So it seems ebooks are on the rise. As an aspiring author this fills me with fear and disappointment. more and more books are now being published online instead of printed. Whilst good for the environment I think this sucks! I want (if I ever get published) to be able to hold my book, feel the crinkle of the pages, smell the paper. Most importantly I want to see it in a bookcase, on shelves in the shops, walk past someone on the street and see them reading my book. I want to see a wicked smile on someone's face as they get to a good part in my book, hear them stifle a laugh as they turn the page. You simply don't get that with ebooks. Reading something on a screen is boring, your eyes blur as words melt into each other. It lacks the satisfaction of curling up on the couch with a good book, or sitting under a shady tree in the park. Books are there even if you have a powercut or the battery dies. All you need is a little light and imagination.
And what if, like Dark Angel, there's a worldwide electromagnetic pulse and the internet and computers get wiped out??? Millions of books would be lost and if that awful day ever comes I'd like to still have my bookcase full of friends instead of losing it all. And call me old fashioned but i'd still like to have my own mini library, sliding ladder and all.
Pros - cheap, good for the environment,
Cons- too easily replicated can send to hundreds of people or post online instead of passing the book around to a couple of friends, reading on a screen-boring, cant hold it in your hand and turn the page and feel the realness of it. Cant have it on a bookshelf. stuck if your battery dies or there's a powercut.
Overall ebooks ruin reading. Or at least that's my opinion...
I respect your opinion and have to agree. While i think E-books have their place i will always be a old fashioned paper book girl
ReplyDeleteI'd have to disagree with you on almost all points. Ironically, I used to agree with you; but since I got my Kindle, I've been blown away.
ReplyDeleteReading on the e-ink screen is miles and miles away from reading on a back-lit screen; the words don't 'melt together' any more than they do on paper. Equally, it is in fact more comfortable to curl up with an e-reader than with a book; the reader is infinitely lighter, less intrusive, and easier to turn the pages of.
As far as battery life goes, the new Kindle can run for a month's solid reading without any charge. The danger of an EMP pulse taking out all electrical devices is as low or lower than the chance of a great fire coming through and burning up all the paper books.
I'll agree with you on the points that it's satisfying for the ego to see someone else with your book and that it's lovely to have a physical wall of books, but those benefits are outweighed by the immense benefits of e-readers - perhaps the greatest being the hordes of absolutely free classics. I've already added Dracula, Utopia, and a half dozen other classics to my reader for nary a dime, along with PDFs for uni.
Admittedly I don't have a kindle and the benefit of free books is pretty awesome. I'm an old fashioned girl I guess and electronics cant beat the weight of a book in your hand. I think as long as books continue to be published in BOTH formats I wont complain too much. Once ebooks significantly overtake printed I will get cranky!
ReplyDeleteyou can't write an inscription in a ebook.
ReplyDeleteyou should check out this blog http://andrianadavis.blogspot.com/ she's an independent editor who works for an independent writer and publisher.
No way - right on Christina. Death to ebooks!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I like everything about real books. I'd rather not have to tote something as expensive as an ipad or whatever other ebook reader around where people can steal it and such. Holding a book and turning the pages is just so much more satisfying. Smelling the paper and all.
Some technology is just not necessary.