Why Do Publishers Find ePublishing More Lucrative Than Traditional Publishing?

Traditional publishing refers to the books in the print edition or in the physical form. The publishers either directly sell to the audience or through distributors. If you wish to buy a book, you will need to visit a bookstore. Or, you may even order the physical copy of the book online through eBookstores who will then courier it to your address within a stipulated time. In the case of traditional publishing, the book has to be first typeset and then printed on paper. The publisher would then need a warehouse to store and distribute the physical copies, and/or a physical bookstore to sell the books. They can also sell the books online on their own website or through online distributors. 

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Physical books have an old-world charm that the modern eBook cannot replicate or compensate for. Nothing can match the nostalgia of curling up in your favorite spot engrossed in a book as the hours fly by. With the books, you are transported into a world of your own with the narrative giving you food for thought or calming your frayed nerves. The print book also seems to have a life of its own – a smell of its own that goes deep into your consciousness as you flip through the pages. This is why there is so much nostalgia associated with print books. Years later, you open the book again and the smell of its pages will take you down memory lane. Reading a print book is going down a physical journey and so you can actually feel your progress as the pages get fewer and fewer, and you move towards the destination. 

The print book has a very loyal audience of its own. And not just the book – the very act of browsing through libraries or bookstores is a sublime experience that few other activities can match. Put in a nutshell, there is a vast audience that still yearns for the print book. This itself builds the case for traditional publishing. The days of the print are far from over, a fact that no publisher can ignore. There is a wide audience for print books, which in turn, means sales and revenue for the publishers.

On the flip side, traditional publishing is more expensive than e-publishing. Print copies require paper and every time there is any update to a book, the publisher has to print new copies. Then there are the additional charges of warehousing and transportation. People have to visit physical stores to make a purchase though this difficulty has been addressed to an extent in that publishers are using e-commerce platforms to sell their books. All said, the days of traditional publishing are far from over – the print books have a very devoted and loyal audience who continue breathing life in traditional publishing.