Top Ten Reasons You Should Give Ebooks a Shot
By JKB. Filed in Writers On Writing |
by J. Blackmore
Regular readers of our site will have noticed our recent promotion of new ebook anthologies and electronic editions of our backlist titles. Some of you may feel that ebooks are not your cup of tea, that they’re really just for those that don’t mind spending hours staring at a screen, and have no real appreciation of books themselves. Read this if you want your world view expanded. Maybe ebooks really aren’t for you, but here’s my argument, as a true bone-deep book fiend, for why you should at least try them out.
10. You feel a little green.
Ebooks require no dead trees. They are tiny bits of data that do not take up any physical space and never have to be thrown out because they didn’t sell. So, if you’re a book addict, but feel bad about the resource draining and waste the publishing industry is guilty of, ebooks are the perfect compromise.
9. You already have too many books to safely store.
There is a particular breed of book lover (I’m one of them) who compulsively collects books, regardless of how many of their own they have actually read. These people live in constant danger of being buried alive by their own library, poorly stored only because they have long since moved beyond the space provided by any normal bookshelf. If I’ve just described your living space, there’s hope. You can compulsively collect ebooks all you like, and they will never, ever fall on top of you. You can cram hundreds or even thousands of them into a ridiculously small amount of space, and you’ll always be able to find the exact one you’re looking for.
8. You spend a lot of your time on buses and trains.
If you commute using public transportation, and many of us do, you know you need something to do during that trip to and from work every day. If you’re a reader, you’ve probably at least once finished a book halfway through the trip home and then had nothing to read. Or, you suddenly feel like reading something other than the book you brought. I have an ebook reading thingamajig (and no, I’m not going to say which one). I currently have about two dozen books on it right now, and I have a bookmark in about six of them. Since I got this magic device, I have not once been faced with having “nothing to read.” It’s light, it’s convenient, and it keeps me interested.
7. There are lots of ways to read them.
You don’t actually need a thingamajig (hereafter the technical term for this) to read ebooks. There are certainly some really nice ones out there, like the Kindle and Sony’s eReader, but they aren’t required. Ebooks can be read on your phone, your Blackberry, and your laptop or home computer as well. If you have a device that can display documents, you can read ebooks. The only advantage the thingamajigs have is that they’re not backlit. This means less eye strain, and a more familiar reading experience if you’re used to reading paper books. But there’s no need to invest in one if you’re just starting to get into ebooks. Also, a fair warning: now that I have a thingamajig of my very own, I find I am unable to go anywhere without it.
6. You don’t have to pull up a lawn chair next to your mailbox.
Instant gratification can be a wonderful thing. When you buy an ebook, you have it in moments. No trying to meet the free shipping minimum, no waiting for days and weeks for the books you want to read right now.
5. You’ll actually get some reading done.
The ebook industry has brought a much-neglected fiction format to the forefront: the novella. Because the logistics of book formation never come into play, and because no one has to crunch the numbers of printing costs vs. copies bought, ebooks can bend the rules a bit as to what is classified as a book. And if you’re one of those people that has a hard time finding time to read, let alone finish something you’ve started reading, this is good news. You can now shop for novellas and anthologies that are precisely as long as your attention span, which is great for the stressed and the time-pressed.
4. You’ll discover many talented authors who have been unable to find a print publisher.
Getting published in today’s industry is really, really tough. For every J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer, there are hundreds of people who will probably never see their books in print. It’s not always because they’re not up to industry standards, either. Really, the mainstream print industry doesn’t have any set standards at all, except what they believe will be profitable. This is a smart way to do business, but it’s hard on writers. However, there are a growing number of ebook publishers that are willing to give talented newcomers a shot because their overhead is so low, and their readership is so loyal. When you go shopping for ebooks with one of these publishers, you’ll have the chance to read the work of authors who write exactly what you want to read, but who you would never see on your favorite bookstore’s shelves.
3. You can support up-and-coming publishers while saving some money.
Ebooks are usually cheap, like mass-market-paperbacks-twenty-or-more-years-ago cheap. And when they aren’t, they’re probably being sold by a big media conglomerate who doesn’t think you know how to shop around. So, screw them. Buy from the little guys. It’s hard to support the small presses when your only sources for reading materials are big box bookstores and your local supermarket. Sometimes the small presses can shove their way in, but not always. We at Circlet know this all too well, and while we’ve always had a print presence, it’s making more and more sense to market our fiction directly to our fans online. Finding a hidden gem at a small press is a great experience, and you can even feel a little smug about supporting the independent arts.
2. There are lots and lots and lots of them.
If you take into account the ebook editions of print books, and add it to the number of ebooks put out by epublishers and small presses, the number and variations of choices you have in the ebook market are staggering. Ebooks cater to niche markets as well as the mainstream, and the biggest benefit to you as a discerning reader is that you will eventually be able to find exactly what you’re looking for. Really, just about anything you can think of that you want to read is out there. But be careful: some epublishers are less than discerning about what they publish. Read review sites to find out what’s good and what shouldn’t be given a second look. I review for one of these sites (no, I won’t tell you which one) and I can tell you that I have received some stunningly bad fiction in my inbox. But I’ve also received some truly exciting, moving, entertaining stuff. If you’re reading Circlet’s blog, chances are you’re an erotica fan, so here’s a short list of romance and erotica review sites you might want to browse for your next ebook purchase.
1. You can carry around a bunch of smutty books with you wherever you go.
My number one reason for reading ebooks may not be the same as yours, but it should be. I have no fewer than twenty erotic books on my thingamajig right now, and I may add more before the end of the day. Why? Because I work in a place where the lurid covers and titles of smutty books would be frowned upon; because I never know what I’m going to feel like reading until I sit down to read; and because the only thing better than an erotic book is a lot of erotic books. I still read print books, and I probably always will, but I enjoy the simplicity, ease, and convenience of ebooks as well. I read, on average, two or three erotic novellas and about six or seven erotic short stories each week. I can’t always sit in front of my computer to read those, and dragging around stacks of pervy books and manuscripts is out of the question. For the modern smut-lover-on-the-go, there has been no greater boon than the rise of epublishing. You may trust my word as a professional porn reader on this.
Thursday, October 16th 2008 at 9:49 am |
As an avid reader, and independent author, I am a great fan of ebooks.
I live in Ireland, so you can imagine how long it would take to ship a hard copy book from the USA to me, so the instant download is just the icing on the cake for me.
Tuesday, November 18th 2008 at 2:42 pm |
IMHO: Kindles will not replace books the way CDs replaced tapes.
CDs provide a better listening experience than tapes. E-readers are trying to be as good as books.
They do offer some unique advantages, but, perhaps, none that are likely to push printed books into oblivion.
On the other hand, e-readers and e-books do offer some new possibilities for authors. We are considering publishing (Kindling?) our “Precise Edit Training Manual” and our “Writing Tips for a Year” series on the Kindle, which, at this time, are only available through our website.