Book Heresy! A Kindle Tale.
I like books.
Not just the reading or being taken away to some place that exists solely in the imaginations of myself and the writer, but the actual, physical books. I like cracking open a hardcover for the first time or thumbing through the soft stack of pages in a paperback. I like seeing the goofy, usually-outdated author photos in the back. I like how they line up on the shelf, and that satisfying feeling of having absolutely everything in alphabetical order.
And then came the e-book.
E-books are not a new thing. They’ve been around awhile. Just, you know, man decided that having these cheesy bulky hard-to-access files wasn’t enough and created the fire that is the Kindle and nook and so on, and it was good.
I should stop here, before I continue, and get back to the book thing. My good friend Leslie owns a bookstore. You know, the small town order-it-if-it-ain’t-in-stock type. She is very anti-Kindle. In fact, I am pretty sure that if she is reading this, she already had a heart attack at reading the words “Kindle” and “good” in the same sentence. Leslie’s entire existence depends on people not purchasing the Kindle. Or, well, you’d think.
So about the e-book thing. Nick got a kindle for his birthday back in October. We were both a little fascinated by it and at first not really sure what to do with it. I mean, after all, he already had so many books, and the e-books generally cost more than the actual, physical books, but hey! It was pretty cool! He started off with a bunch of free books – stuff like Frankenstein and other old things that have already passed into public domain. No harm there, nobody’s losing out.
Then he found a series of short stories by Jim Butcher, meant to fall alongside the Dresden Files series. Available only in e-book. That was fun.
And then came Amortals.
I’ve made a few friends thanks to the internet – alright, a lot – and a vast majority of these folks are writer types. When these folks publish things, I want to read them. I’m interested. So when Matt Forbeck announced his latest, Amortals, I was on top of it. It was exactly my kind of read. I wanted a copy right then.
Except, at the time, it was only available in e-book. I hesitated. I hemmed and hawed about it a little bit. And then I whipped out my card, punched in $3 to Amazon, and the book was zipped over to the kindle. Just like that. I was laying in bed and suddenly I had a brand new book to read.
The thing about Amortals is that it’s futuristic. It’s very sci-fi. And, if I dare say it, it was an absolutely phenomenal read on the Kindle in particular, because the device is so futuristic and sci-fi. It pulled me into the story in a way that I’m surprised to say I’m not sure an actual paper copy would have. Except that by the time I was done, I wanted the paper copy. I had sampled the book for $3 and now I wanted to really, actually own a copy of it. The Kindle was seeing the movie at the movie theatre, and now I wanted it on DVD.
Last night, or early this morning, or something like it – Chuck Wendig also put his latest out for the Kindle. A collection of short stories by the appropriate title of Irregular Creatures. Unlike Forbeck’s novel, it’s exclusively for the Kindle – in fact, Chuck’s doing a sort of experiment with “Can Self-Publishing Be Profitable?” Naturally, I picked up a copy of that too.
I think that’s what makes the Kindle so useful to me – not as a replacement to actual paper books, but as a supplement. So far most of the things Nick and I have loaded up onto his have been things that aren’t available as paper books – Amortals being the lone exception, and even then I’m holding out for a regular copy. Despite my allegiance to the local bookstore, I gotta say – maybe we’re on to something good here.
John Green, a New York Times bestselling, Printz award winning author recently stated that he doesn’t care how people are reading, he cares that they are reading. Isn’t that how we should approach the subject? After all – if you like the book, you’re probably going to want to go get a hard copy sometime anyway. So take it for a $3 test drive, and then get the hell out there and support your local bookstore.
Any other kindle owners out there? Thinking about getting one? Staunch anti-kindleist? Leave a comment. Lets talk books.
To me, more variety in publishing formats is a GOOD thing! Amazon, through Kindle, is obviously promoting their own business and self-interest. I’d like to see Amazon provide an electronic copy of a book gratis of each bound book you purchase. While you can now loan a Kindle format book, I don’t believe you can give it away. I’m not personally interested in an electronic reader until the market settles out and a common software format emerges. Right now, it is like Beta vs VHS or Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD. A common format would make it possible for independent bookstores to also sell electronic books. There are some circumstances in my life where an electronic reader would be most welcome. Textbooks, which I fortunately don’t have to deal with anymore, is an obvious choice. Airline travel where weight and volume make a big difference is another obvious place where electronic books would be highly desirable.