McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Borders gone, I'm forced to get an e-reader. **arghh**

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meg_evonne:
Backed into a corner, no choice, I hate this...

Shecky:
Was Borders the only brick-and-mortar bookstore near you?

It depends on what you're wanting to do with a reader. If you just want to read, something simple will do the trick; I have a Sony Pocket and the new Nook is not only nice-looking and compact-sized, it's a fairly reasonable price. For this kind of straight-up just-reading, an actual e-reader (i.e., a device that uses the e-ink tech) is the way to go. But if you want to do more (annotate, notes, links, etc.), you might want to go to a tablet for multifunctionality.

meg_evonne:
Definitely need to be able to read in bright sunlight, then if I can read in bright sunlight, it would be nice to write in bright sunlight...  thoughts?

Anna V:
I flatly refuse to buy e-books. Well, I might make exceptions for Baen and other publishers who forgo DRM, but other than that, I'm boycotting the d*** e-books! Boycotting, do y'hear? I like to buy and own my books, not buy them and then be told that, for legal benefits to the publisher, I am actually even renting them, even when the price of the e-book is no less than that of the paperback I could own outright. Which I'm pretty sure is illegal, or would be if a good enough lawyer pressed the issue. (See "right of first sale". It's what makes buying used books legal.)

If I have to order the physical books online because of a lack of physical bookstores, that's alright. In my state of health, I've had to order a lot of things online anyway. On the other hand, physical bookstores play a significant part in promoting books. Just like libraries. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not the sort to take a chance buying a book from a completely unfamiliar author. No, before I buy a book by any particular author, I first read one of his or her books from the library. Or, I borrow one of the author's books from a friend. Or pick one up at one of those places where they give used books away for free. Or perhaps someone gives me one of the author's books. Sometimes, I only need a few chapters sample to make the decision. At a store like Borders, you can read the first few chapters, or as much is necessary for the author to either hook you or bore you. Perhaps the e-books sellers will try to simulate that experience by offering free chapters of books, but it's not quite the same. What if they only offer two chapters free, but the book doesn't start making much of an impression on a particular reader until chapter five? In a book store, failing to find the first chapter interesting, I might flip ahead to see if it gets better further on. Online, I might not have the opportunity to give the author that chance. If I'm not in the mood for tragedy, and I'm not sure whether or not I can trust the author to give me a good ending, as is often the case with unfamiliar authors, I may even go and read the last chapter before deciding whether or not to buy the book. (Yes, blasphemy, I know, but the object of the whole exercise is for me to see enough of the author's work to see whether or not I want to buy it. A bricks-and-mortar store gives me the freedom to investigate the book as I choose. E-book sellers often have other ideas.)

I would never bought any of the Dresden Files had I not had the opportunity to sample Storm Front for free. There was, in fact, one author, who when his fans sent him unsolicted mail containing a book and a request for an autograph, would instead donate the book to the library, knowing that the library donation would bring him future sales.

Besides, I find paper easier on the eyes. If the physical book and the e-book are the same price anyway, I definitely, definitely want the physical book. No sense in straining my eyes if the price is the same -- greater, in fact, if you take into account that most e-books cannot be bought used or resold to recover part of what you spent on them. (Admittedly, even to read a physical book, I may soon need a magnifying lens, if my eyesight keeps getting worse.)

Not to mention, an e-reader is a more attractive target for thieves than a physical book. Most thieves will leave you book collection alone, including your precious signed copies of books from your favorite authors, antiques, etc. An e-reader is an electronic, and thieves see electronics as things that can be sold for profit.

Shecky:
*shrug* You make some good points, Anna. Be that as it may, some of us have different overriding concerns. I live in a place where property values are simply outrageously inflated. I can't AFFORD a place big enough to house more bookcases (which I insist on because if I'm going to have physical books, they're going to be protected and neatly organized). Now, there are a few books that I still buy in physical form, but the majority are just for reading - as such, they fit my needs better as e-books.

And I suspect DRM will have a breakthrough soon enough; the music industry struggled with that for a long time as well, and they've come to terms with it.

All else being equal, do I prefer e-books? HELL no. I LOVE the feel of a real book in my hands. I like the look of a well-populated, well-arranged bookcase. I like to be able to lend a book to someone just by handing it to them. But I've also come to terms with the overriding concern of space, and I quickly learned to enjoy e-books. Physically, reading is just as easy for me with e-books; the e-ink technology is surprisingly good and getting better, so that's not an issue for me. If I want to know if some book gets more interesting after the first few chapters, I'll note the title and then ask someone whose book-wise opinion I trust. Plus, now, I don't have to resell or give away books when my bookcase reaches full capacity - they're MINE now. One more thing: every e-reader that's around now (that I've seen, anyway) has text magnification. Can't do that with a regular book. All that being said, I can't dispute the point about attractiveness to thieves, other than to say that if that were my reigning concern, I wouldn't have a computer, a watch, a wallet or reasonably nice clothes, among other things.

I'm not trying to convince you; heaven knows how long it took me to convince myself just to TRY an e-reader. I'm just sharing with you a different experience, from someone who little more than a year ago felt largely as you do on the subject.

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