Print Books or eBooks: Which is Best?

Billions of books are sold each year, and they’re offered in a range of different formats. The two most common forms of books sold today are print books and eBooks or electronic books. Print books have long been the standard for books sold around the world, but eBooks are quickly gaining in popularity and are becoming the new standard in many parts of the world. With both technologies readily available to choose from, it’s up to you to decide what format you want to use for any books you write. This isn’t a simple decision to make, and we go into the benefits of each of the different options to help you choose what’s right for you.

 Why Sell Print Books?

In a time when eBooks are readily available and can be delivered to a reader in seconds, it seems old-fashioned to offer print books. The thing is, many readers prefer print still and will only purchase a print version of a book. The most obvious reason to offer print books is because these books help you tap into readers that won’t buy an eBook.

Print books also maintain their appearance better than most eBooks do. When you design the print book, or you work with a designer to create a finished book design for you, you can enjoy knowing exactly what the book will look like. You can choose rich colors or images, and they’ll look just how you want them to inside the pages of your book. You’ll also have the ability to choose the size and shape of your book if that’s important to you. Books are sold in a range of standard book sizes, and you should use one of those sizes, but you are free to choose the size you enjoy best. You won’t have most of those benefits when selling your book in the eBook format.

 Why Sell eBooks?

Print books have their benefits, but they’re old-fashioned, and many readers today prefer using Kindles or other devices to consume their books. All these people will only pick up your book if it’s offered as an eBook, which means if you don’t offer an eBook, you’ll lose out on customers! This is the most important reason to make eBooks, but there are plenty of other benefits to making and selling eBooks as well. One serious benefit is that you don’t have to pay printing fees when you offer a book as an eBook! Once your book is formatted and performs the way you want it to in its different file types, you are free to sell the book with minimal fees. You can even sell the book without any fees if you handle the sales and distribution yourself!

 eBooks tend to sell faster, and they are more interactive than print books are. You can add links in your books that guide readers around, and you can also rely on color-changing text and other powerful tools for some eBook formats. Many readers enjoy buying books and having them instantly as well, and you’ll likely sell books faster when they’re in the eBook format. All these reasons should help convince you that it makes sense to sell eBook versions of your finished books, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t offer print books as well. Many writers believe they have to choose between selling print books and eBooks, but that’s simply not the case today, and you can do both.

Consider Offering Both Options

While it might seem cost-prohibitive to offer print books and eBooks for sale, it isn’t. There are loads of services available today that allow you to create print-on-demand books printed and shipped after being ordered by a customer. These services take a fee of the sale price to cover the expenses, and you get the rest. With services such as these, you can offer print books to the buyers that really prefer this option or that will only read a print version of a book.

Along with print books, you can have your work formatted for sale as an eBook on different online markets. Work with a company that specializes in formatting to have your books laid out professionally and readied for print and eBook distribution, or do all the work yourself to prepare your books. Once the formatting is taken care of, you can easily sell print versions of your books along with eBooks to increase your sales and the overall potential of your book.

Thanks to technological advances, you can easily choose to sell print books, eBooks, or both without spending a fortune in order to create either. Hopefully, you have an idea of which type of book you want to sell yourself now after reading through the reasons, but you don’t have to choose between the options. Work with a company to create print and eBook formats of your book and offer the product both ways if that’s something that appeals to you.