Sunday, April 6, 2008

Chipping away at the walls of Jericho

I've always been a snob. You know, the print-book kind of snob. I like'em in print, I want my cover. That's just the way it is. I have over six hundred (I counted) pounds of books, all sorts. I keep them in stacks, and pile them on tables. There's something about them.

If I were a feng shui sort, I'd say that the impact of so many worlds moves the room a little off kilter, like a dimensional bubble of some sort. The more you love your books, the more secure that bubble gets. My room, (I like bookshelves in my room--although people have been telling me to put them somewhere else) "feels" good. When I walk into it, my shoulders relax. (or will soon, damnit.)

..but like Alice once told me she did--I've been running searches. Random curiosity I guess, to see how Hot Contract is doing. So far I've found people referring others to old blog-posts I did last year when I was working out plot threads, a couple of hits to emotional structure--which I'm still working on, although now I'm trying to figure out how to tie everything together without taking so damned long. I found one woman--no clue who she was, on livejournal, who used my book as part of her reading challenge. I also found out that e-books sell. I knew they did, but I didn't expect the scope.

Once I figured out how to use the filters on fictionwise, I found out that some old books by Wild Rose Press--Jen's included--are STILL selling. STILL. SELLING. Long after the hoopla died down, long after a normal bookstore would have shunted the print books to "spine-outs" if not the stripped pile. These books are selling.

It made me think.

Some of the titles I recognized from last year. They had hundreds of reader feedback votes--hey! Speaking of votes, what's up with my two? One fabulous. One poor. Must mean I'm an acquired taste. You either like me, or hate me, and that's normal, lol.

But it means that someone out there--larger than a circle of friends, is buying books, from these on-line retailers, and reading like there's no tomorrow. The way my kid uses his Palm makes me think the revolution is almost here.

Maybe it's not a revolution anymore, but it's not mainstream yet, more like a gradual up-filtering. People are reading electronically. People aren't hung up on paper. I still like paper, I don't think I'll ever go completely digital, but--I can download it right then and there. It could be why so many of the bigger Houses are moving to e-books.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

As soon as I can get a device roughly the size and shape of a paperback that will take books from any source so I can read in the bathroom I'll be all over ebooks. Right now they tend to languish on the bottom of the to-do list on my computer.

Unknown said...

lol, Alice--that's the Kindle. But I recently checked out (greedily, I might add, since it's too rich for my pocketbook) the sony ereader. 299 dollars of wow, that's really thin and light. Like a calculator.

I messed with it and toggled through, and yeah--I think I want one. I heard the Kindle is bigger, more like a book. But the Sony. Just wow.

yeah, I can't curl up with my laptop either

Unhinged said...

I've seen a couple of articles and posts and heard comments before about how e-books are becoming more and more popular. This was just after I learned about the Kindle, which I immediately drew back in shock from. It was big and clunky and ugly, and I'm used to BOOKS.

But like I read on the editorrent blog: the times, they are a-changin'. And I've read enough e-books now to know that they're ever bit as good as a printed book. And if I had a Kindle or something like it (I just can't buy the Kindle, it's so godawful ugly), and could download at will?

I would. I know I would.

Gwen Hayes said...

My favoritest thing about ebooks is the "I can have it now" factor.(example: I purchased "Hot Contract" the night before its official release and had it in my reader and ready to go)

My second is that I can read what I feel like at the time without having to carry several books around depending on my mood.

My third is that my ebook reader has a backlight, so I can read in bed without disturbing the dude next to me (I have one of the cheapy ebookwise readers...the expensive ones don't light up).

Anonymous said...

Nope, Kindle will only take books through Amazon. I want to download however I please - PDF, HTML, or whatever.

Anonymous said...

You'd think the expensive ones would light up and the cheepos wouldn't.

Unknown said...

ebookwise, huh? I might just look into that if it's not expensively cheap, lol

Gwen Hayes said...

It has its issues.

It doesn't read pdf. I have gotten a work around going if the site sells it in .rb format I'm good. If not, I can buy the html version, like I did with your book, and save it as a word doc.

They do have a lot of books on their site--just not as many as I want. But, I like the light and the portabliity factor.

www.ebookwise.com

Jennifer McKenzie said...

Well, wonders will never cease. LOL.
I love them both. I find I have room for both ebooks AND print books. I'm never going to read Christine Feehan on ebook.
I don't have a reader. I have a laptop.
I'm rereading a favorite ebook of mine right now on my computer. LOL.
I don't see a problem with having it all.

HipFunkyJive said...

See I told you this was going to work!