There were quite a few interesting discussions about e-books and e-book reviews last week. Maili ponders why e-books don’t get more word-of-mouth, Nicole throws in her two cents’ worth, and then Angie picks up the gauntlet and decides to offer free e-books from Samhain Publishing in return for honest reviews.
I admit that I don’t give many recommendations for e-books, myself. Why?
‘Cause I don’t read that many. When I do read them, I read them very, very slowly. This is because when it comes to portable electronic gadgets, I’m pretty much living in the Stone Age…or worse, the 1980s. I don’t have a cellphone or iPod, much less an e-book reader.
Yes, I can read e-books on my computer, but I get antsy when I have to read more than a couple thousand words at a time on my computer screen, even on the beyootiful 19” LCD monitor I have at home. Part of it’s because of the position—I prefer to read laying down or reclined somewhere—but part of it’s just the nature of reading on a screen for me. I have a harder time concentrating. There are also all these distractions at my fingertips. When I’m on the computer, I’ll fuck around, check my e-mail, look up random bits of trivia on Wikipedia, obsessively check for new comments on this site, chat with friends on Instant Messenger, etc.
This serves as a sort of warning to authors who’ve sent me e-books to review as well: I’m going to read your books, but please understand, it’s going to take me a LONG-ASS TIME to get around to them. I know. I suck. *cries*
Will I ever get an e-book reader? I don’t know. Prospects for the near future look very dim. I already have a couple hundred books in my TBR stacks, for one thing, and for another, I’m planning to go to law school next year, which means money for gadgetry is going to be
tight
non-existent. And I admit, I’m very much in love with paper books and the way they look, feel and smell, and the way I don’t need any special hardware or software to access the words.
However, if I travelled a lot, e-book readers would look much, much more attractive. Hundreds, even thousands of books at my fingertips? WOO HOO! My inner (and outer) bookslut squeals with glee at the prospect.
I’m pretty much the same on ebooks. I’m waiting for the rollable screen thing of an ebook-PDA-tablet PC thing.
It could happen.
And woot! Congrats on future law school plans! 🙂
I find a lot of the e-book writers are doing interesting things that I’m not finding in the paperbacks, but there’s no question – those suckers are murder on the eyes.
Apparently I’m not smart enough to figure out where to purchase an e-book reader. The few I read are mostly printed out and bound in a pee-chee thingy.
I also prefer the feel and convenience of a book.
I enjoy eBooks, though I am inclined to agree that it’s harder to read them at the computer. I keep my on my PalmPilot and then I can read them where ever I like, which is very attractive.
The cheap and durable ebook reader is coming, but we’re not quite there yet. The obvious application for ebook readers is textbooks—you can update science, history and social studies books, create wiki links, etc. and it will relieve our poor children of having to hunch over like turtles under the weight of their backpacks.
Another area that may push the ebook reader is aging baby boomer eyes. As people develop more vision problems with age, an ebook seems like another obvious idea. You can adjust the font size and lighting, making it easier to read text in comfort.
So we’ll see. And good luck with law school. My hubby went after we were married, and while times were rough for a few years, it was well worth it.
I like both, but this is definitely my plug for ebooks on pda readers. I wasn’t sure how I would like reading on a PDA when I got my first one three years ago but it is great. Beyond the fact that it is easy to take with me everywhere (only time I ever enjoyed standing in line at the DMV was while I was playing games on my PDA), I can read it at night in bed with the lights off and not bother my honey next to me (most nights at least). Of course the downside is that it does run on a battery so it sucks when it goes dead on you in the middle of a story and you are someplace you can’t charge it.
I think I read about equal amounts of ebooks and paper books, which I definitely wouldn’t do if I had to read the ebooks on a computer (I have similar issues to Candy when at a computer). Most of the books on my pda are from websites that just in the last couple years or so started to publish in paper form and being carried in bookstores without requiring special order.
I have found in general that ebooks tend to be cheaper (plus there are sites which offer free ones). If you are looking for ebook copies of books published by the big publishers, make sure you check several sites because there can be definite price differences (one can be paperback price and the other hardcover). I tend to use Mobipocket or Palm ereader on my pda (although I shop for ebooks all over), both of which have basic software you can download for free from on their websites.
I will probably still continue to read both because there is definitely something about paper books that make them enjoyable to read.
So, if an ebook author wanted to have you review her book…would it be better to send you print copies?
I was surprised at how easy it was to get ebooks and read them. I spend all damn day at the computer, but I have to admit, it makes it very easy to read when you’re supposed to be working, lol. Kinda like kids with comics in their textbooks, only much easier to hide, lol. As for replacing textbooks, gads, what a dream! I still have a deep groove in my shoulder from my schoolbag.
Smooches,
Dee
I read ebooks, when I do, beacuse they’re cheap and easy to get. Want to read “Sailing Alone Around the World”? Type it into Google and within seconds you can. Want to read “Nobody’s Baby But Mine”? Go try to find it at a bookstore. Then pay $10 or more.
Of course, this presents a problem for pay ebooks; I have no interest at all in “buying” a book that I can only read with special software until the publisher decides they don’t want me to be able to read it anymore.
For ebooks to compete, I think they’re going to have to be cheap. Like, USD$1 each, like CDs from allofmp3.com.
I’ve bought a couple of e-books. Some were cheaper than paperback but I’ve passed on some that were creaping up on $8.00! No thank you. I have two problems with e-books right now. No PDA so I read from my laptop which isn’t to miserable but for some reason the program I was using decided to runaway and until I can download a new version I can’t get to the e-books. The other problem I have is, and this may offend some, but I like to sell my paperbacks when I’ve done with them to UBS. Can’t do that with e-books. I’m stuck with them if I’m not interested in reading them 4 or 5 times. So I do find e-book purchases limiting. I’ll still buy occassionally but paper still has my heart.
One reason I buy ebooks: Immediate gratification.
People put up intriguing excerpts and I like to be able to read the rest of the damn book ASAP.
I know most of y’all are romance readers, but for those who take a trip into the realms of SciFi and Fantasy…
http://www.baen.com/library/
It’s free and you can read them in any browser on your computer or with a variety of readers. I highly recommend Sympathy for the Devil – Kept me ‘busy’ at work for 2 days straight.
…oh, and if you think romance covers bad, you should take a look at the Baen books covers. Jim Baen needs his head examined!
I think it obvious that I am an ebook hoor. Maybe I can convince Jayne to come over and post about her experience with ebooks as I was slow in converting her or maybe we’ll just blog about it. But let me just say that if you don’t have a reading device that you can take with you, ebooks are never going to be hot for you. I wouldn’t want to sit at the laptop all day long and read a book.
I even bought a tablet pc when they first came out because I thought that would be the answer to my ebook reader quest. It wasn’t until I bought my current handheld (IPAQ 4700) with its huge (for the handheld format) screen, that I truly fell for the ebook experience and have not looked back.
I used to travel with two suitcases, one with clothes and necessities and the other with books. Now I can fit 3,000 books on a tiny card.
I know some are balking at the entry fee, but I ask you how much do you spend on bookshelves? How great would it be not to have piles and piles of books cluttering your house? How wonderful is it to have bookmarks in twenty different books? Or to be able to access, in an instant, that hundreds of different books? Have a hankering to read just a paragraph or two from Lisa Kleypas’ Dreaming of You? Want to just read the parts referring to Sam and Alyssa in the Brockman series? It’s just awesome, imo.
Now, as for the battery thing, you must get this device. It’s saved my ass many a long cross country flight. Sorry for the long ass spew on your blog here.
Jane’s post really made me stop and think for a moment. I have both ebooks and print books, and since I read on a computer, I’m still partial to print. However, the cost/benefit thing stopped me in my tracks. I have a scary amount of books on my B&N wishlist and I know that if I had a reader I’d probably get through my TBR pile much faster and at a smaller expense. However, I have noticed the price of ebooks varies widely…so I’m still not convinced. PLEASE, convince me! It would make my family so much happier if I didn’t have piles on my nightstand.
My books are my treasure. I love my cluttered bookcases, my mountainous tbr—most of all, I love parking my carcass in front of my bookcases for a while and browsing my library. The covers. The author bios. The feel of the paper. The smell of the binding. Not to mention the stories and characters….
A handheld book reader can never duplicate that. Yes, I read ebooks. But rarely. They just don’t have the same magic.
I think that there is some linguistic divide. When I refer to ebooks, I am referring to every book that is put out in ebook format, from Naomi Novik’s latest fantasy masterpieces released by Random House to JC Burton’s award winning epubbed works. There are covers, bios, magical stories and characters because they are the same books in print. The only thing missing is the ink on the fingers and the wrist and eye strain from the heaviness of the book and the print size (as one ebook reader has told me).
It’s not just imagination that it’s harder to read or concentrate on ebooks: from my dimly remembered neuropsychology classes, the brain decodes transmitted light (ebooks) differently and not as efficiently as it does reflected light.
-becca
Dee said: So, if an ebook author wanted to have you review her book…would it be better to send you print copies?
Oh yes, much better. I’m slow enough getting to the print books as it is, given how crazy/busy my life has been for the last several months.
Jane: How great would it be not to have piles and piles of books cluttering your house?
Hey, some people love their piles of books! Some may call it a mess, but I call it interior decorating for nerds. Besides, my books are the only things that have any chance of outweighing the cat hair in the apartment.
I love my paper books. If I had more money, I’d be one of those crazy book collector people, hunting down mint first editions and the like. Oh yes.
Jane again: The only thing missing is the ink on the fingers and the wrist and eye strain from the heaviness of the book and the print size (as one ebook reader has told me).
Again, I enjoy all of those things—well, I can see how small print sizes could get annoying for some people with very bad eyesight (mine is horrendous, by the way). But the heft of a paper book, and the sensation of turning the pages? So very, very satisfying.
I can see why many people love e-books, but when it comes to the mess, feel and sheer physical presence of paper books—these aspects of paper books, which are given as reasons to move away from them, are the very reasons why I love them so very much.
ebook + PDA = a good thing.
Reading on the computer? I’m too busy wasting time on IMDB, Wiki, and bloghopping to read.
However, I have a muscle memory of dealing with a bound book, a physical comfort level, that I don’t yet have with my PDA. I know how to prop the book up in the fold of the bedsheets so that the pages don’t turn. But with the PDA I’m still figuring out how to hold the stylus comfortably, or if it’s easier to scroll with my thumbnail.
Per page, I have to touch the PDA more often than I do a printed book. However, it is much easier to read a PDA and knit than it is to balance a bound book and knit. So if I’m multitasking, then ebooks are the preference. (And, Shhhhh, they’re easier to slip into meetings for when the conversation is truly off topic. If only the same were true for knitting.)
I read my e-books on the computer, actually. I tend to get my e-books from publishers like Ellora’s Cave and Changeling Press. Since I live with a rather conservative grandmother (I’m one of her caregivers.) it’s much easier to read the books on the computer than listen to her natter about my “smut” books.
E-books are fine, but I’m with the others who are addicted to the whole experience of reading a book – the feel of the paper, turning the pages, the smell of new ink and old must. I have piles of books – literally, since I had to cram my entire library into my bedroom with dresser, bed and myself – that it would be much more convenient to have on a teeny tiny little disc, but would it be as fun to pick out a book? No. I look to my right and see JK Rowling, Mercedes Lackey, JD Robb and Sherrilyn K – my easy favorites (plus more). I look to my left and see Julia Quinn, Stephanie Laurens and Peter David among many others. Behind me as I type are some of my reference books. Under the bed are boxes of series romance and sci-fi. Reading a print book is a sensual experience, which e-books DO contribute to, but can never replace. I hope.
The only thing I miss from printed books is the man-titty on the stepback covers. But it´s the price I have to pay if I don´t want to wait 3-6 weeks to read something I bought.
Trudi
Trudi, c’mon you can get some EXCELLENT mantitty on ebooks. Just look back through SBTB’s Monday offerings. Poser mantitty. rrrarrr
I think that one of the things ebooks has let me do is be anonymous. No one has to know that I am reading erotica, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, etc. Not only do you not have to face a person when you purchase the books, it is very difficult for others to see what you are reading – no bad man titty covers right out in the open (or having to cover them with a slipcover). It took me a while to get past reading paper romances in public – I think I was raised with the feeling that people would look down on me for it. Thanks to friends who also read romances and aren’t afraid to talk about it, I am now past that.
Baen has a wonderful site – not only do they encourage their authors to publish in ebook (and offer some of them for free), they sell their hardcovers at paperback price for ebooks and they offer ARC’s in ebooks for those who just can’t wait.
The other nice thing about ebooks is that they don’t wear out. You can read your favorites over and over and still keep that paper copy in good condition (important when they are hard to find books). I have a friend who does just that. They will never replace the feeling of actual paper for me but they have definitely widened my available book world.
Thank you Jane for the link to the charger!!!!