E-books

[sweetnpetite]

I'm a bit (Ok, a lot) behind the times.

Could someone please explain to me exactly *what* an e-book is, and how the whole process works.

My guess is that you order it with your credit card and then down-load it onto your computer. Then either read it from the screen (ick) or print it out (ow). Both objects do not sound attractive to me. Am I missing something?

 

[snooper]

... Am I missing something?

Not a lot, but with Microsoft Reader (a free download) books in .lit format can be read aloud in a monotonous male American accent.

 

[Guest]

well.. its really for gadget freaks like me.
i have a reader program for the computer and one for my clie(palm piolet) so if i want to read a book, i can buy it cheaper in bits and bytes and read it any where i can bring my palm piolet.
it takes some getting used to but for me, a reading whore, its saved me money and time...i dont have to go to the store to get a book or worry about what to do with the book when im done.

me 2 pennies

 

[MichelleNJ]

eBooks

They said eBooks are going to be the new generation of books some day. You can read a book on your home computer or palms. Or even buy readers for these formats. They are also cheaper since there is no printing costs...

 

[Boota]

My book is also available as an eBook, but I haven't sold very many. Everyone seems to want "real" books. Paper in their hand, a nice binding and cover. I am with them. I am glad the eBook is there for those who want it, though. I have a friend who will read for hours from a computer monitor, but cracking a book is a foreign concept to him. If eBooks ever really become the medium of choice I will be surprised.

 

[smartnsassy]

My book is also available as an eBook, but I haven't sold very many. Everyone seems to want "real" books. Paper in their hand, a nice binding and cover. I am with them. I am glad the eBook is there for those who want it, though. I have a friend who will read for hours from a computer monitor, but cracking a book is a foreign concept to him. If eBooks ever really become the medium of choice I will be surprised.

Would you recomend that an author publish as an e-book, publish e and hardcopy, or hardcopy only?

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

I have to admit to being a whore for dead trees (i know, something horrible for an environmentalist to admit). There s just something about the feel of paper in your hands, the portaility, the comfort. Call me old-fashioned, but printed just is better than online to me.

I even buy collections of online comics in print even though I am poor and the archives are still online.

 

[Boota]

The company I published through, Authorhouse, automatically release all their books as eBooks. I probably wouldn't have sought to publish as only an eBook, but I don't mind it being available along with my hardcopy books. They just don't seem to be selling with the hardcopies available. If I had to elect to do an eBook along with a hardcopy I would almost certainly choose not to, gauging by my experience so far.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I have to admit to being a whore for dead trees (i know, something horrible for an environmentalist to admit). There s just something about the feel of paper in your hands, the portaility, the comfort. Call me old-fashioned, but printed just is better than online to me.

I even buy collections of online comics in print even though I am poor and the archives are still online.

Absolutely. The book is one of the great inventions of all time, and I realy don't think it can be improved upon. I think all this talk about a paperless society is just nonsense.

You can't curl up with a computer, and a display will just never have the personal intimacy of a page of type. Reading off a screen is still painful to me, and no matter how good the story is, it takes a real act of will. Reading off a screen gives me a hint of what it must be like to not enjoy reading.

---dr.M.

 

[Liar]

Absolutely. The book is one of the great inventions of all time, and I realy don't think it can be improved upon. I think all this talk about a paperless society is just nonsense.

You can't curl up with a computer, and a display will just never have the personal intimacy of a page of type. Reading off a screen is still painful to me, and no matter how good the story is, it takes a real act of will. Reading off a screen gives me a hint of what it must be like to not enjoy reading.

---dr.M.

Screens today are either back-lit (all computer screens, both flat TFTs and 'regular' >CRT screens, shine you straight in the face) Or else, like with LCD screens, they simply don't have good enough contrast and resolution to make reading of longer text a pleasureable experience the way ink on a paper can.

There are new techniques coming up that might change this, but so far they are too expensive for anything other than research...and still not good enough. But if they get there one day, and manage to make an affordable pocket book sized device that you can load and read e-books on, think I might reach for my wallet.

But still, no elecronic book, even if they get the readability done well, will smell like the real thing.

#L

 

[minsue]

But still, no elecronic book, even if they get the readability done well, will smell like the real thing.

#L

Yes. Exactly. What he said.

 

[Guest]

Won't e-books have P2P copyright problem though?