Week 11 Prompt

Ebooks and audiobooks are a part of our landscape. What does the change in medium mean for appeal factors? If you can't hold a book and feel the physical weight of it in your hands, how does that affect your knowledge of the genre? How about readers being able to change the font, line spacing, and color of text - how does that affect pacing and tone? How about audiobooks? Track length, narrator choice, is there music?  For this week, I want you to think about how ebooks and audiobooks affect appeal factors - also think about appeals that are unique to both mediums. Please feel free to use your own experience and that of your (anonymous of course) patrons. I look forward to reading these!

The shift from physical books to ebooks and audiobooks causes a change in the appeal factors for readers. While the two mediums are wildly different, they both mean changes for the appeal factors.

Ebooks are books meant to be read on any electronic device. The most popular devices are tables, e-readers and phones. Ebooks are an interesting medium and fitting for the technology age. The appeal of ebooks lies more in the convenience factor than the changing of the appeal factors. A reader can carry hundreds of books on one device, making it easy to carry around multiple books at the same time. I personally use ebooks during vacation, because packing ten books makes it difficult to make weight restrictions on flights. Being able to edit the font size and text appearance can make the pacing of reading easier as well. I find it easier to read larger text, and with physical books, that is not possible to change. The downside to ebooks for me is not being able to get the satisfaction of finishing a physical book. I love reading the last page of a book and it is not as satisfying with ebooks. I normally read physical books, but there are times I like to pick up ebooks when I do not want to carry around a large physical book.

Audiobooks also are a vastly different medium than physical books. Audiobooks are books either on CD or downloaded from various sources. Audiobooks affect appeal factors in a number of ways. First, audiobooks are only listened to, not read. Readers cannot see the words, and rely on the audiobook to read every word. This can be a positive and negative for readers like myself. I listen to audiobooks on my drive to and from work. It gives me a way to enjoy reading when I cannot physically read a book. The main problem with audiobooks is when I "zone out" and miss a section of the book. It is easy to reread the book when I have a physical copy, but it is difficult to rewind the CD in the car. I also enjoy listening to audiobooks when I am working, but the same issue can happen. It is easier to find my place on my phone however, than going backwards on a CD. Audiobooks are controversial as some can consider reading audiobooks as "not reading." While it is not reading in the traditional definition, I still believe it to be reading books.

Both ebooks and audiobooks are great for different types of readers. Readers can read strickly physical books, ebooks, or audiobooks, but the most common is a combination of two or three of these mediums. The appeal of these different mediums are different for a number of reasons, but all three should be considered reading. I welcome any format that allows books to be read, because it allows books to reach new readers who may not enjoy reading physical books.