Today we have a guest writer on the blog, mulling over her feelings about ereaders, and ebooks… Always interested to hear what people who are basically not ereader users feel about them when they actually try one out, as is the case with Kathryn Jones here.
So, read on, the word is now with Kathryn.
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Why Your Next Book Should be an E-Book
I was fortunate to be able to take a vacation this summer to San Antonio, Texas. As part of this fortunate opportunity, I also decided to take on my first e-book.
Yes, I am an author, and many of my readers prefer the e-books I put out (it’s where I have the most success) but I just wasn’t convinced that an e-book could stand up to the wonders of the paperback.
For years I had enjoyed the feel of the paper in my hands, the smell of the ink on a newly printed book, the way I felt when I recorded notes in the margins and highlighted my favorite parts. The book could be carried in my purse and I could take it to appointments, the hair salon, anywhere I went where I had a few minutes to escape.
How could an e-book do any of those things?
Grabbing my husband’s Kindle, I decided on a book that I wanted to read on the plane. I thought it would be an interesting experience. Kind of give me a handle on what ‘the big deal was’.
Interestingly enough, I was able to begin the book at home in-between work. And when I left for the trip, I easily managed the Kindle in my purse. Amazingly, when I took it out to read at the airport before getting on the flight, I was able to take it from my purse, slide the button, and see the page that I’d left off on.
I felt pretty cool, too, sitting there in the airport chair reading my book like one of the ‘advanced’ readers on the planet. When it was time to board, I slid the button, and the slate blackened. I would read it again on the plane.
Suffice it to say, I finished my book, reading both to and from my vacation. I even read during a few short moments in Texas and my grandchildren learned how to use the Kindle and read other books on their own.
And though I missed the smell of the ink and the touch of the pages, I still managed to get a good read and enjoy the book to completion. Here’s what I learned:
- Reading an e-book without the fluttering pages and heavy ink is okay. Maybe not perfect, but okay. I still enjoyed the book; still got into what I was reading.
- The opportunity to get free books made me wonder what to read next; especially those classic works that one would have to spend money on at a book store. And I like the idea of saving money on e-books.
- Multiple book opportunities in one sitting, away from home, was nice. If the book I’d started hadn’t turned out for me, I could have easily begun another.
- So I looked cool. Or maybe not cool, but the Kindle itself is lightweight and easy to read. It stored easier in my purse (I could fit more stuff besides) and I found it easy to use. A plus for someone who is more creative minded than analytical.
- My bookshelves at home are already full. Now, I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to fit another book in sideways.
Perhaps you’re already converted to e-books, you like all the options I’ve mentioned plus some I haven’t mentioned (remember I’m a beginner). But if you’re like me and just beginning to venture on the e-book track you’ll be happy to know that an avid paperback reader and writer can also enjoy a good book on a flat piece of plastic.
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A bit about Kathryn Jones:
Kathryn has been a published writer since 1987. She has published various newspaper stories, magazine articles, essays and short stories for teens and adults. She is the author of: “A River of Stones,” a young adult fiction novel dealing with divorce published in 2002, and “Conquering your Goliaths—A Parable of the Five Stones,” a Christian novel published in January of 2012. One of her newest creations, a “Conquering your Goliaths—Guidebook,” was published in February of 2012. “Scrambled,” published in September 2012, is her first cozy mystery.
Kathryn graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Mass Communication and a minor in Creative Writing. Her studies included work in creative writing, public relations and journalism. Recently, she has opened the doors to Idea Creations Press, a publishing services company that caters to writers and their writing, publishing and marketing needs.
See the books I’ve published at: http://www.ariverofstones.com/books.html, and get an autographed copy.
Or visit my author page at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004VMXU5K. My books are also available at Barnes & Noble.
Share with us:
Does anything that Kathryn has said here strike a chord with you? If it has, do please share it with us, and let us know what your feelings about the pros and cons of ereader and ebooks
October 3rd, 2012 at 6:26 pm
I am a convert to ebooks. Although I still do buy print books to add to my library — ther eis nothing like a real library of books that one can see, touch, and simply try to absorb via osmosis — I rarely read them; instead, I also buy the ebook version and read that.
Since immersing in the ebook world, I have found that I read even more than before. But I have also noted another phenomenon: I tend to retain less of what I have read. I recently compared the same book in both print and ebook versions. I read part of the book in print and then finished it in ebook form. I discovered that I remembered more detail of the print pages than of the ebook “pages”. I also discovered that reading in print is slower than in ebook. But I won’t be going back to print anytime soon. I’ll just slow my reading of ebooks.
A major disadvantage of ebooks, to me, is the ease with which my to-be-read pile grows. Over the years, my print TBR pile averaged about 100 books; my current ebook TBR is more than 1500 ebooks and growing daily. I sometimes find that frustrating because it will take more than a decade of reading to just catch up to where my TBR pile is now.