Today, the eBook begins to take in popularity. More and more people have an honor. This can be useful, to compensate for lack of space in the bookcase.
Still, everything has its pros and cons.
I am an avid eBook enthusiast myself, because I live rather small and can't get rid of a book. An eBook generally also cheaper to purchase than a paper book.
How did this come?
This is actually why I would never want to see a paper book disappear either. Physically taking the book in hand. The smell of freshly printed paper that caresses your nostrils is unique.
Many people still prefer to read on paper.
A new paperback costs around twenty euros on average. You often have an eBook as for less than a tenner.
A lot of the same costs are invested in both. That's mostly the editorial board. That's the biggest cost of a book. That can easily cost 1000 euros. An editor extracts the errors from the book, but does more than just correction. A good editorial adjusts text where it needs to be, finds inconsistencies in the story the writer is looking at, and deletes useless text that would not interest the reader.
So that's the big deal. Then a graphic artist or artist needs to be appointed for the cover.
That's a whole investment, on which nothing has yet been earned. I'm not going into vanity publishers here, which is a separate fit.
But the paperback has more production costs. An eBook is prepared once by an expert and can then easily be distributed via the Internet, depending on the sales channels, without further costs. Note: Copying eBooks is illegal. But a copy can be made available per purchase.
A paper book must be printed first. That costs paper. So there are higher material costs. Someone also needs to make the layout. That costs money. The printer doesn't work for free either. Then there's the distribution. A book should also be placed in the store/at the buyer/reader. It costs money, too.
Therefore, a paperback is more expensive. The only advantage is that if you don't want the book anymore, you can resell it used. With eBooks, it's not just allowed.
More people have to live on a paper book, so it makes sense that you pay more for it. The author often has the least of it. The publisher has to be paid, the distributor, the bookseller...
With the purchase of a new book you support a whole group of people.