E-Reader Guide to Devices, Formats and Bookstores

We're halfway through Read an E-Book Week and it occurred to me that some who are new to E-Books might find it helpful to know more about the different kinds of E-Readers and E-Books that are available in order to make an informed decision based on what and how YOU read.

For instance, if you get most of your reading books from your local library, you'll want an E-Reader that can access and display the E-Books your library provides, something that Kindle, for instance, can't do. But if you order all of your books from Amazon, then the Kindle would be a natural for you.

Ben Richter has created an excellent slide display showing the most popular E-Readers, the formats they can display and where you can access E-Books for each particular E-Reader. Below is a screenshot of one of the slides. Surf on over to the full slide show.

Share

Portland, OR Bookstore Will Take Your Kindle as Trade

The Microcosm zine and book store in Portland Oregon is offering to take unwanted Kindles in exchange for books.

Their offer is simple; if you received or bought a Kindle and have a real preference for books over the eReader, bring it in and they will trade you the value of the Kindle for like value in paper books and magazines. Consider bringing a friend to help haul your exchanges out because, as they state, "...most of the store's books are priced in the $2-$6 range so with a $139-$189 trade-in (note: going retail for the Kindle at Amazon's site) you might be carrying your books out in a fleet of wheelbarrows!"

As I explained to two of my friends on Facebook the other day, I read both "real" books, newspapers and magazines as well as eReader versions. I don't believe anyone could accuse me of not loving "real" books. If you come to my cabin you will find that my library overflows out of my office and onto bookshelves throughout the home. Hallways, stair landings, and bedrooms show ample evidence of my love for books made of paper.

On the other hand, the convenience of an eReader is hard to beat in a couple of categories. I can take multiple books with me when I travel, which works out well for someone who is typically reading at least 2 books (sometimes 3 or 4) and various magazines and newspapers at the same time. If there is a book I want to read and I am not near a bookstore, I can download an eBook version immediately and start reading; instant gratification (or information availability).

Last night I wanted to read the next book in a series I have been enjoying, but the paper version was not available. I found a .pdf version, converted it to my eReader format and now am enjoying the continuation of the series without interruption. I might have waited months for a paper version but can now enjoy the rest of the author's storyline immediately.

But if you, for whatever reasons, don't want your Kindle, then Microcosm zine and book store is waiting to give you a real deal and get you back into "real" books.

Share

Google eBookstore Opens

Google's foray into the ebook business, which was supposed to happen earlier this year, was officially unveiled today with the launch of Google eBookstore.

I've already downloaded the iPhone app and a couple of free books so I could take it for a spin. I found the experience comparable to reading on my iPhone using Stanza and by that I mean enjoyable and easy. You can choose your preferred font, adjust font size, line spacing and choose day or night reading mode.

There are more than 3 million books available and enough free ones to last you the rest of your life. In perusing the list I noticed most bestsellers priced at $9.99 and some as low as $4.99. The books are readable using iPhone and Android apps, web-based reader software for your laptop or desktop and on most eReader devices...except the Kindle.

The books are kept "in the cloud" allowing you to access them from anywhere an Internet connection is available. You can bookmark a spot while reading on your laptop and pick up at the same point on your smartphone or eReader device. And you can buy your books through Google or any of several independent partners. No matter where you buy your eBooks, they all appear on your bookshelf which, by the way, has unlimited storage.

Do you read eBooks? And if so, is the Google eBookstore something you would try?

Share

New York Times Adds E-books To Best Sellers Lists

Beginning in early 2011, The New York Times will publish e-book best seller lists in fiction and nonfiction, alongside its existing 14 lists for hardcovers, paperbacks, children's books, and graphic books.

"We've had our eye on e-book sales since e-books began," said Janet Elder, the editor of news surveys and election analysis for The Times. "It was clear that e-books were taking a greater and greater share of total sales, and we wanted to be able to tell our readers which titles were selling and how they fit together with print sales."

As little as three years ago e-books were still viewed as "experimental" and only acknowledged as being in the realm of self-published authors, which therefore made them beneath the notice of "reputable" publishers and reviewers. Now, with the explosion in popularity of e-readers and the convenience of carrying hundreds of books with you in a space the size of a small notebook, e-books have taken another large step toward legitimacy with The Times announcement.

Share

Want To Write, Produce and Market an Ebook?

Here's a link to an excellent live chat on Twitter last Wednesday hosted by WordCount's Michelle Rafter with guest freelance writer Susan Johnston, who blogs at The Urban Muse. Lots of great  information from Ms. Johnston on how she successfully wrote, produced and marketed her first ebook, The Urban Muse Guide to Online Writing Markets earlier this year.

You can read the transcript of the chat here.

Share

Read An E-Book Week

Read An E-Book Week (March 8th - 14th), sponsored by e-book industry leaders like E Ink, Sony Reader, Lexcycle and others, is observed "...to inform the public about the pleasures and advantages of reading electronically."

Formerly feasible only to those who wished to read them on their desktop or laptop computers, e-books are now available on specialized readers like the Kindle or Sony Reader, among others, and on Smartphones such as Blackberries, Palms and iPhones.

Share

Amazon And Text-to-Speech Feature on Kindle 2

I've only peripherally been paying attention to this issue that came about when Amazon released the new Kindle 2 with a "read aloud" text-to-speech feature. I read Neil Gaiman's and Wil Wheaton's blogs and Twitters about the subject and think I am probably in agreement with them; that this is not the same as an "audio book" read with feeling by a real person, but rather an electronic rendering much like the computer on Star Trek or your GPS. No feeling, no sense of timing. Just words pronounced by a synthesizer. Not something most of us would want to listen to for hours on end.



This seems to be a great feature for the visually-impaired, but I'm not sure ANYONE would want to listen to a synthesized voice for the length of a typical novel. Perhaps a newspaper or magazine article (which Kindle 2 allows you to download), but not a novel.

Still, from my limited point of view, it seems more than fair of Amazon to allow the author and/or publisher to decide whether they want to block or enable the text-to-speech feature on their own works.

Share

Amazon Dropping Microsoft & Adobe e-Book Formats

If you like to order e-books in the Microsoft or Adobe format from Amazon, you'll be interested in knowing that Amazon has decided to no longer offer those formats in the future, concentrating instead on their proprietary Kindle format and the Mobipocket format, which they also own. Here's the article from Publishers Weekly:

Amazon.com has notified its publisher and author clients that it plans to cease offering e-books in the Microsoft Reader and Adobe e-book formats. In the future, the online retailer says it plans to offer only e-books in the Kindle format (for wireless download to its Kindle reading device) and the Mobipocket format, both of which are owned by Amazon. The online retailer’s note asks publishers and authors to make sure that Amazon has written permission to offer their books for sale in the Mobipocket format.

Amazon did not specify how long the Adobe PDF and Microsoft formats will continue to be available. A search of the site turns up mostly technical works and e-docs in PDF form and very little in the Microsoft format. Amazon offers tens of thousands of titles in the Mobipocket e-book reader software, which allows e-books to be read on a wide variety of handheld mobile devices. The company said it will now be urging customers to buy e-books through Mobipocket. Amazon also sells more than 200,000 titles for use on the Kindle.

Good thing I use the Mobipocket format for reading e-books on my laptop and BlackBerry.

Share

Economy Drives Book Sales Down

I receive a variety of book and book-business related e-mails and RSS feeds and they are all in agreement that the downturn of the economy has resulted in a likewise direction for book sales at all the major retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Borders and Books-a-Million. Even with all the 40% off coupons and offers I receive from various booksellers, it is still hard to justify the expense of a hardback (and sometimes even a paperback) book when personal operating funds are on the low side, especially for a "pleasure read."

Amazon offers some really good price breaks, but I always try to get that total over $25 to qualify for the free shipping. In doing so, I'm still shelling out more money than I'm comfortable with for anything other than a gift for someone else or a "professional" book that contributes to my writing.

But I think Cindy had the right idea a year ago when she asked me for a Kindle for Christmas; e-books are an economical way to keep up with your reading "fix", especially for those books we read only for pleasure. The MOST EXPENSIVE BOOKS Cindy has downloaded would be brand new bestsellers for $9.99, the majority of others are $5 to $7 each and some are even less. When you consider that a hardback bestseller can typically go for $30, it's easy to see the appeal of the e-book format, over and above the convenience of storage and transportation. I think her Kindle paid for itself after the 20th book download she purchased.

In addition, among writers there is a lot of discussion going on about moving from print and web formats to e-book formats and self-publishing. Quite a few writers have gone that route, selling their creations directly through their websites. It's not nearly as lucrative as having an in-demand print book on the shelves, but it's a more immediate positive feedback and not nearly as many roadblocks to getting out a dead tree creation.

What do you think? Would you consider utilizing a $350 Kindle or other e-book reader if it allowed you to enjoy your reading needs (or wants, lol) at a reduced cost in the long run? How about purchasing a writer's work directly from them in an e-book form?

Share