The printed books arrive!
There is one thing about print books that ebooks can’t top — presence. By this I mean that when a print book exists, it does so in physical space. This might seem obvious and pedestrian, but digital sources aren’t as adamant about their existence as real objects. Ignoring an ebook is easy. Ignoring a book on your nightstand or on your coffee table isn’t a trivial matter. It insists, it reminds, it exists.
Delivering signed copies to friends and family, and sending out stacks of orders through the mail reminded me of all this. Sending out digital files doesn’t create a long line at the post office, with a dozen customers waiting patiently for you to finish. Having ebooks doesn’t make the bookstore put up a special display that changes their service counter. Delivering a digital file doesn’t make someone rearrange their coffee table.
The book as an object probably has a fairly long life. How that object is created and delivered may change, but the object itself will be hard to displace.
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[...] deeply invested authors are in having a finished good, a printed and bound book to hold and covet. My own experience with my novel in printed form is that there is a pleasant finality with a completed, bound (and bounded) print book. You can [...]