* You don’t need a Kindle to read an ebook. You can download one onto your computer and read it there.
* Ebooks are more difficult for publishers to format correctly than you might think.
* Already, more ebooks are being sold on the Kindle than paperbacks are being sold on Amazon.com (according to Scott Pack at Me and My Big Mouth, and I believe him).
* Amazon has also said that over the past three months, ebook sales have outstripped sales of hard backs on the Amazon US site (according to The Guardian, and I believe them, too).
* The technology is still in its infancy and many changes are yet to come.
* The business model for pricing and royalties to authors is still unclear and changeable.
* They are easier and more pleasant to use than some of us might like to admit.
* They are here to stay.
* The ebook version of A Clash of Innocents will be available very shortly.
* They are not to be feared but to be embraced.
ps the first ebook I am reading is Sarah Salway’s Something Beginning With… It’s there on the far left.
I got a Kindle for Xmas and I love, love, love it. I’ve got Sarah’s book too although I haven’t read it yet. I don’t think the Kindle is so good for poetry, though – I’ve downloaded a couple of poetry books and the layouts are wrong, e.g. line breaks in the wrong places (and in one case no line breaks at ALL) which makes reading the poems difficult and not pleasant. Maybe this is connected with your formatting point. Good layout is so crucial for poetry, I don’t intend to download any more until I’m confident this has improved.
Yes, poetry is harder to format and we’re working really hard to get that right at Ward Wood. We’ll have the poetry collections out on Kindle soon but it has taken months of work.
A lot of people (including me a while ago) think it’s as simple as uploading the Word file or PDF. It actually takes a redesign, different code to make the contents interactive and so that people can find the chapter they had got to. And also it all looks so different on screen that you have to redesign the layout.
Ebooks have to be as professionally designed, edited and produced as print books, and this is coming. I also have to edit the whole book again to check no odd little characters have crept in during the file conversions.
They are here to stay and are to be welcomed in many ways. It’s hard work producing them, but I have to admit Mike Fortune-Wood and I have really enjoyed it and been excited by the task.
Only a few months ago I was sure I wouldn’t enjoy reading ebooks, but now I’ve got a Kindle I’m loving them. I still enjoy paperbacks and have a teetering tbr pile, but I enjoy reading ebooks too.
Just recently publishers have started to ask if they can send me review copies electronically, so I may have to get a Kindle at some point. Not sure how I’ll get on with it.
I really fought having a Kindle, and in the end caved in and got one for Christmas. I’ve read two novels so far, and loved the experience – I really love the cover plus little light – its reminiscent of reading beneath the covers at school.
But.
I also downloaded a few poetry books. Seamus Heaney. John Donne. They are well formatted.
And their poetry just does not work on the device. For this reader – I hasten to add. There is something fighting something else… the poem is there. And it does not sing. It sits blankly…so I will not be buying any more e-poetry books. Just bought Derek Walcot in real paper!
Mind you, I can imagine something a bit more outre working well electronically.
Yes, I definitely have enjoyed reading electronically, much more than I thought I would have. But poetry…I’m not so sure. I think that might be much harder.
Very thought-provoking, thank you Sue. I am still torn! Still clinging onto paper…