Thanks Realist, that’s worth knowing.
I have hundreds of MOBI format I’ve made from Word documents myself but do have some I purchased from the Amazon site so will get stripping. That’s always been the downside to Amazon books … they can take them off you.
You can get free ebooks from gutenburg.com in most formats. I’ve got a few of the classics in this way.
Kindle eBooks are charged with VAT added while ordinary books are not. I prefer technical and scientific books in paper format and novels in Kindle format.
Me too Judd … reference books in hard copy … and my trash second rate fan fiction on kindle.
I’ve never rummaged through the Gutenberg.
Yet.
I have a couple of ebooks stored on my tablet in case I am desperate to pass some time.
Otherwise, I will reach for a hard copy every single time. Nothing is more comforting than a hardcover book on your nightstand. And no glare from a screen either when I get a bit sleepy.
No, I like the real thing. The feel, the smell, the whole bag of mashings.
Ebooks don’t have a feel. They are dead things. They are just about holding an unforgiving, hard, odourless ‘thing’ to move my eyes along. They make me feel detached and not into the story line.
I can understand their convenience but not for me.
Interesting. Thanks for your honest responses.
First, you don’t have to own a Kindle or any of those kinds of devices. You can download the Adobe Digital Edition for free and read it on your computer or whatever you use to respond to emails. Second, an ebook is a real book. The writer spends just as much time writing the story as with books that are printed on paper.
As for the cost in US dollars the most I ever charge for my ebooks is $4.99. If they were to be out in hard copy, they would be $24.99. If they were paperback they would be probably $10 - $17.
Traditional publishers are ripping people off. Some independent authors use Amazon’s Create Space for their hard copies. I won’t use Amazon. They want to own our rights to use our books however they want to use them. The company has dishonorable practices on many fronts. They don’t even pay their workers enough to live on, but the owner has become mega wealthy. I will not participate in his corruption. I don’t buy anything through Amazon. There are myriad other vendors. I publish through Smashwords. The books are distributed through about a dozen vendors.
Yes, I’ve had traditional publishers. But you know what they did to my true story? They changed it until it was no longer true. They butchered it. The message in the book was important to me. I wrote the book for ten years and honed my skills. My literary agent, a famous one, found the publisher, after I’d rewritten several times for her. She was once an editor for a major publishing house. The event the book was about victimized me. The publisher further victimized me by destroying my story. When I asked my agent why they had done that she said, “Everyone wants to get their hands in the pie.”
I much prefer my Kindle to an old fashioned book.
I love an old fashioned book TBH.the whole experience , nothing like it IMO
smile
The other thing to consider is that we are running out of trees to make the paper. Literally. I live in the Pacific Northwest in the USA. Trees are cut down at an alarming rate and can’t grow back fast enough. With climate change, these trees are dying because its becoming hotter and hotter and we aren’t getting enough rain. It’s always been good for growing trees, but that is changing. We are having raging wild fires which are consuming millions of acres of trees every year now. Trees also produce the very air we breathe. So we cut them down excessively and we can no longer breathe. We also need trees to build houses. If we are to survive, we have to adapt.
Make books from recycled paper, that would do it!
I made a sculpture from recycled books.
Yes, it would, but I don’t know how one would do that. I like doing it this way. That way I can offer books for free as I feel the need. One of my books is free now. It’s about the crimes my brother committed. I can’t see myself wanting to make a profit from all that pain.
I use Wattpad on my iPad.
Very similar to iBooks
I like original books of course. There’s nothing quite like having a real book with real pages in your hands BUT there IS definitely a place for ebooks. Those people who don’t have access to a local library, have minimal storage space or people with failing eyesight. One thing I love about ebooks is that you can adjust the letterhead to your own personal preference. You can read at night without the need for a lamp or light on since ereaders have built in lights. That way you aren’t bothering others who might want to sleep.
They aren’t a fire hazard.
There are pros and cons to everything.
I love my Kindle. I have a husband who used to go to bed early for early starts at work. Now I have my Kindle I can read in bed when he is asleep. I’ve had my Kindle for six years and discovered many new authors from Kindle readers on other forums.
Only real paper books I read these days are cookery books, all my fiction is free from amazon and my kindle and my phone are my preferred reading mediums.
Many reasons including not wanting to wear glasses in bed, to the free nature of them all. I don’t think some are good quality though if I find too many spelling mistakes I give up after a chapter or I find my blood pressure rising with the cheek of an author not even spell checking.
I find it much easier to stop reading Kindle books I don’t like. I used to borrow books from the library and would read books by the same few authors. It’s so much easier to use a Kindle on long train journeys.
I read mostly ebooks now, I download them free from BorrowBox and at odd times buy a Kindle book.
I have a Kindle Fire. I read most nights before going to bed.
I have a Kindle for my ordinary night time reading, but do prefer ‘proper books ‘ the one that I keep in hardback.
