digital format is less popular

i still prefer actual books

[MKG]

Ebooks are fine until you want to read in the bath.

Mike

[merlin]

You can take a shower when reading the eaquabook

[seasidegirl]

I haven't got an e reader but agree that if I had one I wouldn't want to risk spills on it.

There are so many recipes online available for free as well - on blogs etc. I tend to google for specific recipes I want to try and then jot them down on a piece of paper to take in kitchen. I usually then lose it so do prefer proper cookery books. Lots of them in the shops though. Too much fancy stuff for my liking and not enough simple recipes.

[MKG]

I despise digital rights management (which should be known as digital restriction and manipulation) with a vengeance. I appreciate the rights of an author, but I demand the right to put any book I buy on any device I see fit. As with all other electronic media, I demand the right to make a security copy in any form I see fit.

Imagine buying a book (a real paper book) and then finding that the publisher has locked the covers together and they can be unlocked only if you've bought a particular and expensive page-turning device. Great if you already have one. But what happens when it goes to the great dead device home in the sky and you decide to buy a similar thing but from another manufacturer? Say bye bye to your library. No thank you very much - the only ebooks I have are those with no DRM at all.

Perhaps it's DRM which could go some way to explaining low-volume ebook sales, Andy.

[seasidegirl]

Imagine buying a book (a real paper book) and then finding that the publisher has locked the covers together and they can be unlocked only if you've bought a particular and expensive page-turning device.

This proves paper books are worth the extra money. As long as you can read, you can read it.

[oldjerry]

When they make an e reader that smells of old books,I'll think about buying one.

[Milims]

When they make an e reader that smells of old books,I'll think about buying one.

Or one that doesn't object to having blobs of what ever you are cooking dropped on it! I think half the loveliness of a well used cook book is finding the pages of most used recipes stuck together, or those fall open at the right place. I have cook books that I read - and then look up the recipes on t'internet and those that I use and splash things on - either way a cook book is very much a hands on feeling the pages thing for me.
I have read books on line - especially when skiving at work but TBH I prefer the real thing.
I did suggest a kindle type thing to my best beloved who, because of disability, finds holding a book very difficult - but he prefers to find a way round the problem rather than resort to electronics.

[MKG]

For all of my harping on, I actually do have a Sony ereader, and I wouldn't be without it. I prefer the "real" thing, but the ability to quickly slip some 200 to 300 books into my pocket is unmatchable. And there are now a fair old number of sources of free - and perfectly legal - ebooks around the net. Project Gutenberg is one of the best.

For me, it's a must-have. And when the producers of ebooks get their acts together (and get rid of the stupidities of DRM and the issuing of ebook editions which are more expensive than the traditional paper editions) I'll be a happy bunny.

Mike

[the.fee.fairy]

MKG - If you stick your ebook reader in a sandwich bag that has the zip close, or the press-close thingy then you can read in the bath :)

You make a good point about having to have a specific ebook reader to read specific books, like the Kindle for .Mobi and whatever it is you read .prc on (i say that because i haven't found anything that reads them!).

I admit, i didn't think of that side because my ebook reader is a Chinese xanzhai (copycat!) one, it reads most formats without a problem. I can get .mobi, .epub, .txt and .pdf files to work without a problem. The .prc and .czhm (i think...used for comics...) don't work though.

The thing this proves is that the manufacturers of most of the ebooks are to blame for the filetype problems. Kindles can't open .epubs, a lot don't open .pdfs, and even if they do, the screen is black and white so doesn't display pictures. This, in my opinion, is a failing on their part. Especially when, as you say, they sell the ebook format for the same price, or higher than a paper copy with glorious colour pictures. It's also an issue when you've collected a load of books for your device (let's use Kindle as an example), and then it dies, so you buy a new device (Nook maybe) that doesn't open the format of all the books you've already bought, so you have to buy them again.

I love my ebook reader because here there is a distinct lack of books in English and books are heavy to transport! I've got my textbooks for teaching, and reference books in paper format, but that's it. All other boks are on my ebook reader (well...on my hard drive and then transferred until my ebook is full ). But I don't like the fact that you can't 'lend' your ebook to someone, so if I read a book i really like and think my friend would like, I can't then 'lend' it to her to read without giving up my device for her to read it on. I also can't pass them on when i've finished with them if they have DRM. The beauty of paper books is going to a charity shop and finding all those old books that aren't printed anymore that have that book smell and the feel of a well-thumbed book. This only happens because people with paper books can give them away!

I do hope that this is not the end of paper books, it won't be quite the same for future generations to inherit an ebook device full of Granny's recipes, or a computer file. I like my old recipe books that someone's written in the margins!

[Mrs Moustoir]

There are a few programs available that will convert .epub, .txt etc to .mobi for Kindle or vice versa for other ebook readers.

I use a little free download called Calibre to do this and it also acts as my library/back up on a pc separate from kindle. Not sure if it converts PDF files but will have a look.

Sometimes the formatting is a bit whacky but perfectly readable all the same.

[Maykal]

I was just going to point out the same thing as Mrs Moustoir - there are programs you can use to convert from one format to another (from .pdf to .mobi, for example). I store all my books on my HDD and just transfer a few books at a time to my e-reader to save cluttering it up. I also read it in the bath, don't bother with a bag or anything, I just don't drop it in the water.

After saying in a previous post that I prefer cookbooks in paper format, I've just downloaded a cookery book in .pdf format even though I have already bought the paper version. The reason I did this is because the index isn't very well organised and it's impossible to look recipes up by ingredient, meaning that if you want to cook a chicken dish, you have to search through the entire index to find all the recipes that may contain the word chicken in the title. And then, of course, there are many dishes than make use of chicken but are listed by a name which doesn't contain the word chicken, so if you don't know what the dish is, you won't know if it contains your key ingredient or not. Rather poor organising on the part of the author/publisher. The book is also organised by region, so you can't even just flick through the 'poulty' section. Anyway, I found a .pdf version of the book and I can now use that to search for recipes containing the key ingredient. However, when I go to the kitchen and start cooking, I'll still be using the paper version for reasons mentioned above.

[MKG]

Calibre is a wonderful piece of kit, and will allow conversion between many formats - but only if you remove the digital lock imposed by the DRM system first. Calibre will even do that for you - legally - but it's a long, drawn-out process to correct something which has no right being there in the first place. There are arguments (legitimate ones which are at present being examined) that DRM is pretty illegal itself.

It's an attempt to do what software manufacturers have already done - you don't buy the software, you buy the right only to use it under strict licensing conditions, and you may not copy it (unless for backup reasons) and can thus use it on only one machine. You may not sell it as the licence is non-transferrable.

Now you can buy a standard book and do whatever you want with it as long as you don't contravene copyright. You can sell it on, copy it (but not, obviously, sell the copy), quote it in accordance with "fair use" regulation, give it away, scan it and convert to a pdf so you can read it on your computer. You can lend it to someone else and allow them to read it wherever they like. You're going to pay at least the same price for an ebook, but you can't do any of that. Well, actually, you can. You can regain your legal rights as a purchaser but first you have to get rid of the DRM which is doing its best to stop you. As they are your legal rights, why is the DRM obstructing them in the first place?

"To protect the rights of the publisher and the author" comes the heartfelt reply. Well that's just bullshit. How can DRM protect anything when it's possible to remove it legally? But most people a) don't know it can be removed b) don't know how to remove it c) tend to go along with authority figures. The only thing DRM protects (and increases) is the publishers' bank balance - above and beyond the fair return which would be created by a normal book.

Mike