Eileen Robertson Hamer, author of CHICAGO STORIES: WEST OF WESTERN; ALONG THE RAVENSWOOD; AND AT THE HEART OF CHICAGO. And what does that look like?
Saturday, September 1, 2012
RIP Kindle?
My Kindle died two days ago. First it froze on the second contents page, then flickered to the Agatha Christie cover and a loading bar appeared, showed it half loaded, and froze. After that, nothing.
A day after the sudden death, I found myself wondering at the difference Kindle had made in my life. Not all good.
I never intended to buy a Kindle. I was the one in my reading group who held out, nodding patronizingly at those who praised its variable fonts and compact size. Um-hmm, how nice. But what about actually holding the book, admiring its cover, sniffing that new book smell? What about never needing a recharge? How about that?
Then two things changed. I decided to publish my debut novel (Chicago Stories: West of Western) as an ebook on Amazon Kindle and I entered the hospital for a double knee replacement. I would be in the hospital for almost three weeks of intensive rehab before escaping. I knew I'd go through a book a day and it just wasn't possible to take fifteen or twenty books with me, so I bought my first Kindle and loaded it up with the classics, which were free. Cool, I thought. Free is good. I also bought a few new books.
Kindles are great for hospital stays, compact and easy to hold, but my battery ran down and there was no outlet available near my bed. Yeah, I thought, just as I suspected. The fatal flaw. So when I got home, I went back to my beloved paperbacks.
Then right after Christmas, I published Chicago Stories: West of Western and discovered KDP Select, which gives authors free promo days. Soon I was scanning Facebook and Twitter for freebies and loading up more than I could read. It didn't take long to realize that using the 'look inside' feature was necessary to avoid the poorly written and formatted ebooks. I also realized that if a book read like cold molasses, I could delete it after the first page or so. But still, I was downloading more than I could read, even though I went through at least one a day. I had over a hundred unread novels on my Kindle when it died (and can get them all back when I get the new Kindle).
So I'm not buying a new Kindle for a while. I'm sorting and rereading some of my enormous collection of paperbacks first. One thing is coming clear: I don't think about paper books and ebooks in the same way. I buy a paper book as a forever thing--something I'll reread again and again, a part of my life. An ebook is more like a TV show, a one-time thing to enjoy (or not) and forget. Hmm. Some of my friends have been encouraging me to publish my Chicago Stories series as paperbacks through CreateSpace. Maybe I should?
I still buy my favorite authors in hard copy--Daniel Silva, for instance, Laurie King, Lindsey Davis, the ones I'd hate to lose. Because there's something inherently temporary about a Kindle ebook. I know they can be replaced, but still--what if I was, say, on the Camino in Spain and my battery ran down? What about that?
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Ya know, the other thing...no possibility to download in Argentina. Not that that concerns a lot of people. I have to say I read almost exclusively on the Kindle these days. Still love books. Still love the Kindle.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. I do like the new little one, very light for reading in bed. And it gets free books, too.
DeleteGood points on both ends. I like both for different reasons. My kindle's on my iphone, which means I have it with me everywhere I go, and I love that. Still, I always love having the actual book in my hand. Esp. if it's one of my favorite reads. Glad to have found your blog. :)
ReplyDeleteHey,Kimberley, just looked up your web page, very cool. Thanks for looking me up!
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