Comments on: How Can You Call an e-Book a Real Book?

By: C. Boyett-Compo

C. Boyett-Compo — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:18:50 +0000

I am both print and e-published 75 times over and I've made ten times as much with the electronic version of each of my printed books as I have ever made in paper. The royalties for e-books are higher and the books are never out of print. It's a matter of whether you want to raise the white flag or if you are content with the ways things are.

By: Teena A. Sailer

Teena A. Sailer — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:36:09 +0000

Generally I don’t post on too many blogs but I just wanted to say that was great post. Great info. Thanks.

By: Joe Langen

Joe Langen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:07:34 +0000

Bill,

I’ve been wrestling for a while with this whole idea. I enjoy the feel, smell and sounds associated with paper books. I probably would have enjoyed parchment or papyrus in the old days. I’m not so sure about stone tablets.

I have three books in e-book format and consider them real from an author’s point of view. I toyed with the idea of getting an e-book reader until I held both the Kindle and Sony Reader. Both seemed to me like reading from an Etch-a-Sketch. I don’t think the technology has evolved to the point where I am ready for one. I am now thinking about a laptop or Netbook which could double as an e-book reader. Right now I just have a desktop. The jury’s still out.

I’m staying tuned.

Joe

By: Sheyna Galyan

Sheyna Galyan — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:46:47 +0000

May I please have permission to reprint this article in our electronic newsletter for independent publishers? I would of course credit you as the author with copyright and include a link to this blog as the source. Please let me know as soon as is convenient. Many of our members are in the 50+ range and would truly enjoy this article. Thanks!
Sheyna Galyan
Newsletter/Social Media
Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA)

By: Tosin Ojumu

Tosin Ojumu — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:40:14 +0000

Hi, I’m someone from the younger generation who has grown up with computers since secondary (high) school. However, I too have always been a reader and a great fan of books. I am in two camps about this question. On one hand, I myself am an aspiring author and I LOVE the democracy that is offered by the chance to publish ebooks. As Scott commented it greatly levels the field. On the other hand, I have always found it a lot more difficult to read items off a screen than off a page. I know modern e-readers on the whole aspire to solve that problem, but I guess I’ve got to check one out in depth before I can be convinced…
Tosin

By: Monica Rondino

Monica Rondino — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:47:47 +0000

Hi,I totally agree with you,I love books,I love to touch them and their flavor.Probably I’m an old minded and I know I can’t stop progress but I hope that one day young people looking to a book won’t say..What is this?

By: Patricia L. Atchison

Patricia L. Atchison — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:17:37 +0000

As an author and self publisher I somewhat feel I am being dragged kicking and screaming into the e-book and digital application publishing technology. In order to get more books out to the public, perhaps e-book sales will drive hard copy sales? As an avid reader of books, I wonder, “What happens when I accidentally drop my Kindle or Sony Reader in the bath or the pool?”

By: Scott Dawson

Scott Dawson — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:29:13 +0000

While I favor books on CD and tape I to have the same physical attachment to my books. I also belong to the fify plus club that has trouble trusting computers. However,that being said, the e-book rage is much like the colt 45, as the saying goes, “God created man but Colt made them equal”. Likewise E books have leveled a playing field that has here to for been an exclucive club monitored by the likes and dislikes of the publishing community. I for one applaud the new found freedom that e-books afford all woodbe writers, the ranks of which I will proudly join as a high school drop out. In truth I have obtained a “masters” from the school of HARD KNOCKS and look forward to sharing some of that through creative writing so I say let E-Books rain. As a final note to the up-side of computers GOD BLESS SPELL CHECK !!!!!

Scott B. Dawson

By: Nancy Posey

Nancy Posey — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:51:44 +0000

E-books may not be for everybody, but I love mine. I have always been a print text snob too, but as a teacher, I had to accept that everyone doesn’t learn the way I do. I first capitulated on recorded books when I had a student with severe reading disabilities who could listen and retain and comprehend better than many of the students who had no disabilities and read print text only.

My Sony E-reader has pages that look like a book page. I love to use it when I walk on the treadmill. It’s great on a trip. Have I quit buying “real books”? No way! It’s just another way I get my reading fix.

By: Neil Richards

Neil Richards — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:31:11 +0000

Ten years ago most people did something on a relatively frequent basis, that today they rarely, if ever, do… what is it? Develop amateur photographic film to make prints… Today most people buy ink/toner & substrate books… In ten years I think the reverse will be true, just as in so many other analog to digital examples.

I love physical books, just as Bill, & the 28 crammed bookcases in my office, plus all the other nooks around the house stuffed with print attest to my passion. I will never give them up; I think the Kindle, Sony Ebook, & Asus entries are mostly inane… as are their financial models., But, I also believe that the technology alresdy esists to add the search functions, both internally & externally, that will make this so very popular,& that publishers & authors will see the light on the financial side, & I will be using my mobile computer or some small soft display screen device to read all of my current newspaper & magazine news, as well as the vast majority of what I read for pleasure and/or edification. Who could possibly believe otherwise?

Neil

Richards Research… “thinking a specialty”