Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Warning......I need to rant here.....

I am so so so so so so sick and tired of hearing/reading that people "Don't like eBooks." And "I love the feel of a book in my hands." "I love the smell of paper." "I can't snuggle up with an eReader."



First of all, ebooks are here to stay, so let's just deal with it, people! LOL! The world's technology is growing...fast. If you don't get on board, you will be left behind. Everything is going digital- music, movies, books. It's just the way it is. Am I completely happy that physical media will one day be a thing of the past? No, not entirely. But it is what it is and there are far too many supporters of digital media to halt the progression. Look at music....do you know even one teen who owns a cd player anymore?? I sure don't. They all have ipods. Their entire music collection is digital.

I didn't know much about digital publishing when I inked my initial deal with Lyrical Press, a primarily digital publisher, almost 2 years ago. But I quickly learned. And as soon as I could afford one, I got a digital book reader. And I adored it from moment one.

It is completely easy to read, so enough complaining about eye strain. E-ink technology is fantastic...just like looking at a real book page. If the reader plans to read entire novels on a computer screen or iPad, yeah that would cause some eye strain, but not the dedicated eReaders. They are completely easy on the eyes.

They are convenient too. I love taking mine to the gym. No way would I be able to hold any kind of paper book and walk on the treadmill. With the eReader, I can leave it on the ledge and when I need, quickly press the page flip button. The ability to change the font size is a huge plus too, especially when I switch to the elliptical and do more bouncing. The larger font allows me to still be able to read.

You can't snuggle up with an eBook??? How easily can you "snuggle" with an 80-pound, 6-1/2" x 9" hardcover?? Okay, so 80 pounds is an exaggeration, but you get what I mean. Those suckers are heavy and I have a REAL hard time holding one and laying in bed with it. But my eReader, so light and thin, and there is not one moment that I get a cramp in my hand from holding it.

And "the smell of paper"? Really? Let's just think a minute about ALL THAT PAPER. All those trees....all the people who don't recycle magazines and newspapers when they're through. All the books that I imagine get tossed in the garbage. It's beyond time to Go Green. And it needs to be done in every little place we can. Many eReaders have the capability to download newspapers and magazines, limiting the paper we waste.

Okay...I think my rant is done. :)

19 comments:

  1. Amen amen amen amen. People act like I'm trying to convince them that eBooks are better. It could come from a mere mention of my Nook and I am subjected to a tirade about how they just LOVE ACTUAL BOOKS.

    Because an eBook is not an actual book?

    I'm SO SICK of hearing it that when people open their mouths to say it, I shut them down. Not to mention that I STILL READ PRINT BOOKS. I'm at about half and half now. If you love the taste, feel, look, smell of print books, GO BUY ONE and leave me and my Nook alone.

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  2. YES!!!!! I know people like that too...it's like they want to start a little rebellion against technology!! Sorry...it's not gonna work!! LOL!! I do still read print books too and if it's a book I really love and will read again....I like a print copy on my shelf. (But I can honestly say, I am starting to wish I had some of my favs on my eReader too!!)

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  3. I love seeing books on my shelf. I love taking books from the library. I love buying physical books. I also...LOVE my eReader!
    I feel it's another avenue for people to read! If there are people out there who are now reading more books because of an eReader, hooray!

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  4. Chic Fit Geek...I sooooooooooooooooooooooo agree!!!!!! ANYTHING that gets people to read more gets a big smooch from me!! I am not a fan of vampire stories, or anything paranormal, actually, but what Twilight did for YA and books in general has been phenomenal. I have a friend who hardly ever read before Twilight...now she reads all the time. And she has an eReader!! :) My mom wants one for Christmas!

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  5. I love my books but i also my e books... I like variety

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  6. No kidding!! A cool gadget that holds hundereds of stories and bookmarks them all for you is way cooler. PLus the price difference and saving the trees is incentive alone!

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  7. An additional couple of points...the smell of paper??? Some of us have paper allergies. Dust allergies. Ink allergies.

    And font size. As the population ages (holding up my hand here!) reading books with standard size print is near impossible. A digital reader for me means I will have the joy of reading for a longer time.

    Incidentally, I have about 6K print books and about 1500 e-books. And I find that mostly I read e-books...:-)

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  8. *sigh* I dream of owning an e-reader.. at the moment it's kindle for PC but I'm saving pennies!
    The Arrival, Book 1 of the BirthRight Trilogy available now

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  9. Can I get an AMEN????? LOL completely agree - especially about GOING GREEN!!!!

    Another plus is that my husband no longer complains about the piles of books around the bedroom. I read about 2 a week - now he has no way of knowing how much time I'm wasting. . . hehe

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  10. Yes PK!!!!!!!! The major perk of the Nook Color is the ability to download magazines! And from what I've been told...they're SUPER cheap...like $2-3 for an entire year's subscription!!! Let's save some trees!!!!

    Wow Anny!!! I can't even imagine the space that many books takes up!!! LOL!! Luckily, I don't need the larger font size for everyday reading...yet...but I do use it when I'm at the gym...while on the elliptical or treadmill. It's just easier to read while bouncing around if the font is larger!!

    Nicole, the great thing is that the prices are coming waaaaaaaaaay down!!! On Black Friday this past holiday season, you could get a Nook or Sony reader for $100. Even the Kindle is down to like $150. I expect by Christmas this year, there will be lots of options for eReaders around the $100 mark...some even lower!

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  11. I have Kindle app for iPhone, so believe me, I really want to love e-books. The bottom line is, they're just too expensive. I'm a state employee who hasn't gotten a raise since 2006 and there's no way I can afford to buy books, especially at $10-$15 a pop. If I do buy books, they're either in paperback for $5 or so, or used via Amazon. Most of the time I just check out the 5-10 books per month I read out from the library. And, yes, I tried the library's e-books...and my rental expires after 1 week. I can't always read a book in a week and I don't like the pressure. So those are all my reasons for not embracing e-book technology. Nothing do with cuddling up over here. In fact, I can't imagine why anyone would want to cuddle with a book. :-)

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  12. I think that most of the people who say those things have never actually used an ereader. I was converted for life within 24 hours after getting my Kindle.

    In fact, I'm not sure I'll ever buy a paper book again.

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  13. I prefer books and have no desire to buy an eReader at the present time. But I know I eventually will. My husband loves vinyl, but that doesn't mean he doesn't ever buy a CD or download music.

    Shouldn't the important thing be that people are reading? Period. When my first book is published, I don't care HOW they read it, only that they do!

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  14. I have an ereader but I don't like it much because the covers are black and white on it (plus there's some bigger issues I have with it), but I love reading my romantic suspenses on my iPod (I download the books through the same provided as my ereader). I still buy my YA books (for the most part) in hardcopy format. :D

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  15. LOL! I took the dive to e-readers and I love it. I've found, though, with school I need a paper-book or finding passages I need to quote in my papers becomes a nightmare. Honestly, I love them both, and I hope real books don't ever go away completely.

    That said, I've had my share of conversations with people (including my mother-in-law) that come to near fisticuffs. For some reason, my owning and supporting the digital age is single-handedly bringing to an end books as we've known them for 600 years.

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  16. Stephanie, it depends on the retailer...I've found some pretty good deals on ebooks. Plus, I've gotten lots of freebies!! I don't buy every book I want to read...luckily my library has a 2 week lending period on ebooks.

    Thanks everyone for stopping by!!! Hot topic!!!

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  17. Amen ! Love my e-reader. LOVE IT.

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  18. Thank you Lakshmi!!!!! I just finished reading a big fat hardcover and I was so so glad to be done with it...my hands were so cramped!!!! but maybe if it had been a better book, I wouldn't have minded so much!! LOL!

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