eBook

Dec 23

With the holidays rapidly approaching (or having already passed depending on your religious affiliations), I’ve heard a lot of talk lately about eReaders. Mostly, the talk has revolved around people wanting to know which one is the best.

Like with a computer or a car or a mattress, I don’t think there is one BEST e-reader. It all comes down to what you hope to gain from your e-reader.

As you may have picked up, I love my Kindle. I got it last year for Christmas and I have not once regretted asking for it. I also have some experience with the iPad. As you prepare your holiday wish lists, I thought, why not provide my opinion on these two devices as well as some feedback I’ve picked up regarding the Nook.

The Kindle

Again, I love my Kindle. To understand my love for it, though, you need to understand why I wanted it.

I don’t want to have to take lots of books with me on travel, or lug a heavy book on my commute to work. The Kindle lets me store tons of books, meaning I only have to carry the relatively light-weight kindle. I save on space and I save my shoulder.
My bookshelf is out of space. I tried to solve this problem by making myself go to the library. But let’s be honest. Sometimes I just don’t want to wait the 6+months it can take for a new release to become available. When I see that I’m #200+ on the wait list, I usually decide not to wait. The Kindle allows me to give into my impatience without overloading my already loaded bookshelf
Sometimes you find yourself in a position where you are not happy with your book choice, be it over your lunch break, during your commute, or when you are away on vacation. Because I can store all of my books on the Kindle and I can buy new ones in seconds, this is no longer a problem.
I don’t like reading on a computer screen. The technology the Kindle uses really does feel to my eyes like I’m reading paper.

The Kindle has answered all of the things on my list. I see the Kindle as a true e-reader. It doesn’t have tons of frills, but then again, neither does a newly purchased book from the bookstore. If you are looking for a solution to any of the problems I mentioned above, then this is the e-reader for you.

The iPad

When I think of the iPad, I do not think eReader. However, if you talk to my stepfather, he will try to convince you that reading books is one of the main selling points of the iPad. What do I think about the iPad as an eReader:

The back light gives me a headache if I read too long.
The back light also encourages skimming. Because it doesn’t feel like paper, I find myself reading how I would read a computer screen. I skip over sections and skim a LOT.
The screen gets gucked up. Because you touch the screen, it becomes littered with fingermarks. I want a nice clean screen to read from.

And what do I think of the iPad as a whole:

As an alternate laptop, the iPad is great. It is lightweight and small and can do more or less everything a laptop can do, unless you are looking for gaming capabilities (and by this I mean the old school massive games like World of Warcraft or the Sims) or have a fascination with Flash heavy websites
The internet is a lot better than the Kindle’s internet capabilities
If you get a portable keyboard, typing on the iPad is a cinch

To sum it up, if you are looking for an eReader, I say go for the Kindle. If you are looking for an alternate option for a portable computer, the iPad just might be your best friend. Of course, there are tons of other options out there, but I don’t feel qualified to comment on them.

What do you think of other eReaders you’ve checked out? Are you asking Santa for an eReader this year?

Nov 20

With the holidays rolling around, eReaders are everywhere. As some of you know, I got my eReader last Christmas and, although I still buy “real” books, I love my Kindle. I mostly use it when I travel so I can have as many books as I want without the weight or loss of suitcase space. This also helps when I decide I don’t really like what I’m reading. Instead of being stuck lugging around a book that turned out to be a drag, I can just close the file and open a new one.

I also love my Kindle during moments of impatience, when I decide I have to have a book now. This is especially true of series. Example. Last week I read Kelley Armstrong’s The Summoning. I waited patiently for it to arrive in the library and then couldn’t put it down. When I finished it, I didn’t want to wait for book 2, The Awakening, to become available at the library and it was too late to go to the bookstore. So I bought it on my Kindle and devoured the book.

Anyway, I’m getting off track. With all the talk of eBook sales rising and eReaders taking the spotlight as the holiday must-have present, not to mention Amazon’s announcement just in time for the holiday season that You Can Now Gift Anyone with an Email Address a Kindle Book, I found myself growing a bit curious about eBook usage and eReaders of choice. I’m the only one of my coworkers with an eReader and I think the only one in my family. So now I want to know, what do my readers think about eBooks and eReaders?

Below you will find a 10 question survey (thanks SurveyMonkey). I’ll keep the survey open through Thanksgiving weekend (for my international readers, the survey will close 11:59 US east coast time on 11/28). Then, check back 11/30 for the results. Oh, and feel free to add anything the survey left out in the comments.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Oct 11

Even Arthur is excited about the new iMac!

Today I have done something liberating. I sat down and I organized all of my writing.

Writers are hoarders

We tend to hoard our work, or at least I do as do several writers I know. You don’t want to trash something that could develop into something later. Sadly, though, my folders are so disorganized I spend valuable writing time trying to find my documents. It’s all just this giant mess of files, some stuck in my writing folder, some lying around my documents folder, and even more just hanging out on my desktop.

Laptop vs. Desktop

This weekend the boyfriend brought home a shiny, brand new iMac. I definitely prefer writing on a desktop. While the idea of taking my laptop to other places to get a change of scenery seems great, in truth it is just a huge distraction. It means I have no order. You go to work and you have a desk you are forced to sit at. With my laptop, I can easily move to other areas, look at other things, and next thing you know, the day is done and I have barely done any writing. Now I can say that the desk is for writing and if I want to be on Twitter or Facebook, I have to do that on my laptop, in another room. Separating the distractions keeps you focused.

Now that the weekend is over, I finally get to play with the new computer, and I will be able to use it every evening after work. On the weekends I will still have to switch back to the laptop, but hopefully the discipline of writing on the desktop will help me become a more disciplined writer.

A Folder for Everyone

In trying to set up the most organized, clean writing environment possible, I have organized my writing. Every document I deem worthy of being a good idea, which, let’s face it, is pretty much everything, gets copied from Word into Pages (Apple has made it really easy to convert Pages documents into iBook format) and then saved into a sub-folder of writing. The sub-folders are:

Chick Lit
Young Adult
Children
Middle Grade
Short Stories
Writing Exercises
Ideas
Essays

For works-in-progress, I have assigned a sub-folder to their category. For example, my Max book is organized Writing–>Middle Grades–>Max. All the files for this project live in the Max folder.

Now when I am searching for a document, I can easily locate it, saving me time and keeping me from getting distracted. And, since I have converted everything into Pages, it means there will be one less step if I decide to turn anything into an ebook.

How do you organize your writing? Do you prefer a desktop or a laptop? What do you think of Pages vs. Word? Is there another program you prefer to use?

Aug 04

I’m not quite sure why, but the thought of creating an online platform to draw in MG/child readers seems a bit strange to me. I think about when I was a kid and had to pay for Internet usage by the minute. If I was looking for a new book, I asked the school librarian or perused the shelves at my local bookstore. But oh, how the times do change.

In thinking about younger siblings of my friends, they were extremely active online, joining writing communities and list serves and engaging in online role playing games from 8th grade up. And this was 10+years ago. With the advances in technology and publishers such as Simon & Schuster launching online books (see my post from July 30), why wouldn’t you be able to build an online platform for children, middle grade readers, or young adults? Who knows, it may even be easier to capture these age groups online than it is to capture the 40+ readers who did not grow up surrounded by constant access to the Internet and technology.

Jul 30

Simon & Schuster will be releasing an online, serialized novel, Loser/Queen where readers (young adults) get to vote on what will happen next. Having been a huge fan of the choose your own adventure books, I can see the appeal to such a format. But as a writer, it stresses me out.

The Plan

Readers vote by 5 pm Thursdays. A new chapter is posted on Mondays. That’s pretty quick turn around. I assume that, like a television show, multiple chapters are already written, but the fact that there are two choices at the end of the chapter, and who knows how many chapters means that a lot of content would need to be pre-written that will never see the light of the computer screen. Additionally, based off of reader responses, minor characters could take on a more major part if the readers are particularly drawn to a character, which leads to even more changes. If writing a traditional book often seems like an out-of-control beast, I can’t imagine what this project must feel like to the author, Jodi Lynn Anderson. That’s a lot of creative control she is giving up. But then, the price is a huge platform ready and waiting when the book publishes. It’s not even finished and you can already pre-order the paperback edition.

Will Readers Buy a Book They’ve Already Read for Free?

I’m inclined to say yes, because people like owning something they were a part of. The readers voting on the book will feel that they invested something into it, and they will want the hard copy to show their hard work. But will those who didn’t vote, or who came in on the final chapter, feel the inclination to buy it? Will potential readers who did not have the opportunity to vote feel left out? And isn’t this just adding to the technology addiction that’s running rampant across society?

I’ve gotta say though, Simon & Schuster did grab my attention, and I will definitely be following along with Anderson’s readers to see where it goes.

Jul 29

One of the biggest losses to the book community is that of small, independent bookstores. I love them so much that one of my dreams has always been to open an independent bookstore of my own. While the fancy coffee drinks and perfectly placed chairs at the large chains contribute to the book shopping experience in their own way, there is a generic feel to them that takes away from the experience. Give me a ratty chair, shelves crammed with books, and good cup of coffee or tea and I would be far happier, even if I am paying a bit more for my books.

The following article from Boston Business Journal, Independent bookseller at ‘War and Peace’ with e-books, questions whether e-books are further exasperating the problem of the loss of the independent bookseller. The conclusion suggests that the average customer of the independent bookseller is not the average customer of e-books. Do you think this is actually the case?

Ebooks vs. Real Books

I still love a real book, but frankly I don’t have the space to buy any more unless I find them to be extremely readworthy. The younger generations are growing up storing all of their data electronically.Why waste the space storing CDs, DVDs, or books when there are devices that can hold it all and them some and barely take up any space? I bet if we could store our clothing inside an electronic device and have it projected onto our bodies, most of the younger generations would buy into it in a heartbeat.

This is not to say that I think e-books will wipe out real books. There will always be those who love real books, myself included. Perhaps, though, the e-books will work in favor of the independent booksellers by shifting the focus of the large chains towards carrying more and more e-books and less and less hard copies. Maybe e-books are actually the resurrection of the independent bookseller. Wouldn’t that be something?

Dec 28

Like many book lovers, I fought against the e-book revolution currently sweeping the literary world. But, like many, I have given in. While packing for a 10-day, overseas trip, I was torn as to which books I should bring. I didn’t want my bag to be too heavy, but I wanted to make sure I had enough material to keep me entertained, especially on the 18-hour plane ride. This dilemma is what finally won me over to e-readers and e-books.

Having gotten a Kindle for Christmas, I have already loaded it up with books. I will still buy and check out real books (I still cannot consider an e-book to be real), but the ease of traveling with as many books as I want is this book lovers’ dream come true.

In addition to the ease this device offers in supplying a vast amount of reading materials, just in the few days I have owned my Kindle, I have discovered another advantage to this technology. E-readers provide exposure to authors. I have already discovered several new authors (some I like, some I could do without). While libraries are great at allowing you to sample someone new, the wait for a book often means that you are forced to read on the libraries schedule, not your own. When I want a book, I want to read it now. This is an advantage of the e-reader. Additionally, Amazon, along with the other e-book venders, offers many free books (not just the classics). This has allowed me to sample new authors with no financial commitment, just as the library allows only now there is virtually no wait.

This is not to say that libraries and bookstores should become obsolete. I think there is something magical about entering a room full of rows and rows of books, holding a real book in your hands, smelling the paper, listening to the sound as you turn the pages, and I will continue to buy books the old-fashioned way and wait for my name to move to first place on the library waitlist, but I am no longer opposed to this new medium for book delivery. If it makes books and literature more accessible, that’s good enough for me.

Choosing an eReader

The Kindle

The iPad

eReaders and eBooks – How do you really feel about them?

Order in the Chaos

Writers are hoarders

Laptop vs. Desktop

A Folder for Everyone

An online platform for Children's Writers

Online 'choose your own adventure' style books

The Plan

Will Readers Buy a Book They’ve Already Read for Free?

Do e-books signal the end for Independent booksellers?

Ebooks vs. Real Books

E-books: The Future of Reading