If I want to know the answer to something and cannot wait to have it delivered, I will buy on Kindle or in epub format, but there are some books that I simply must have in print.
The great thing about print books is that I keep going back to them over and over and even if I give a copy to someone to read, I always want it back.
Such is the appeal for print books.
Now more than ever it is easy to get a good quality print cover and paper quality and print quality can be excellent. This really does add to the satisfaction of reading any book.
You cannot engage the senses with ebooks as you can a print book-the feel of the pages as you turn them, the smell of the paper, the visual appeal of the cover as you touch it, the weight of the book in your hand, the sound as each page turns….
When I publish in print through Ingram, I like that they offer more choices than Amazon Createspace. For example, they offer hardback on top of paperback, unlike Amazon which only offers paperback. Some books work very well in hardback and make really good collector’s items or keepsakes, such as Interior design books, cookery books and some other non-fiction types of books.
Like Amazon, they print on white and cream paper but do offer more choices in paper quality. They also offer different colour print qualities so paper quality and print quality can be maximized to give a very high-quality production.
Recently I had a client who ordered ebook, paperback and hardback for his travel memoirs book. He picked the highest quality paper but the cost of selecting the best premium colour print would have made the book about €3 more expensive to buy each copy and since he was buying a large number of paperback and hardback, he opted for the standard colour.
I could see how he justified this choice as he is not a professional photographer and took the travel photos on his camera phone. For some authors who want to show off their business such as an interior designer, food stylist, chef etc, the quality of the image is of paramount importance and so they may choose to go with the best quality photograph and understandably so.