Read an E-Book Week Coming Soon
February 3, 2010 by Lillie
As you know if you’ve been around my blog for any length of time, I love e-books. I discovered e-books when my first novel was accepted by an e-publisher in 1999 and been an avid fan ever since.
Currently, I read mostly on the Kindle, but I also have an eBookwise reader that I keep to read in poor light because it’s backlit. There are two reasons I prefer the Kindle:
- The text size is highly adjustable. I need it quite large for comfortable reading, and I can’t always get it large enough on the other reader.
- The Whispernet means that I can read a review in my feed reader, order the book immediately, and it’s delivered instantly and wirelessly.
I watch for publishers offering free e-books for a limited time and order those I’d like to read. Right now, I have more than 30 e-books in my Kindle, and many of them were free. I subscribe to Books on the Knob, where Karen posts links to free and discounted Kindle editions and other e-books.
If you like free as I do, you can find many great free e-books during Read an E-Book Week. E-book lovers will want to take advantage of the occasion to add to their collection. Those who haven’t tried e-books will find this a wonderful opportunity to see how they like e-reading.
As the event draws closer, I’ll post a list of the free e-books I’ll be giving away during the week. Sneak preview: in addition to my current books, I’m going to introduce several new how-to e-books. They’ll be available for free during Read an E-Book Week; at the end of the week, they will be available at reasonable prices.
I highly recommend that authors who have books available as e-books consider partnering with Read an E-Book Week.
great post, i think people should read ebooks, it is better for the environment. if only ebook readers were cheaper, i have a hard time reading online.
Doug,
Eventually the price of e-book readers will come down. Many people like to read on PDAs or cell phones or other multi-purpose devices. I prefer an e-book reader because I need the larger screen size, and I have no need for the other features.
I love Read an E-Book Week! I will talk to my publisher about offering my book for free during that time. I am also thinking of getting my daughter a Kindle for her birthday. She loves books as much as I do and is curious about reading E-books.
Dawn,
I hope you join Read an E-Book Week and offer your book. I believe it’s good promotion for authors and books as well as good promotion for e-books in general.
A Kindle would be a wonderful birthday gift for your daughter who loves to read.
eBooks is gonna be a big thing now with the iPad
Victor,
I’m sure many people will like to read on the iPad. It’s great there are so many options in how to read—I just wish they could come up with a format that could be read on all devices.
E-Books are fantastic and growing in popularity. Kindle was sold out during Christmas, that is two years running. Great post thanks.
Mary,
It’s amazing that e-books and e-book readers have been around for more than 10 years, but many people discovered e-books only after Amazon introduced the Kindle. At the time it was introduced, I wrote a blog post predicting that the Kindle would help popularize e-books, and I’m glad that happened.
I’m so far behind the tide, I don’t have an e-reader yet. Partly, I’m waiting to see which one rises to the top and becomes the standard. Partly, I just haven’t spent the money to get one.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Helen Ginger@writer editor´s last blog ..Writing the Oral History
Helen,
Not everyone is as enthusiastic about e-book readers as I am. However, without reading electronically, I wouldn’t be able to read much. My eyesight is so bad that the text is most books is just too small for me to read—or at least to read comfortably. Having to use a magnifying glass to read takes away a lot of pleasure.
I prefer reading on an e-book reader to reading on the computer because I can take the device anywhere—relaxing in my comfortable chair in the den, waiting at the doctor’s office, traveling, …
But there are other reasons I like e-book readers:
- The device will hold hundreds of books so I never have to carry around stacks of heavy books. That’s not as important to me now as it used to me because I don’t get out much. But for people who travel, that feature alone would be worth it.
- Most e-books are priced less than paper books so I can read more for the same amount of money. There are a lot of free books available as well—many classics in the public domain but also giveaways of newly published books. Of course, there is the initial cost of the device, but for heavy readers, that can be recouped pretty quickly.
- The reader is lighter and easier to hold with one hand than a paperback. I like to read when I’m eating alone, and that’s hard to do trying to keep a book open.
- It’s easier to search. Sometimes I want to refer back to an earlier part of the book to remind myself of who a character is or something that happened. With the e-book reader, I just type in the character’s name or a few words to identify what I’m looking for, and all the occurrences of those words pop up on the screen. Much faster and easier than flipping through the pages.
- There’s no wait for a book. If I want a paper book, I have to drive to the store to purchase it or order it online and wait for it to be delivered. With the Kindle, I order online and it’s delivered in less than a minute. With the eBookwise, I order online, download to my computer, and transfer to the device immediately.
I didn’t mean to write a whole new post.
But those are just a few of the reasons I love reading on an e-book reader. Obviously some of the reasons (the poor eyesight) don’t apply to most readers, and others may not like to hold the book in one hand or care if it takes several days to get a new book. I’ve never understood people raving about the smell of a book, but I’ve heard it. Those people probably should stick to paper—they are more interested in their physical relationship with the book than with the content.
I have a collection of e-books and they are growing in number. This is indeed the craze of the time. And thank God for technology.
Ron,
Glad to hear you’re reading e-books.
I too like the fact that you can carry around so many “books” within one device.
Kelsey´s last blog ..Keurig B150 and B155 Commercial Series K Cup Coffee Brewers
Kelsey,
Carrying a whole library with you certainly is convenient, isn’t it.
I find e-readers very useful and efficient, but still…i love the feeling of a “real” paper book in my hands. It’s incredible how an e-reader has succeed to duplicate all the details of a book, even the writing thanks to the e-ink technology, and the action of turning a book (see ipad).
Mia,
It’s funny how we’re all different. I find it very uncomfortable to hold a “real” book—especially hardcover but also paperbacks. Even if my eyesight was good enough to read print, I would prefer e-readers.
Lillie, did you get a chance to use the Ipad for reading your favorite books. I initially thought you would have tried it by this time and so that I can get some feedback from authority like you.
Coming to the topic, I am an ardent free lover and I am hitting read an ebook website right away. Thanks for sharing this awesome resource with us.
Alan@Tulsa Real Estate´s last blog ..Protecting your Tulsa Property from Flood Damage
Alan,
I’m not someone who’s into gadgets and the latest things. I’m very much into function, and I’m happy with my Kindle. I work at home and seldom get out, so I don’t own a Blackberry, iPod, or anything like that. My cell phone is the most basic you can get, and I hardly ever use it. I don’t have a need for an iPad … but I’ll be interested in hearing your reaction if you get one.
for me better read on paper book than computer
i really cannot concentrate read on my computer, if i read paper book i can move to my office room.
tommy´s last blog ..This week’s hairstyling tips.
tommy,
I don’t read on computer, either, but I sure don’t read print. I read on my e-book reader, which I can take anywhere and get comfortable and set the font so my poor eyesight can read it.
Hmmm!
I’ve been resisting getting a kindle, but I just may have to put it on my wish list.
Laura Spencer´s last blog ..Are You Trapped in the Writing Web?
Laura,
I haven’t tried the Barnes and Noble Nook. You might want to compare it before you make a decision. I’ve had my Kindle since long before the Nook came out so I haven’t looked at it closely. I’m happy with my Kindle.
Yeah, I definitely would need to shop around.
Are you finding that most e-books are formatted properly for the Kindle?
Laura Spencer´s last blog ..Are You Trapped in the Writing Web?
Laura,
The problem with formatting for the Kindle or any e-book reader is that everything changes when the user changes the settings. I have to have my text at the largest size and sometimes that makes the formatting look strange. But if I change the text size, the formatting looks better.
Smashwords has the best formatting requirements, though they’re a pain to follow. You remove all formatting and start with plain text. Then you can add some formatting—bold, italics, centered headings—but the idea is to keep it simple. When you do that, the formatting works for all the different formats Smashwords publishes to (including the Kindle). But if you try to upload a formatted document, it can come through poorly.
Amazon.com lets you upload formatted documents so there can be problems. However, they do provide an HTML proof and allow you to correct it. Some authors and publishers don’t go to that much trouble, though. However, poor formatting doesn’t bother me as long as I can read and make sense of the text. Someone who can read print, however, may be more sensitive to bad formatting. I can’t see well enough to read most print.
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