Ebooks are Growing On Me. A Little.
Last year, most of the folks I buy gifts for lived several hundred to several thousand miles away. The trip to the post office was always a big ordeal, and often, the least expensive gifts cost the most to mail. I switched to buying gift certificates as they were so much easier. Most of them liked them. However, my siblings and I always had the traditional of exchanging a physical item. What I have never really given a thought to is sending ebooks, but since my cousin suggested them I am giving them strong consideration. I sure wouldn’t have to wait in line at the post office! In fact, I was against the idea for a long time because I love books. I love the idea of pulling myself away from the computer, curling up in a chair with a dog or two and reading.
Then I looked at my book shelf. There are a lot of old friends there. I get out my Collected Works of Poe on Halloween, there are history books, a Bible, a giant dictionary, favorite cookbooks and more. There is also a small stack that keeps getting cycled out. I read books about management, organizing non profits and the like. There may be one I hang on to because I really like it, but for the most part, once I have read it, the next book just builds upon what I read and replaces it. I was surprised to find that there are books like that available in ebook form that I can read on my computer. I found about ten titles right off the bat just about nonprofit organization. It doesn’t take up the same amount of clutter on my shelf. If I really like it, I suppose I can get it in print form if I want.
One of my other objections on ebooks was that they are cheap and they take away from the authors. Many ebooks are priced similarly to regular books, so no royalties were cut. In fact, there are many authors that have ebooks out that aren’t in print. Some of them are new writers that have not landed a publisher, or they are books where the information changes rapidly and could be obsolete next year. In those regards, an ebook, or at least an addendum to a book in ebook form may be something I can get used to.
I was kind of excited to see all of the good reference books that are available in ebook form. What I was surprised to see was all the romance titles that were available. When I think about it, that is pretty genius. My aunts used to read romance novels by the bagful when I was younger and it seemed like 50 new ones came out every month. I would imagine that this could help their habit. They wouldn’t be able to read their ebook sitting in a bubble bath and eating bonbons but a whole wing of their house may be able to be reclaimed.
Have you thought about buying or publishing an ebook?
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November 27th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Interesting. I hadn’t really thought of giving ebooks as a gift, either. When I first began reading your post, I thought it wasn’t the best idea – because, like you, I love the feel of a book. However, after reading your post, I think ebooks are a great idea! Especially in this economy – you can save so much on shipping, and cut down on the Post Office hassles, etc. I’ve bought a couple of ebooks – a few were really good, some not so good – but I think it’s easy to tell before you buy. Especially if you purchase from a reputable company/author.
Good post – I enjoyed it. I’m glad FishHawk put you on the Five for Friday list.
Queen Katherine’s last blog post..Meet Claramae
November 30th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Thanks for visiting, Queen Katherine. I will have to do an internet search to find out where FishHawk hangs out. Thanks for the head’s up.