eReaders are tumbling in price, but they still represent an investment in money.  And there’s the time commitment, too.   I don’t know about you, but I dithered for weeks until I finally commited to the Sony reader and the ePub format.

Meantime, you’re still buying paperbacks that you will have to rebuy in ebook someday.

Would you like to be able to buy ebooks now?  And no, you don’t have to read on your computer — although you can if you want.

There’s a few different choices for reading ebooks that don’t need either either a computer or an ereader.  Two have been around for a while, and one is new:

1. Smartphones

2. iPods

3. Tablets – Android or iPad.

Since my Sony eReader went belly-up over a year ago, I’ve been using my smartphone.  I actually prefer it, because I always have my phone on me, and it’s always charged.  And the great thing about the smartphone is that I can download and install every ereader software program out there, so there isn’t an ebook format I can’t read.  Whereas with the Sony I was limited to ePub and PDF.

What do you have available to you already?  There’s a pretty good chance you’ve got one of these three devices.

If you don’t, then another alternative is a mini-laptop or netbook computer — one of the ten or eight inch long ones that come with no disk drive and no moving parts.  I’m not suggesting you buy one, but if you have one already, they make good temporary ereaders if you have none of the above, because they’re mobile, and not all that unweildy.  Plus, you can load them up with all the reader software, too.

Any of these devices make good ereaders – either temporary or permanent, or secondary.  One of the sweet things about the Kindle software, for instance, is that it syncs your books across your desktop, cellphone, netbook, ereader (if you have one), and “the cloud” – the online reading location if you read your books online — plus any other devices to which you download and install the Kindle software.

Once you figure out what you want to read ebooks on, then it’s just a matter of downloading and installing the software for the various readers.  Mac computers and devices usually come pre-installed with great readers that handle just about any format, but if you’re deficient in any way, you might have to fill the gaps.

Here’s the links to make it easy.  Once you get there, you’ll have to pick the appropriate device and operating system for you.

Kindle for Cloud Reader, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android cellphones, Windows Phone 7, Blackberry Smartphones, Windows and Mac computers, iPad and Android Tablets.

FBReader for Android Phones

Adobe Digital Editions (Windows and Mac OS) – reads PDF and ePub very nicely.

Mobipocket Reader (Windows PC, Blackberry, Windows mobile, Symbian OS, Palm OS) – reads Mobi and PRC formats

Nook for iPad, iPhone, Android, PC, Mac – reads ePub, and the older versions will also handle eReader format (PDB).

Once you’ve installed the software for all the popular formats (Kindle, ePub, Mobi/PRC is probably all you need these days – and they all read PDF), then you get to do the really fun stuff:  pick and choose really cheap books to download and read.

And there’s also a whole slew of free ones, too.  Here’s the free ones at Amazon to get you started.

Do you know of any better readers than the ones I quoted?  I like poking around new software…

__________________________

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I’ve been feeling sort-of guilty for a few years now because I started reading electronically over ten years ago, first on my Palm Pilot, then on my cellphone.  Then, when dedicated e-readers emerged, I finally thought I’d better put my money where my profession lived, and buy one of the damned things.

I didn’t actually buy one, in the end.  I got a Sony reader for Christmas.  Although if you want to stretch the point, I did end up buying it, really.  The money comes out of the same bank account.

Long story short, that ereader didn’t last the year.  The battery fritzed before the next Christmas rolled around.  And I was never all that impressed with the software that managed the books.  But it did get me over to the ePub format for ebooks, so that’s a positive. It also introduced me to Calibre, the electronic ebook library management software, which has been a godsend.

But I was incredibly grateful when I could head straight back to my cellphone to read books, and load up the latest ereading software for every format out there, including Kindle. I could relax and enjoy my reading once more.  Why?

1. My cellphone reads any format ebooks I come across
2. I always have it with me.
3. It’s always charged.
4. I can whip it out and read in line-ups
5. I can read one-handed.
6. It’s back-lit
7. It does a heap of other things besides read books, including remind me to stop reading, when I really need to go on to something less important, like, oh, that work thing.
8. It also plays music.
9. And take photos…and you get the idea.

A couple of years ago on this blog I ran a long series of posts on the available types of ereaders, including laptops, cellphones, tablets, ereaders…the lot.  It was one of the most popular series on the blog, and got a heap of traffic.  I have considered updating the series, and even did a bit of research into ereaders.  That’s when I decided there was no way I’m going to do a series on ereaders.

There are simply dozens, if not hundreds of the buggers out there now.  I could spend weeks updating everyone on ereaders and when I was done, the series would already be out of date.  Ereaders are evolving and emerging that fast.

But…I don’t think a series on ereaders is actually worth while doing at all.  Because I’ve noticed what I think is a quietly emerging trend.  I don’t think people are buying ereaders anymore.  I think people are starting to do what I did two years ago, only they’re doing a scaled-up version of it.

People are buying mini-tablets.

The iPad2 -- note the Kindle logo on the screen.

Apple made this possible with their iPad, which revolutionized hand-held computing.  But the iPad was clunky, expensive, and people had to wrap their heads around the whole concept and get used to it.  Well, they’ve done that.  And while they were doing that, the rest of the computing world caught up.  Including Apple, which just brought out the iPad2, which is sleeker, quicker, and a bit more reasonable in price.  It also…very important…carries the Kindle software, as well as it’s own ereader software.  Plus you can load any other software you like onto the iPad.

That makes the iPad an ereader that can handle any ebook format you throw at it, plus it can do anything else you want it to do, including play music, take photos, plus it’s back-lit, will remind you to stop reading, will handle email, the internet, and much, much more…

The Acer Tablet -- Also note the Kindle and other ereading software bundled together

While Apple were refining and producing the iPad 2, Acer, a manufacturer of reasonably priced computers and laptops, grabbed hold of the idea of hand-held computing and combined it with the Android platform, an open-source programming code that hackers and programmers just adore.  They just brought out the Acer mini-tablet, which isn’t much bigger than the iPad 2 in physical size.  It is also four times cheaper than the cheapest version of the iPad 2.    The Acer tablet also carries Kindle ereading software, plus any other software you care to load onto it.  Plus it’s backlit, will remind you to stop reading, plays music, reads email, accesses the internet and much, much more….

There are other mini-tablets out there, and I’m certain that every computer manufacturer will hop into the market with their version.  HP have one, for instance, but the price is exhorbitant, and performance is so-so, while the size isn’t impressive enough to call it a hand-held anything.

The Acer Tablet and the iPad2 are small enough to be considered hand-helds, while being powerful enough to have real computer characteristics.  These two, and any others that follow, will pave the way for the next revolution in ebook reading.

Or at least, that’s what I think, anyway.

_________________________________

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When it comes time to write these posts, my habit is to open up my reading software on my cellphone — Kindle, the ePub reader, Acrobat, etc — and find what it was that I’ve been reading lately, and report on that.

Which puts me in an interesting position this month.

First up, I’ve been working my way through Time to Write, a how-to by Kelly L. Stone, which is really a compilation of time saving tips from other authors.  I’m  always interested in learning how to write faster, or find more time for writing, so this book was of interest.  So far, I’ve learned nothing new.  I’m hopeful, though…

____

I have been reading one book book — a print book. Fast Fit by Sandra Betzina, a sewing classic.  (My other obsession – one I don’t get nearly enough time for.)  If there is a reason print books will hang around, it’s because of books like this one, which wouldn’t translate well to ebook with the state of current technology.  I could only read this on a big screen tablet, in PDF, right now.  It’s super graphics heavy.

But the book IS making me wish I could offload some of my writing time and get back to the sewing machine.  I don’t have any upcoming reader conventions to give me that excuse anymore…

_________

And my confession is also the third book I found open on my cellphone.

I gave a copy of Fatal Wild Child to a co-worker for Christmas, and she started reading it before the holiday break.  One morning she came steaming into work and confronted me at my desk, her hands on her hips, accusing me of ruining her sleep the previous night.

“I just got to the part where they’re in the room for the night.  All that incredible tension in the restaurant and then she goes and does…that!”  She shook her head.  “And now I have to wait until my lunchbreak to find out what happens next!”

I blinked a few times in surprise.  I was pleased, of course.  What writer wouldn’t be?  The news that I had deprived someone of sleep because of my writing is very hard to take.

What surprised me was the bit-that-came-next, after the restaurant.  I had forgotten about that bit of that scene.  During that day I kept trying to rememer the sequence of events and scenes in the book.  I think you can guess what happened next.  I gave up and loaded the book onto my cellphone and read it, to remind myself of the details of the story.

Yes, I do read my own stories every now and again.  But I like to read them when they’re so cold they’re frozen:  When I don’t remember who said what, and what comes next.  Oh, I always remember the big sweeping movements of the story, but not the little things.  The small moments.  Bits of dialogue.  Pulse pause moments I managed to squeeze in.   When it’s been long enough for me to forget those things, then I stand a chance of being at least a little bit surprised and pleased, just like any other reader.

Reading Fatal Wild Child was a nice escape for a couple of hours, and a refresher.  I had, indeed, forgotten some of the moments I’d got in there.

____________________________

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This is the second post in a series.
Part 1: Are Print Publishers Really Doomed?
Part 2: Are Print Books Really Doomed?
Part 3: Do I HAVE To Read E-Books?
Part 4: Do I Have to Buy Indie Books?
_____

Are physical books really going to disappear forever, amen?

Not altogether, like dinosaurs.

But their existences as the primary form of reading novels is definitely on the wane, and in a few years time, reading novels on paper will be considered “cute.”

A few years after that, it will be considered downright old-fashioned and slightly anti-social because of the environmental and social aspects (paper, ink toxins, not sharing your files).

Reading print books will become inconvenient, expensive and awkward:

1.  The cost of print books will climb in comparison to ebooks.

At the moment they’re almost on a par because the publishing industry is still trying on different pricing models for ebooks.  But there is a huge pressure on publishing to lower the price of ebooks.

There is also a huge pressure on them to hoist the price of print books.

Every time they cut down the size of their print run, the individual price of each book goes up, because of economies of scale.  Print runs have been diminishing for years, and now ebooks are skyrocketing in sales, those print runs are going to sharply drop.

Every year, too, the price of paper goes up.  Of course, publishers hand those costs on to the reader.

2.  It’s going to be harder to simply buy print books.

Bookstores are closing their doors all over the world, so if you’re used to heading to your favourite mall for your books, pretty soon, you won’t be able to.  Little independents will drop off quickly, too.

Amazon and on-line retailers of print books will be a last resort for buying books, but you still have to wait two, five or ten days (depending on where you are, and where you’re buying from) for your books to arrive.

It’s hardly the same as instant downloading, like you get with ebooks:  I had a sleepless night the other night, and was listening to an audio book in bed, but had to keep pausing it to go back and re-listen.  It occurred to me that I wouldn’t mind having the actual book instead of the audio version.  So I flipped over to my Kindle software, surfed through Amazon on-line, found the book, bought it, opened to the page I was at, and started reading text instead of listening, all at 3:00 a.m. in the morning.  And I never lifted my head from my pillow the entire time, or moved my cellphone more than an inch sideways.  Mark slept the night through, undisturbed.  That sort of convenience is impossible with print books, and print books are going to become even more inconvenient in the future.

The other purchasing factor that will come into play soon is that some publishers will simply choose not to release a title in print at all.

Printing a book is expensive, cumbersome, and will soon become a waste of time and money as more readers move over to e-book reading.  On some titles, publishers will experiment, and not print the title at all (some publishers already release only in e-book format, and they’re doing quite nicely, thank you).   The list of titles not available in print will increase as time goes on.

3.  Reading in print will become socially unusual

I’m tempted to say “socially unacceptable” except that I think it will be looked at more as an eccentricity than bad manners — like someone who insists on using candles instead of light globes — it’s kind of quaint.

There’s also the environmental impact side of insisting on paper that will become more and more of an issue as more people convert — something to be aware of if you’re determined, by gumb, to have your books and read ‘em, too.

4.  Print Books will become cheap and shoddy, or horribly luxurious and expensive

Bet you hadn’t thought of this one.

I’ve already spoken about the price of print books going up because of economies of scale.  But this is a different matter.  There will be publishers who continue to cater to readers who insist, damn it!, on having print copies.  After all, there’s still candles and candle-makers in the world, too.  But print books will split into two different types of books.

You will no longer have the trade paperbacks and reasonably priced, well-produced books with gold-leaf stamped covers, etc.  You’ll get the cheap, cheap paperback versions, and luxury top-of-the-line print volumes for the collectors.

The cheap print editions will be for the eccentrics who won’t read ebooks.  These will be on crappy, flimsy paper, printed in the most economical way possible, and they won’t last.  The covers won’t have anything fancy — no die-stamping, gold leaf, nothing.  Print readers will no longer be the primary market, so the print edition will barely get any attention at all.

But it won’t be cheap.  Oh no.  It will be more expensive that the e-book (paper is still expensive, and print runs are never cheap).  Look to see prices in the range of two to three or even four times the price of the e-book.  Ten years from now, expect to pay nearly five times the price of the e-book for your print edition.  And that’s just for the cheap print edition.

The luxury edition, on the other hand, will be for millionaires and the true eccentric collectors who want books bound in real leather (none of this faux crud, thank you), with gold leaf stamping, brass finishing, the works.  I don’t even want to guess what the price of these sorts of editions are going to run to.

But there will be publishers and subsidiary presses who will make a nice little market for themselves turning out luxury print editions of books like this.   But they’re not really books in the end.  They’re decorator items.  Because you don’t ever really read them.

And alas…I don’t think anyone will want to print romances this way.

________

So, are print books really doomed?

They’re not about to die out this century, but I think the writing is on the wall.  Companies and groups like Google and Project Gutenberg are already making efforts to bring all text over to electronic because they already foresee the day when that’s the only version we use.

That day is coming.  I just think it’s going to get here a lot faster than many of us believe…or want to believe.

Next:  Do I HAVE To Read eBooks?

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This is the first post in a series.
Part 1: Are Print Publishers Really Doomed?
Part 2: Are Print Books Really Doomed?
Part 3: Do I HAVE To Read E-Books?
Part 4: Do I Have to Buy Indie Books?
_____

Are print publishers really doomed?

In a word, no.

Oh, the industry is going through all sorts of shake ups and dire times, no argument.

But publishing – especially fiction publishing — has always been a business not for the weak of heart.  Businessmen looking for guaranteed returns go elsewhere.  You don’t get into fiction publishing unless some part of you loves books for the sake of story, not the doubtful returns they might bring.

So publishers already in the game are used to fantastic odds and belt-tightening.

They’ve just never seen a revolution coming at ‘em before.

The smart publishers, though, have already embraced the idea that ebooks are the wave of the future.  They’ve retooled and reworked their business model and are offering new deals for authors and readers.

Already, many of the New York publishers trade electronic rights first these days.  Print rights for a novel have already become subsidiary rights.

So, will print publishers disappear?

Some may.  It’s a fact that this industry is unforgiving and publishers close their doors all the time.  With the change over to ebooks, some publishers may not be able to make the leap.  Maybe they’ll fumble it by being too greedy with their pricing structure for the new technology.  Perhaps they won’t be able to get a grip on the delivery of the new technology.  Perhaps the leaders of their organization simply can’t cope with the idea of not printing paper books and will bail out of the business on principle.

But most print publishers will morph into e-book publishers.

And then they will face their next big challenge:  Indie authors.

Next:  Are Print Books Really Doomed?

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I finally got a new cellphone. Deep sigh of relief.

It’s an Android phone — the new Samsung HD 4G Galaxy S.  I chose it very deliberately for the width of the screen.  I shopped for a cellphone/reader.

The very first thing I did, once I had figured out what all the buttons did, was download reader software for all the various ebook formats I own, so I can read all my books on my cellphone and not have to swap over to any other device or (ugh.) my desktop or <sigh> my netbook.

I am now a very happy camper.

Although I haven’t been getting a whole heap of reading done just now — more on that in a minute.

On Kindle I’m…well, trying not to sound too narcissitic, I’m re-reading Blood Knot, because I’m writing the sequel.  Although I did just finish Dead Reckoning, the last in the southern vampire series by Charlaine Harris.

And in hardcover (yes, actual print!) I’m reading Onward by Howard Schultz, the special partners’ edition that every Starbucks employee received on the company’s 40th anniversary recently.

A lot of my reading time has been eaten up lately by (gasp!) television.  But not live television (wash your mouth out!).  I’ve been catching up with a series I’ve just discovered:  Castle.  Featuring a detective thriller writer who teams up with a tough female homocide cop to solve murders in New York City, the series has got everything: good looking stars, great story lines, a romantic sub-text that has me totally hooked, and story lines that don’t give everything away in the first twenty minutes.  I’m usually well ahead of the writer on cop shows, but not this one.  It’s the tail end of the episode before I nail it.  That means the writing is tight and good.   And yesterday I learned that both stars are Canadian…and Nathan Fillion, who plays Richard Castle, is from my home town, Edmonton.  Nah, I’m not biased at all!

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Since the demise of my Sony eReader (yes, the battery squawked and died, so the reader is a ghost now), I’ve been forced to read any ePub format books on my netbook, using the Adobe Digital Library software, as the universe as seen fit not to provide a decent ePub format reader for Blackberry Storm cellphones yet.  The major inconvenience is driving me crazy.

But, I was interviewed recently for Two Lips Reviews (which will go public some time in April) and that interview guilted me into picking up again Wayne Dyer’s You’ll See It When You Believe It, as a way of combating negativity and disapproval. Yes, yes, I really am an insecure writer!

On my desk right now:  Guerrilla Marketing for Writers.  An oldy but a goodie.  I bought it before ebooks were really much of a thought in anyone’s minds, so now I’m stuck with the paper copy. <grin>

On my cellphone, in the Mobipocket reader:  The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein.  Going back to my SF roots.

And on my cellphone in the eReader:  Moon Kissed by Michele Hauf, a  Harlequin Nocturnes title.  I’ve only just started it — literally a page or two in.  I made the mistake of buying the second one in a series, so I’m not sure I’ll be getting much further on, though.  I keep going back to Heinlein instead.

No related posts.