Well, Kindle, since you asked, I hate you. I love you. I never want to see you again until the next time I can’t live without you, which is always then never. You have me in fits, a flush-faced teen addicted to the ups and downs of a first relationship that could be everything and nothing but nothing in between.
My dad gave me a Kindle for Christmas. I wasn’t thrilled. I love to read any which way I can, but reading from a book is like nothing else. I love the weight of a good hardback and the feel of deckled edges fanning underneath my fingers once I pass the 1/3 mark. I love the smooth slip of a book jacket and using the interior flaps for bookmarks. Depending the book, I can feel sad, overjoyed, or smug when I switch from the flap in front to the flap on the back. I’m more than half-way done! The flap doesn’t lie.
But he was excited, talking about the present he was sure I would love all of Christmas Eve and then the next morning. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and asked me to please open my gift. I pretended to love it, but not just because I couldn’t bear to hurt his feelings. I did think a kindle was something I would love, but I love the sight of books on a shelf. You can’t get that with an electronic reader. Also, I was afraid of the damage I could do to my health and bank account with instant access to books at 1am.
Last month I decided to put the kindle to use. It was exactly as I feared.
I have an entire Unread Library to finish, and any book I read and love holds a place of honor on my shelves so that I can reread favorite parts on nights I’m too tired to tackle new reading. (I know I can reread on a Kindle. Logic has nothing to do with my reasoning.) So, I googled “free Kindle ebooks” and “Kindle best sellers, love stories.” I was looking for quick, cheap reads so that when my dad asked, I could tell him, yes, I have been using my Kindle!
Ten books later…
Believe it or not, it took me a few books to realize a lot of the books sold for $0.99 are self published. Some of them are quite good, and it was only the slightest errors here and there that made me cock an eyebrow and wonder if there was a publisher involved. Then I read a really bad book. So, so bad that I held a memorial for the brain cells that died on the suicide mission that was reading that book. I decided to take a break, right after I finished one more book.
I finished the last book today. After I was done, I scanned a few blogs before picking Mikey up from school and ended up on Shannon’s blog, Make It, reading a post on ebook wunderkind Amanda Hocking. I didn’t know who she was, so maybe you don’t, either? I’ll sum it up in a sentence or two, but I encourage you to follow Shannon’s well selected links; you won’t be disappointed.
Amanda Hocking is a 26 year old woman from Minnesota who has self-published 9- 10 books via Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The books complete two series (one a USA Today national bestseller), with a third just beginning. Those watching her ascent estimate she sells 100,000 ebooks per month at $0.99-$3.00 per book. It’s a tidy income, and one that traditional publishers can’t match. What most people find confounding is that her writing is, by most accounts, only good enough.
I can’t say whether this is true or not. I have yet to read any of her work, but even if I did think it was drivel I would never say so online. Those paid to review books can shoulder that load. I am more interested in your thoughts on electronic format publishing and where you feel the medium is going. Many view Hocking as an enterprising David to publishing’s Goliath, a comparison she finds inaccurate and naive. Others are concerned self publishing under such readily accessed means will–and has–negatively skewed our perception of what is acceptable writing. I can see both sides of the argument, and remain on the fence for now.
I bought Hocking’s first ebook tonight, even though it is about vampires and goes against my “dead horse beaten” policy. I want to see what hundreds of thousands of people find so compelling. If it sucks, it sucks. Either way, my hat is off to her. What she has done is impressive, and I commend her for having the guts to open herself wide and live her passion.
I have yet to purchase (or be given, for that matter) a Kindle. You can’t beat holding a book in your hands; however, I would love to have a Kindle for travel. Especially with all the luggage restrictions–you can no longer afford to carry your whole library with you. Sigh. Pity.
As for self-publishing, it’s crazy. Just like anything else, there are bad ones (I know one of the authors personally–eek!) and good ones. Some actually break into the publishing world via self publishing. Some like the money, so they stick with self publishing. And yes, there’s a tidy sum to be had.
At first, I figured it was the demise of traditional books. Then I started editing for a small publisher. They said when Kindle first came out, they had a hard time. But now, their sales are picking up. They’re assuming it’s because people try things out on Kindle … then, if they like what they read, they buy the book.
That last bit makes it all better … :)
That’s exactly what I would do. If for some reason I couldn’t get to the store to buy a book and instead put it on my Kindle, I would run off for the hardback if I read it and loved it the second I finished the Kindle version. It makes no sense, but there you go!
Nonsense, it makes perfect sense!
And you know–back to your original concern–I’m not so worried about not being able to recognize good writing, as I am being overrun with bad. Traditional publishing houses weed. As with all weeding, there’s a chance you’ll pull up something good by accident. Still, it must be done. I fear there are a tad too many who only care about the title “published author”–and making money. Eek!
With that, I now close the longest comment ever.
I will buy an eBook from you when you publish one :)
Hah! Not going to happen. That takes balls, and I am fresh out. :)
There is a Borders that is closing it’s doors near where I live. I have been traveling up and down the isles looking for a good read to add to my always growing book collection. Right now I am reading Stephen King’s Under The Dome. This 1045 page work of genius is a hefty thing to carry around but a joy to read. I LOVE it!!! I don’t care if it weights 8 pounds and I look like a nerd. I love pages sliding under my fingers, the turn of the page to sound the paper makes. All this makes up the reading experience.
I think it is terrific that people love the Kindle and the prices can not be beat!!
But paperback/hardbacks hold a special place in my heart that electronics can not replace!! :)
Confession: I have never read a Stephen King novel! I’ll have to check out Under the Dome.
I downloaded an e-reader app on my iPod touch, and I’ll be honest – when I found out I could read some of my favorite books whenever, wherever I wanted, I was afraid I would never buy another book.
Then I realized something. I LOVE feeling a book in my hands, turning the pages, going back a couple pages to re-read something. In fact, I am dual-media-ing one of my favorite series right now: I read on my iPod in the car, or when I have a break at work, and then I go home and curl up in my chair with the actual book. It keeps me from having to carry my book around in my purse (a dark and dangerous place) and minimizes the chances that I will lose it or leave it somewhere (it has been known to happen).
I too was gifted a Kindle for Christmas. I more think of it as a supplement to real books and I will probably buy hard copies of any books I really love from the Kindle, just for the shelf value. Plus you can’t loan Kindle books to your friends and family, which is one of the perks of real books.
Obviously we will continue to see the shift from real paper books and big bookstores, but I think we will also benefit from things like electronic self publishing. You know Joy of Cooking was originally self published, so there might be more to look forward to than we think.
I had no idea the Joy of Cooking was a self-published book!
Well, I had to chime in, what with me being a MLIS-degree-holding-former-middle-school-librarian. How could I not? ;-) Waaaay back in 2001 grad students and profs alike were certainly agonizing over this same question. I don’t really have anything new to add, since I agree with the comments so far; both paper and electronic books have unique functions and I don’t believe either will kill the other. There is nothing so comfortable and convenient as reading a book curled up in a chair or snuggled under the covers (though I’m sill wishing for an invention that will allow me to hold up the book and still keep both hands warm under the covers). The ability to flip back to review a passage, or even to curl up the middle section and compare two pages side by side isn’t there in the ebook readers (I know you can have a split screen, but it’s not the same). I’ve flipped back on my ipod kindle reader and it’s a pain. The benefit that e-readers have of course, is cost and ease of downloading. I’ve read several free, classic books on the ipod that I would have never remembered or bothered to get at the library. It was really great to turn it off then the next night open the app and be instantly where I left off!
I believe self-publishing is a positive thing, though you’re going to get the good with the bad with the ugly. I think the market will naturally weed out the bad, though a lot of trashy/low literary quality gets published as it is now, and more will come out with self-publishing. But the gems will more easily get exposure too. I think the publishing industry has become quite the monopoly, so just like music, it’s good when there can be a crack in its walls.
Laura
P.S. Am I the only one who frets about her comments on Jule’s blog? For no other blog do I worry quite so much how I sound and edit, reread, and edit again my comments. Arrgh! That’s your fault, Jules, because you’re such a good writer, I’m afraid of you reading what I wrote and thinking, “Did she even finish high school?”
Laura – this is kind of off-topic but I noticed that you have your MLIS and worked as a school librarian, which is what I’m in the midst of deciding is my future career path. I love talking to people in the field and definitely have a lot of questions I’d love to ask you if you’d be so obliged. My e-mail is [email protected] – shoot me a message if you don’t mind! I’d truly appreciate it. Thanks!
I waffled between an MLIS and a law degree. I often think I should have gone the MLIS route.
p.s. Laura, you’re cuckoo. :) Trust me, my law degree made me into a bit of a boring, formal writer. I am waaaaay goofier in real life than I let on. I think I would stun you with my gooberness.
Jules – really? What would you have done with an MLIS? I’m split between wanting to work in schools with kids/children’s literature and then maybe later in life I’d love to work for a public or private library that has a huge photo archive for me to organize and scan and share and get acquainted with. =) The Library of Congress has been putting all sorts of insanely cool photo collections onto flickr and it’s one of my favorite things, ever.
I love the photos from the Library of Congress! I’ve been debating using some of them for the Compositions series, since some things I want to do are way beyond my scope as a hobby photographer.
In re MLIS, I always assumed I would work in a university library. Actually, I was really interested in the law library during law school, too.
Laura: Its the time ticking away that kills me. You post, and then you realize you only have five minutes to fix it or take it back. So much pressure! If I knew I could fix it any ole time, I probably wouldn’t care as much.
you just summed up why i love real books, and why, at this point, i would not buy a kindle or read books on my ipad. especially your part about using the front and back flaps, it thrilled me to know that someone else does that too. a lot of people i know remove the book jackets, and i hate that–i want to know what the book is about (even though i should, since i bought it, but i don’t) and it’s the perfect bookmark (plus, so many books are black or navy blue, and i love the colors that book jackets bring).
First, I am laughing at Laura’s post because I feel the same way about commenting to Jules. Eeeek, is my spelling correct? Are my commas used appropriately? I am certainly not as witty, I know that much!
That said, I wanted to say, I have the same love/hate relationship with my Kindle that most book loving people do. I really wanted one after toting around Ken Follett’s, Pillars of the Earth to all my son’s baseball tournaments. I received a Nook for my birthday last year, and just never felt comfortable with it. I am a tried and true Amazon shopper. Even though I can log a good three hours or more at B&N, I don’t often buy books there.
I liked the Nook, but after having some technical difficulties with the B&N website, and the fact that I just couldn’t get on board with not being able to flip a page, I sold it. Shortly after though I ran into another book loving friend who raved about her Kindle, and told me she had no problem switching back and forth between device and paper. I decided to give the Kindle a chance.
After having the Kindle for six months I have to say, I do really like it. It’s small and compact, and being able to throw it in my purse, or laptop bag, is surprisingly convenient. I love the small size and the fact that I can preview books as well. Although, I have not gone as deep into all that can be accessed as Jules. I don’t think I will ever be able to give up buying books nor the thrill of adding a new find to my bookshelf. And it will never dull my love of holding a library book that has had a life of its own before settling in my hands. I guess as with anything, the Kindle has its place in my life, somewhere in between like it and love it. Either way, it definitely has a place on my nightstand at the end of the day.
You guys are killing me with the grammar comments! One day we will all meet for coffee and you’ll walk away scratching your heads wondering, “Who was that goof ball?”.
I am a huge bookworm, who loves the smell and feel of real paper books. That being said, I LOVE my Kindle too. A lot of people view this as a very black and white question — you can like real books or you can like the Kindle. Which one ARE you? I don’t see it that way at all.
I bought a Kindle for a three week business trip I took last summer. I knew I’d read at least 5 books during that time, and there’s no way I could fit them all in my luggage. It was one of the best travel decisions I’ve ever made! Not only was it easy to transport, but I downloaded a bunch of free classics, so I wouldn’t get stuck in a situation in a non-English speaking country where I would have to read the one English book I could find (this is how I ended up reading Anna Karenina on the beaches of Thailand once. Great book…perhaps not beach reading though).
I also love getting the New Yorker on the Kindle. I don’t feel like I’m wasting paper, since those things can stack up! Plus, it comes wirelessly, so I have it the instant it’s out.
Lastly, in a way it’s good that I’m cutting down on the actual paper books I have around. My roommate and I have filled two large bookcases with books…and we’re only 25! I’m seriously drowning in them. I love books, so I’m ok with that, but realistically, I need to downsize.
That all being said, the last 5 books I’ve read were paper — three from the library, two from a Borders going out of business sale (RIP Borders of Oxnard. You were awesome). So really, I’ll never leave paper books behind. Loving a Kindle doesn’t have to mean loving paper any less.
Wow. That was long. :)
I think the Kindle is excellent for travel! That’s a great idea to load it full of books before leaving, too. Best not to assume you will have wireless access everywhere.
There are two parts to this comment: the first being on the Kindle. I got one for my birthday a few weeks ago and I absolutely love it. I’ve already read three books on it and have enjoyed the experience immensely. That said, I’ve also read two regular hardbacks. And I think that’s how it will go; read some Kindle and some library books and some off my shelf I’ve been meaning to read, etc. The main reason I love the Kindle though is that my husband and I are about to embark on a two-month trip through Eastern Europe, with lots of traveling in between countries via bus and train, and there is no WAY I could handle hauling around the ten or so books I’m sure I’ll blow through in my one backpack. So, in that case, the Kindle is going to be invaluable. But I still don’t think that e-reading is going to completely take over. There will always be both formats.
Second, I love the post from Amanda Hocking. I had heard of her but was really interested in reading her take on all of this fame. I say, good for her, and like you regardless of whether her stuff is exemplary or not, I give her an immense amount of credit for going after her success and working so hard to do what she loves.
Maybe you should think about putting pen to paper, Jules… or fingers to keyboard anyway. You seem to have a lot of stories. ;)
Bah. I’m too chicken. Want it too much, want it to be perfect, don’t know what to say. Yawn. I bore myself with my cliched fears and angst.
I finished the Hocking book today! There are 4, soon to be 5 books in the series, but I think I will stop with book 1. I commend her for everything she has done. Good for her for having the balls to publish.
I’ve been skeptical of the Kindle, mostly because I read EVERYWHERE and rely on my books to take a lot of hard knocks. I am pretty sure that the Kindle can’t go in the bathtub, for instance. And it might not like being jammed in my purse everyday, along with the piles of miscellaneous things I carry around.
And, like you, I enjoy the feel of a book. I don’t know if I’ll convert.
I love my kindle for what it is. It’s great for reading trashy paperbacks like the millenium trilogy. It’s great for travel. It’s great for classics (they’re free too! I might finally read middlemarch!).
I love books but truth be told I already have too many. I hope that with the kindle and careful purchasing of nice editions of favourite books, I’ll end up with a library that fills my heart with joy because i LOVE every book on that shelf (and the ones I just enjoyed for the ride are in my kindle archive, not taking up valuable space).
Yes! Trashy novels! My husband said the other day that my Kindle is for reading books I don’t want anyone to know I read. ;)
One of my favorite things my mother taught me is the magic folding pages down so the binding doesn’t crack. Books have always been a huge part of my life and always will be. Something I love about Old/New media is the fact that there is room for both.
I’m reading three books right now. Two with real books and one on my Kindle with my phone. I love reading both types. They will both definitely have something to do in my life forever.
And the great thing about the ebooks is that there is such low overhead. You get so much more of a percentage of the income. :)
And I would totally buy your book. ;)
Not writing an ebook! :)
I’m a stickler about bent bindings. I do it just the way you and your mom do, too. :)
I’m a rarity here I suppose. I don’t have a Kindle, I have a Sony Reader. I really, REALLY, over-the-top wanted a Kindle though. For years it has been on every birthday/Christmas/Easter/President’s Day (ok so we don’t gift for that, but I REALLY wanted one) list. This Christmas my husband broke down, the day before Christmas, and tried to find me one. Every local place that sells one was sold out and there wasn’t enough time to order. So he did what every good man will do. He bought the very last e-reader in the state of Ohio. I was very disappointed Christmas morning. In fact, I acted like a brat. I wanted 3G connections and wireless buying and, and and …
Then I realized something marvelous. While the Sony Reader doesn’t have wireless capabilities, and the Pocket Edition doesn’t hold as many books (like I’ll NEED to carry more than 350 at once??) it DOES allow me to download and read books from the library. I can order books from Borders, and any other store that offers ePub or PDF books. In short, I love it!
I still do love the feel and smell of a physical book though, but for travel or space saving, a digital reader is the way to go.
PS- My poor husband only waited until Christmas Eve to buy my gift because that is when he received his bonus. He’s really not a slacker, I swear.
Jules – I’ve been saving this post all day, and I’m still not certain I have a coherent comment together.
On the Kindle — I loudly and frequently declared I would never betray books and adopt an e-reader. Until…this Christmas, I received a Kindle from my stepbrother. And a $100 Amazon gift card as our holiday bonus at work. Yeah, I’ve pretty much used that $100…and all on books for my Kindle. Now, to all the Kindle haters, I smile and say, I used to feel that way, too. I still get some books in “physical” form, but most are on the Kindle. Mainly because I love the bookmark and notes feature. So handy. Oh, and the weight lifted from my purse. That’s cool, too.
On self-publishing — This is a bit harder. My lifelong dream is to be independently wealthy, so I can open my own publishing house and “discover” writers. Life-changing, mediocre and horrid writing all come from the publishing world — and from without. I mean, Twilight? Entertaining – yep! But TERRIBLE writing. So does publishing really ensure quality?
I don’t know. That’s what I keep coming back to.
True. But you know what I admire about Stephenie Meyer? She says she can’t read her own books now because all she see are the mistakes in the writing. Problems with dialog, structure, etc. I respect a person who can own up to her fallibility. She kind of just fell into this random cultural phenomenon and has the moxie to admit that at first, she didn’t know what the hell she was doing.
I will spend the rest of my life figuring out what is so enthralling about Twilight. I loved the series, and I have no idea why. I was just talking about this on the facebook page, actually.
“I held a memorial for the brain cells that died on the suicide mission that was reading that book”..
Oh dear, you need to e-publish like yesterday (and then buy me a Kindle with all the dinero you are counting on a monthly basis).
I love the Kindle Kontroversy– and can not resist a comment to Rachel (heart of light): the bathtub is my favorite place to use the Kindle! I turn it on, slip it in a zip-loc bag (a specimen bag from the hospital where I work– perfect size!), and lose myself in a story and bubbles.
I resisted the Kindle for the usual fond-of-real-books reason, but made the jump when I discovered Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series (quite a hefty book stack in hardcover and NOT bathtub-friendly) offered in a Kindle version.
I’m also a quilter and still buy “real” books for quilting since they contain so many color photographs and technique illustrations, things I don’t want to view on an e-reader.
The two things can peacefully coexist!
I would be in the news.
North Carolina native, (with 12 years of post graduate education) dies in bathtub due to electric shock from malfunctioning Kindle which she took to the bath with her!!!! HA!
A battery cannot do that you say..? Hmm….trust me. My luck is just that bad.
Ahhhh…. in this moment, I will have to remain a loyalist. Long live the book!! The same goes for me..there’s no rational thought within my logic, but some reason I feel that if I give in and buy a Kindle or other such “e-reader” (this was put in quotations on purpose), then I will be killing my books. What will happen when everything is electronic!!! When there are no libraries!!!
The horrors!
OK, so I know there were a lot of exclamation points, and possibly I am exaggerating a wee bit, but I think you get my point. I am scared that if I get one, I may actually like it. Ignorance is bliss.
Brandi
I am *this* close to grounding myself from the Kindle. I am reading waaaay too much trashy fluff. Damn, I’m having a good time!
“Others are concerned self publishing under such readily accessed means will�and has�negatively skewed our perception of what is acceptable writing.”
I’m fairly confident the blogosphere has already done this, don’t you think? :)
As for the Kindle, I just don’t understand the point of having a gadget to help me do something I already do just fine without the aid of electronics. I’ve always been a total gadget-phobe, but I was really pushed over the line the time I received a battery-operated garbage can as a gift. To think all those years I was scraping my plate clean using just my own two hands!
Jules –
Just catching up on my blog reading, and I saw this post. I love my Kindle, but my husband was reluctant to read anything on mine for the reasons you mentioned above. I finally convinced him to read one book, and then I didn’t get my Kindle back for 3 weeks before I finally put my foot down and bought him his own Kindle.
On another note – I couldn’t figure out how a 99 cent book could possibly be a Kindle Bestseller, so I purchase the first book (Switched, in the Trylle series by Amanda Hocking) and I was hooked! 1 week later I have read all the books in the Trylle and My Blood Approves series, and I just started the first book in the Hollowland series). Look – she isn’t Justin Cronin, but she can definitely write as well as Stephanie Meyers.
I have a love/hate relationship with my Ipad (kindle App). I know it’ll be the death of the book industry one day, but the lure of getting a book RIGHTNOW is almost too much to bear, especially when the local bookstore isn’t open on Mondays and the other closest one is an hour away and you need two books NOW to finish a really good series.
But holy cow are there some bad self-published books. Hocking isn’t bad- and her writing has definitely improved. But I just finished one where I truly had no clue what was going on and there were 3, THREE, characters named Bob.