Smart Bitches Trashy Books LLC is a media partner for the 2010 O’Reilly Tools of Change Conference (and if you’d like a discount off registration, click that ad over yonder and use the code toc10sb for 15% off the cost), and I’m preparing for two presentations at the 2010 conference. Nervous? You bet your sweet bippy. Why? In both cases, I’m talking about digital books and digital reading, and while these are subjects that I’ve learned a tremendous amount about, I remain convinced that those who drive the digital reading and digital publishing industries are not always listening to the reader. So my brain is spinning with all the things I want to communicate – and I’m trying to make sense of everything I want to say, because I want to make sure I do a fair job of representing the feedback I’ve received about digital books, devices, and the experience of digital reading.
One panel I’m on is titled Test Driving the Digital Reading Experience, and it’s all about – you guessed it – the Smart Bitches Test Drive of Sony Readers in 2009. My part of the presentation will explain a bit about the demographics that made up the pool of Test Drivers, and the common frustrations each experienced during their Test Drive, as well as the enthusiasm. While the Test Drive was going on, I had a special email loop set up for them to talk to one another, and one of the coolest parts of the loop was that they served as community tech support to one another as they set up and started using their devices.
The other panel I’m on is Essentials of Digital Books from the Consumer’s Point of View and I’ll be presenting alongside Jane from DearAuthor and Angela James from Carina Press. The focus of this presentation is, obviously, the consumer’s wish list and check list for ideal digital books, from buying to reading to organizing, keeping and (GASPOMGWTFNO) potentially sharing with friends.
Because the audience for Tools of Change is very technically savvy – seriously, you will never see so many surge suppressor strips in one room for laptop plugging-in as in a conference room at ToC – and because the audience is also made up of publishing folks who specialize in digital and print production as well as those who mastermind software, hardware, and device prototypes, I want to give the best presentation possible, and I want to make sure I accurately represent the fiction readers who adore digital, and why, and those who aren’t interested, and why.
More than anything, though, I want to move past the digital vs. print mentality. I want to do away with the phrase “dead tree” as if books in print are something to feel guilty, un-ecological or just plain maudlin about. I want to move past the conflict rhetoric most of all because reading in any form is important, and book production as a profitable enterprise in any form is in danger economically. My favorite part of our proposal is the following:
The inability of print and digital marketing efforts to promote one another for greater collaborative success is the true cannibal of everyone’s profits.
It makes me want to get Biblical on people’s asses, by way of a simple question: do you want swords or do you want plowshares? Publishing in any form is a withering market every quarter, and if you want growth and profit, put the swords down and start working together on digital and print as a two parts of the same profit stream. Seriously, the digital vs. print war is old, tired, and makes me want to stab someone in the ass with a spear and a pruning hook.
So while I’m crafting two presentations about reading from a consumer’s point of view – and that by necessity includes print and digital – and about test driving the digital reading experience, what points do you think are the most crucial? Do you want to talk about the books you read? The devices you use, or the books you own? What key points must not be missed, in your opinion, in discussing any tool of change in publishing?
Totally embarrassed by my title mauling. Blush.
Tamira – we appear to be twins separated at birth *grin*. I intensely dislike the “think of the environment, don’t print this email” signature tags. Anyone imagining they are doing the environment any good by converting from paper to electronics is coming up with a darn good rationalization of their buying habits.
Warning: rant ahead on electonrics manufacture and disposal:
I live an area that has a semi-conductor plant. My father and husband both worked there and I toured the plant once. Making computer chips requires vaporized heavy metals and strong acid baths. And that’s just making the chip We haven’t made the case, hard drive(s), or batteries (which are the worst offenders in the heavy metals department).
Books, heedlessly tossed out the window will eventually turn back into soil, even within my lifetime. Paper can be burned for heat and I can personally recycle paper into a thousand other uses.
On the other hand, what do you do with a dead computer? When does it spontaneously return to the earth (other to leech heavy metals)? What do I use it for other than a door stop?
I’m not against electronic gizmos and gadgets. Actually, I have to admit I have a soft spot for them and have owned several computers in my short life span. I’m aware, though, that the environmentally correct path involves long hand or manual typewriting on paper, preferably in daylight. 🙁
Hi Sarah, nice place you have here. All it’s missing is the subscribe w/out commenting feature so I’ll just wave as I pass through…
Sarah? Honestly? Focus on the positive and the opportunities. Publishing isn’t a “withering” market, truly that is not the case, although it’s very chic to say so.
Fear does not result in good decisions. So don’t emphasize anger or fear or gloom, if you hope for good decisions to be made about the future.
The death of the publishing industry, and books in general, is greatly exaggerated. The numbers for book sales (and I’m not counting freebies) are quite decent, even good, compared to the economy as a whole.
Let the publishers worry about whether their industry or their companies will sink or swim. Just tell them what opportunities and visions you see that they might not have seen themselves.
Me, I adore audiobooks on my iphone, so I adopted that technology instantly because it served my needs so well. Ebooks, otoh, have drawbacks that overall outweigh their advantages for me personally. I’ve been buying MORE printed books and audiobooks since I started trying out ebooks, because I was reminded how pleasant it is to simply read a printed book, and it was so frustrating to read an ebook.
I am no longer buying ebooks, because it is not a pleasant experience for me; it makes me tense to read on a screen.
Just passing through so I can follow the thread by email. Very interesting discussion and comments taking place!
I would like to be recognized as the customer. I feel like a parasite after reading the negative comments from the Publishers, simply because I choose e-books. I made the investment primarily because the booksellers too often didn’t have the books I wanted in stock. This was often enough during the week of the lay down date. I started ordering from Amazon. I decided to purchase a Kindle and thus save shipping charges. I was then able to get the books in a very timely basis and saved some money. I’m happy to pay the going price of a paperback or trade ppb. I accepted the trade off of “rights” when I made the switch, but I now find I’m considered less important simply because of the format I choose to purchase.
I very highly respect Harlequin’s business model. Because of this, I have been reading many more Harlequin books than I had done previously. I will always support a business which recognizes my interests and needs and fashions their business accordingly.
As a positive, the e-reading devices (e-ink technology) are a boon to low vision readers. The ability to increase the font size gives these readers the ability to once again enjoy reading. The large print published books are simply not adequate in many cases, nor is the font adequate. San Serif fonts are much easier to read by persons with vision problems. Devices which offer audio as well as e-ink are even better. Offering the text to speech to low vision readers would also increase usage. Audio books are great, but expensive for persons on limited incomes. Text to speech can’t replace the audio books in quality or experience, but meeting these special needs would show a greater appreciation for the customer.
E readers have become an important device to our military. I’ve read many articles and/or comments in which our service men and women praising the ability to take these devices with them when deployed. They can’t carry enough print published books with them, but can handle an e-reader. Making sure they have books to take their minds away from the front line, is a way to give back.
In both cases, the low vision readers and our military, demonstrate the need to have the publishers recognize the readers are The customer.
I think the most important point to make is: the easier it is for a consumer to get a legal copy of a book, the more likely that person is to PAY FOR a legal copy of a book (as opposed to downloading a pirated copy). That means making books available in a format that people can use (if I have a Sony Reader, and your book is only available in Kindle format? I’m not buying!).
It also means paying attention to international markets. I don’t know how well international copyright law has kept up with the new digital publish age, but publishers need to realize that if a book is available in the US, readers in Europe, Asia, Australia, etc, likely know about it, have friends who are reading it, and if they want to read it, they don’t want to wait weeks/months/indefinitely to get a copy. They can go online and get an illegal copy or publishers can sell them a legal copy. The easier publishers make it for people go buy legal copies, the more likely people are to buy legal copies!
Personally, I still prefer paper books, not because I wouldn’t love the convenience of using a small, digital device, but because I like to lend books to and borrow books from my friends (yes, the Nook has caught my eye!).
The last time I crunched the numbers, I was saving money by going with paper books over digital, as well, even without considering the cost of a digital reader. IMO, there’s no excuse for a digital format to cost more than a physical, sent it through a printing press and shipped it across the US, honest to goodness book. Until the price becomes more competitive, I won’t be making the switch.
Publishers just need to copy Baen and I’d be happy. No DRM, re-download anytime in many formats, good pricing.
I’m not sure what will eventually get me to drink the kool-aid. If the DRM and format issues resolve themselves, I can see solving my ever-challenging book space constraints with e-books (of at least new or new-to-me authors), even though I prefer reading from paper over screen. The thing is, I have paperbacks and hardbacks in my keepers collection that are closing in on 30 years of life and no end to usefulness in sight. With e-books, I have no faith that if I invest the money today they will still be viable in 30 years. Convince me that technology won’t leave my 2010’s editions behind like the floppy disk in Word Perfect that is my first resume.
I read and buy lots of books. I also swap on book swapping sites. Many authors that are new to me, I like to test drive their books. Swapping makes this more affordable and likely. There is nothing that pisses me off more than shucking out $20 for a hardback than to be disappointed in the storyline. This effects all the future hardback books that I might have been tempted to buy plus most definitely any books by that author. Neither do I want the over sized paperback at $15. I read a lot and the price has to be competitive. Why should I spend $15 for an over sized book when I can get 2 mass market paperbacks for that or 3 good Harlequins.
I surely am not going to spend $300 for a Sony and still fork out as much for the ebook as a print copy. The most crucial concern when buying that next book though is the quality of the story. There are many books that I pick up that I feel have been rushed to print to grab that next craze- be it vampires or werewolfs. Book blogs have helped more than anything to help me pick out my next books. Much more than the blurbs on the back of a book or Amazon’s “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” suggestion list.
No, but if you want to make a complaint, they need to know what to fix.
Don’t know if this is what you’re looking for, but the obvious support e-readers have for an author’s backlist is immense, in terms of the one format supporting the other. When I discover new authors at the bookstore and I enjoy their books, I want all of their backlist RIGHT NOW. And now with my e-reader, I can do that. Really enjoyed Laura Resnick’s DOPPLEGANGSTER this week and the first in the series was out 4 years ago so probably tough/impossible to find in stores, but took 5 seconds to purchase and download. Win!
As a librarian, the most important thing to me is a standard format that can be read on any e-book device, PLEASE! I’m so tired of trying (& often failing) to help a poor library patron figure out why their device isn’t working with the proprietary software they have to download to read our loaner ebooks.
Not to say that the ability to loan ebooks & digital audiobooks isn’t a great thing—it is & I love it, but for pete’s sake can the publishers & vendors get a clue & make it simpler?
Further to the above, the biggest vendor of ebooks to libraries is OverDrive; check their website to see if your local library offers the service.
You should take an old school cattle prod and an electric cattle prod to show them how technology can improve a product. Then you can zap’em with it if they don’t get it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_prod
I recently decided to try out e-reading and ordered a nook from B&N. It hasn’t arrived yet but I didn’t let that stop me. I downloaded Adobe Digital Editions, the Kindle PC app, and the B&N PC e-reader. I used Stanza, the Kindle app, and the B&N ereader app on my iPhone. I’ve read maybe 20 books or more electronically; some PDF, some epub, some pdb, some amz; some downloaded for free, some purchased, some borrowed from the library—Maryland has 1578 e-books available for loan as of last week, and the more popular titles have a waiting list. I have obtained everything legally and intend to continue that way.
PROS:
* I can find books I cannot find in print.
* Legally free e-books are a lot more accessible than free hardcopy books, and there seem to be a lot more of them.
* Reading books from a screen works fine for me.
* Registering with a provider’s site allowing for things like prioritized wish lists enables me to organize my book-buying much better than previously—my to-be-read pile gone virtual, and I can pay when I am ready to read.
* Instant gratification. I can finish book 1 of a series and have book 2 available to read within *minutes*.
* Out of print backlist titles seem to be coming into e-book and there was much rejoicing.
* I read a lot of romances. Not having the more-and-more explicit covers showing to everyone on the bus is kind of nice.
* digital publishing provides a lot of room for innovation and promotion. Baen’s free library and other free samples of partial (or entire) first books of popular series, etc. are great ways for a reader to taste—risk-free, instant-gratification-style—a product before investing in it. I have bought *many* books because of an initial free promotion. In terms of innovation, Baen’s Webscriptions have been around a while, and if you like their products you can torment yourself with pre-release serialized books. Baen will also sell pre-release digital Advance Reader Copies of books in their popular series for hardcore fans who just can’t wait. I’d like to see other publishers do what Baen is doing.
* most devices I’ve tried so far (PC and iPhone apps) have been easy to install and use.
* I am out of space in my bookcases at home so this provides me a way to feed my habit without collapsing my house into a black hole from the sheer weight of books.
CONS:
* Poor formatting of e-books. Words run together, italics not closing at the right place, syllable-line-break hyphenations in the middle of the line (“im-petuous”) diacriticals causing problems, etc. I paid good money for this book (in most cases). Quality Control, people!
* Speaking of formatting, there are distractions built in such as fiddling with fonts and themes, before settling into the reading experience. With a print book, you don’t have to choose! And if you read on a PC, email and google are a constant potential distraction.
* You can’t take your PC with you to the dinner table, on the bus, to bed, to the bathroom, etc. and even if you were able to cope with the unwieldiness of taking a laptop such places, the charge wouldn’t last the length of the book. Reading on a PC is a very stationary activity. The iPhone has the advantage of being portable but reading also drains the battery. Also reading on a tiny glowing screen causes me some eyestrain problems (the PC doesn’t really register as a problem with my eyes). I expect the nook to be able to resolve most of these problems, but I won’t be able to read my Kindle books on it, so…
* It seems you have to strip DRM (which is illegal) to read all your e-books on the same device if you have a lot of different formats.
* One e-reader (the B&N app for iPhone) was difficult to use in the sense that it took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to open the books to read them. Also B&N’s PC app does not use the space bar to page down. Everyone else does and it has been my preferred way since my Usenet days! We need standards here!
* It drives me absolutely bonkers that there are a number of series of which, say, you can get books 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 from B&N (epub or pdb), book 6 from Amazon (amz), book 1 free from the publisher on a promotion that expired a year ago (pdf) or for purchase in hardcopy only. I would like to be able to get all the books in the same format. I realize this has something to with rights and contracts, but it is frustrating.
* I haven’t personally encountered a problem with this but being able to obtain e-books legally internationally is a huge issue. I have been that person, years ago, in a foreign country wanting English-language books desperately and only able to get them with difficulty at high expense. It might STILL be 1978 as far as e-book accessibility is concerned in this arena. I realize this is because rights are often granted geographically, but this needs addressing.
* One standard format. One standard DRM. Multiple merchants for each release. Worldwide. This is my happy dream world.
Henofthewoods:
I agree with you, but putting on my publisher’s hat to play devil’s advocate for a bit:
1. It’s possible that the publisher doesn’t have access to said variety of devices. I don’t think anyone in my office owns an e-ink reader, for example; I’m not sure how many people besides me own an iPod touch or iPhone and actually read on it. Sure, you can read a lot of these files on your desktop, but some formatting issues might not be noticable on the desktop but become blatant on a handheld. (For that matter, I don’t know whether Amazon provides a way for the publisher to read their own books in Kindle format without actually buying the Kindle versions; ditto other proprietary vendors and versions—I’ll have to ask about that.)
2. Proofreading one novel in one format may not add a large amount to the workload, but when you’re talking several formats and the digitization of a huge amount of backlist, it’s another story. If the proofreading of the newly digitized backlist would take the time and money that it would normally take to proofread the frontlist books for the next five to ten years, I can see why the publisher wouldn’t bother. (That said, checking the ebook versions should become part of the standard proofreading procedures for frontlist books. And it’d be nice to have a mechanism where the publisher can collect errors and offer a corrected version to the people who’ve bought the ebook.)
Funny example of words not scanning correctly when backlist books scan and go from print to digital. I’ve been reading all of Lynsay Sands old historical romance because I just love her and have only read her Vampire books. While reading Love is Blind the word “the” was ALWASY “die” and last night I had an OMGWTFBBQ moment when I was reading The Key. The passge read “She had seen a mans chest, anus and legs of course but never imagined men carried around an appendage……” I boggled at WTF Ms. Sands was thinking. Then later on in the book the heroine was “fiercly struggling in Duncan’s anus.” Again, WTF?????? I figured with that phrase that “anus” was the mis-tranlation of “arms” by the OCR scanner. I HOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am an avid reader, I have spent about $200 on (paper) books so far this month, I’ll probably spend more next month. I love the idea of a digital reader but the current system is too unsettled for me, I’m holding out for a few features that are not available yet. I will buy a digital reader when:
1) I can read ANY book that is published in digital format on whatever reader I own.
2) I can buy a digital copy of a book and be assured that it will not randomly diappear from my reader.
3) My digital reader MUST have a backlight, color, fast page turning, good bookmarking, font size choice, and a long battery life.
Whoever had the idea of a Netflix-like service – YEAH! I absolutely want the author and publisher to be rewarded for their efforts, but so many books will only be read once…is that really worth $10 ? If I had the service and my friend had the service I could recommend the book I’m reading to my friend and she could read it at the same time…how cool would that be?
Oh, yeah, I’m willing to learn a new gadget, even if it’s a little complicated, but I don’t want to have to learn a different complicated gadget two years down the road when the next big thing comes along.
So, go get ‘em Sarah! I am delighted that you have an opportunity to make a differnce in the world of digital publishing.
@Kristina
You cracked me up! What a hilarious mis-scan! I love that a totally vanilla passage just went somewhere entirely less vanilla.
Re: Amazon taking books back.
They had an absolute right—no, obligation under the law to do this. Look, if you buy a flat screen tv from your neighbor who is moving out of state and said tv turns out to be stolen goods, the cops *will* confiscate the item.
Likewise, if you buy a Chanel purse from a reputable store, and if, say, the chain breaks and you take it back for a replacement or repair, and in the meantime they’ve discovered that shipment was counterfeit, guess what? You ain’t gettin’ that purse back. Because trademark holders have the right to demand that counterfeits are confiscated and destroyed.
The only mistake on Amazon’s part was not reimbursing any monies spent for the books. And I would hope they made financial restitution to the copyright holder. (Or maybe they did and I missed it.)
Copyright and Trademark laws do not always favor the consumer.
And I love my new Nook. I’m a point and click girl, don’t have wireless capability and have become well acquainted with it in the less than 24 hours I’ve had it. What I love about ereaders is that they are *flat*. Therefore, I can curl up on the couch and just prop it up against my knees with one hand lightly supporting it and touching the next page button. Or, lay on my side in bed and it stays “open” all by it’s little self. The screen itself looks exactly like paper under matte glass, so zero eyestrain here, and I have pretty severe astigmatism. Done reading? Just let it sleep, and when you touch the power button it takes you to the page you are on. Pretty nifty. I’m especially looking forward to reading the ginormous, weighty history tomes that I so love on it, because it is more comfortable to hold than a 500 page trade paperback, by far, especially since I’ve got a cover for it.
I suppose the lending feature is okay, but I’ve always been of the “buy your own damn book” persuasion, being well and thoroughly sick of people who use my collection as a lending library, which convienently saves them money.
– Please stop treating ebook readers like thieves
– allow me to build keep and access my ebook library just like my paper one. I’d be happy to be responsible for keeping track/backing up of my own ebooks if it meant they would remove the DRM
– remove barriers to purchase—release the ebooks on the same day as the hard copy, wide distribution which allows all of the outlets and formats the same pricing structure and release dates.
– ditch the combative discussion. We want authors to make a living and keep writing books just like we want musicians to keep making music and artists to keep producing art. We don’t care about saving outdated publishing models or the “biz” of publishing. It’s not my responsibility to make sure pubs stay in business. Make the discussion about what I care about—the work, the writers.
Beau
I want to be able to edit out mistakes myself.
I understand that authors don’t want me to change their text and publishers don’t want me to alter the text enough that I can pretend I think it is new. (That would definitely lead to piracy or Savage ePublishing[/b.])
When there are the mistakes that make me cringe (“die” is pretty common, “anus” I haven’t noticed) or places where a space is introduced that makes me completely confused (last night I read a sentence with “hu mankind’ – I was trying to think of what word “hu” was replacing instead of seeing the gap in humankind) I want to be able to fix it so I don’t keep seeing the same mistake again.
If I could just e-whiteout and retype, I would be so much happier. All of the programs I have that allow annotations let me put notes in correcting something, but I have to see the glaring error first. Why can’t I fix the glaring error instead of highlighting it with a few paragraphs of explanation about why it is wrong?
I reread a lot. I know that I will run into the same problems again. Maybe if there were functions more like the bookmarks that let you overwrite something that really got to you? I’m picturing something that would only change the text on your device, and not the actual author’s text that the publisher sold to you.
It might just take up too much memory space and slow down the device. I would not want to wait for 3 minutes while all my typing corrections on 700 titles (or tides) were checked at start-up each time.
As to not having many different readers and devices: This is where the “what am I paying for?” comes in. If I pay $18.00 for a new ebook at the same time as the hardback is released, is the author getting the difference in the cost of publishing? I severely doubt it. Could some of the difference in the cost of publishing go to actual quality? Whether or not your book has the first letter of every chapter is not a trivial matter.
Do you think they have a sweat shop somewhere with scanners and desks and little futons and people chained to the scanners? Faster, the backlist must go digital this month. Because if you read English, wouldn’t you notice…
If it all comes down to money, then the truth is, since getting my Nook less than a month ago, I’ve bought (and read) 30 books—a book every day or two. Prior to that, I had a great big bag of 35 loaner books I was working through, and before THAT, it was all library all the time. Thank God my library has ebook lending, but the selection is a little sparse—so, that means more money spent on books. I think to ignore/underestimate the ebook market would be the biggest mistake publishers could make.
This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t consider buying a print version, but that involves time, effort, and budget consultation, and clicking ‘buy now’ is immediate impulse gratification—who cares if the book is all that good—I can read it RIGHT NOW! (Can you imagine how expensive things could get if Zappos worked this way?!)
Also, nothing is more irritating that finding out the book you want to read is only available as a Kindle version. Does anyone know how to de-kindle an ebook for use on another device?
This article is almost a year old now, so possibly everyone but me has seen it before now, but it is an insightful look at ebooks and reader and publisher attitudes.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/the-once-and-future-e-book.ars/
Even if I wasn’t in the middle of setting up an ebook publishing company, I still would have found it a fascinating read. As I am finding this discussion.
Closing the bold tag.
I’ve now been told that if Amazon’s doing the conversion into Kindle format, the publisher never sees the converted version (and indeed can’t without buying a copy), and Amazon’s the one who’s supposed to take care of any formatting errors. Still don’t know whether this is true for other ebook vendors.
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1. An end to geographic restrictions I don’t bother with books on board or fictionwise anymore because of these (I live in Australia)
2. An end to DRM. Work gives me a computer to use at home but I don’t have permission to add software so can’t download DRM books. This means I buy from the small presses and publishers directly – I don’t pirate!!!! but I can’t buy from the mainstream publishers.
3. I buy pdf because I want the format to be supported and transportable between devices. There are too many propiertary formats/devices or ones the depend on having an e-reading device – I read on my laptop and can make folders and sort things.
4. An end to poor editing; ‘temper’ spelled ‘tempter’ throughout the book, or the intro paragraphs saying the heroine doesn’t own a car then the next chapter has her walking to her car, or in a lately published Lora Leigh, a character’s name changing in the big hostage scene.
5. Reader’s rights should be recognised; including ownership and sharing. To me these have an impact on pricing. If I don’t own the e-book in the same way I do a paperback with the rights to do certain things, then I am not going to pay the paperback price.
6. E-books available at the same time as other releases. I live in an apartment and I can’t fit any more paper books in. This means converting my fiction to e-books and saving the space for non-fiction. E-books are a valid purchasing choice for our lives in the 21st century.
7. I am reading more because of the internet. Blogging sites like the Smart Bitches and Dear Author lead me to new books and help me source them through links and naming obscure publishers. The availablity and capacity to shop at midnight mean that I am buying books when the urge to read hits, not when the shops are open and I can get there.
VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!
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I recently bought a nook (B&N) and think overall it’s great.
However, I’ve already run into some technical frustrations:
1. Make reading an eBook like reading a book. IE – if I want to flip 10 pages forward because I want get to a good part, let me hit a button that says, “Go to page” and type it in. Really.
2. I would love to be able to scroll on the reading screen and not the tool bar at the bottom. The iPhone and iTouch technology of touching what you want has spoiled us tech geeks.
3. Backlight options, please. Even reading this in normal light can become blinding. I want to be able to adjust how bright the background is against the lettering.
4. Maybe this is due to my ignorance and laziness, but a little user help about what and where you can get ebooks would be FABU. (yes, i finally read the specs on line, but how hard would it be to add a little PDF on the reader that clearly says, “you can read these formats! and additional books can be found at these sites!”
5. I like to learn new words. I wish I could copy the definition or automatically add it as a note to the page the word is found on. I am no good at remembering and there’s no way to copy the definition (unless I use pen & paper, which sort of defeats the purpose).
I would also like to make a comment regarding purchasing habits. For compulsive shoppers, the ease of downloading on the spot makes it that much easier for someone to buy a book. How many more people would pick up that new release offered only in Hard Cover, if it were offered for $10 as an eBook? I think more $$$ would be made by making it accessible. There will always be people who prefer one format over another, but now that I have an ebook, I’m more inclined to skip purchasing the hard cover and hit the library if I absolutely cannot wait for the ebook version to come out. I think publishers need to be aware that their consumer’s spending habits are CHANGING with the new formats. The music industry is a great example – I tend to buy more music NOW (I’m an iPod junkie) than I ever did as a teenager (I’m in my late 30’s) because new music is so easily accessible. Plus, they have great marketing (oh, you want to workout? here’s a great list of 75 songs that work well together!). Think of all the holiday anthologies that could be customized!
I will say, I do love the ability to see the book covers, because many times, that is what first grabs me to read the synopsis. I also remember book covers, rather than authors/titles (horrible memory). I am also looking forward to lending my ebooks with a friend in San Fran.
I am hoping for the best in the future…technology always seems to get better as time moves on. Let’s hope the publishers finally understand that their consumer’s purchasing are changing with the technology and catch up!
pay52 – I’m gonna PAY for downloading 52 best sellers…ouch!
Just wanted to add to my list re e-book wants…
1. Good meta data and the capacity to sort and index against it.
2. The capacity to add comments and index books according to grade/re-read potential, what irritated me, etc
3. I like Jane @ dear author’s suggestion of being able to select style/format and perhaps covers, or even make and add covers and references via links.
Cheers!