e-books

All posts tagged e-books

Ebooks VS Paper: It’s Not All Or Nothing, Folks

Posted by george on January 6, 2010
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , , . 32 comments

The great debate about the downfall of printed books and the role that ebooks play in that downfall still rages on.  I’ll start this post with a quote highlighted in a book I’m currently reading, The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future .

“…I have lately kept praising the age in which we live, because of the great, indeed divine gift of the new kind of writing (delivery system).  …It was for this reason that I was led to hope that within a short time we should have such a large quantity of books that there wouldn’t be a single work which could not be procured because of a lack of means or scarcity…”

Care to guess what this quote refers to?  Is it the Kindle, or even Google?  Sorry, not even close.  It’s from a letter written less than twenty years after Gutenberg’s Codex machine and references the hopes and fears related to impending change.

One more quote from this same book, and I think it’s important:

“…One medium does not displace another…newspapers did not wipe out the printed books, the radio did not displace the newspaper, television did not destroy the radio and the Internet did not make viewers abandon their TV sets.”

In short, there is plenty of room for ebooks and the printed word.  Can electrons live side by side with cellulose fiber?  If I were pressed to make a prediction I’d say, “Absolutely.  At least for the foreseeable future.”

The machinery of time turns slowly, my friends.  Bibliophiles will not be trashing their book collections anytime soon.  Every day in the library, I see today’s youth coming in and checking out YA books by the dozen.  There seems to be some kind of balance between Warriors and the World of  Warcraft.

As well, I consider myself balanced  in this regard.  Oh, boy do I love my Kindle.  I love reading from it, I love the portability and the features.  I love the free content available and paying nine bucks for a bestseller hurts me feelings nary one bit.  With that said you can have my books when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.  I love my bookcase.  I love adding books to it whenever I can.  I don’t think I’m special or unusual in this regard.  My sister told me recently, “I love my Kindle, but I’ll always be a page turner.”  Couldn’t have said it better myself.

I don’t believe that e-books will ever completely displace the printed word.  There is room enough for both.

Where do you weigh in on the Great Debate?

How To Be Rich and Happy – A Book Review

Posted by george on October 28, 2009
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , . 15 comments

rich-and-happy-bookA few weeks back, Tim Brownson DM’d me on Twitter and asked if I would have a look at the new E-book that he and John P. Strelecky had written.  I know that Tim is a wonderful life coach and that he has helped at least one friend of mine so I said, “Of course!”.

Disclaimer:  I get nothing from this review other than the warm fuzzies of helping out a friend.  I am not an affiliate.  I do recommend the book for purchase and if you plan on doing so, head on over to Tracy O’Connor at I Hate My Message Board and go through her affiliate link – she deserves it.

The first thing you need to know is that this is not a 30 page E-book that was written over a weekend. If you are serious about the topic then you need to know that this is a serious book.  It’s 218 pages.  It’s professionally edited and written.  The layout is slick and enticing.  In short, the package is impressive.

How To Be Rich and Happy is not simply a re-hash of stale blog posts.  The information is cutting edge and backed by research and real world tools designed to help you examine where you currently stand and the path you need to take to get where you want to be.

Make no mistake:  This is no get rich quick scheme whereby !HIDDEN SECRETS ARE REVEALED!  If you’ve been sucked in by other things in the past, go forward into this book with no trepidation whatsoever.  There is no danger here.

I’m in the process of following the methods outlined in the book and I know that it is going to take me some time.  The important thing is that this book has allowed me to build a solid foundation upon which the house I build will be strong, sturdy and exactly what I want.

Do yourself a big, fat favor.  Go get this book, put in the effort that is required.  In the end, you will be on the right path to being Rich and Happy.

Books on Fire, Now it Just Takes a Keystroke

Posted by george on August 29, 2009
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , . 3 comments

destructionI ran across an impressive book at the library the other day.  Here it is:

A Universal History of the Destruction of Books: From Ancient Sumer to Modern-day Iraq.
As a confessed book lover, the title obviously intrigued me.  I’ve spent a bit of time the last day or so reading through this work by Fernando Baez, a world authority on the history of libraries.  He was also a member of the UN committee investigating the destruction of the museums and libraries in Iraq in 2003.

The book chronicles how throughout history tyrants and governments have sought to change the past through the destruction of the written word.

The author postulates that, “…books are not destroyed as physical objects but as links to memory, that is, as one of the axes of identity of a person or community.  There is no identity without memory.”

That is an interesting point.  I think there is a lot of truth there.  Consider, whenever a group or nation tries to take over another, one of the first things they do is destroy the items that are based in culture and history.  The goal is to wipe out the past and supplant it with “new” memories.

Here’s the point of this post:  As we progess further and further along the digital pathway, more and more of our culture is being stored in digital format.  Todays works which could be tomorrows classics are produced now in bits of electrons residing on a computer somewhere.  What implications are there for future tyrannical governements in terms of destroying a society’s identity?  One day, will it be as easy as controlling the internet and poising a finger over the delete key?

If all of our knowledge is digital, would it be easier for our memory to be erased?

E-book review: Get an Agent Guide

Posted by george on March 6, 2009
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , , . 9 comments

100 E-Friendly Agents Open to New Writers

I am completely stoked to start off our new E-book review Fridays with this E-book from Maria Schneider over at Editor Unleashed.

From her “about” page:

Maria Schneider is a freelance writer and editor with a unique take on writing and the publishing industry.

As the former editor of Writer’s Digest magazine, she’s interviewed countless authors, agents and editors and edited the work of prominent authors including Alice Hoffman, Jodi Picoult and Ridley Pearson.

She’s now dedicating herself to being an independent voice and helping other writers through what she’s learned—and continues to learn—about writing and publishing. On Editor Unleashed, you’ll find creativity starters, publishing news & views and visits with agents and authors, so look around and come back often.

First things first

Get an Agent Guide – 100 E-Friendly Agents open to New Writers can be downloaded here

The Review

When I received this e-book to review, I suspected I was in for a treat.  I had been following Maria on Twitter for a while and I found her style engaging and her expertise spot-on.  I opened the .pdf file and here is what I found:

    • Maria gets right down to it.  Page 3 and I’m looking at the agents.  I like that.  I’ve seen so many e-books that fluff for the first twenty pages or so and I’m wondering if I’ll ever get to the heart of the material.
    • The front matter includes some succinct and to the point tips for querying the agents listed
    • There is a simple “How To Use This Guide” to help make certain you get all that you can from the information presented.

The listings

Each of the listings includes:

    • The Agent’s name
    • Agency name
    • The website hyperlink
    • The email address (If an email address is not listed, it’s because there is a submission form directly on the Agency website.
    • The genres accepted

In general

I found this e-book to be thoughtfully laid out and easy to navigate.  The font style and size made for an easy read and the information on each page was manageable.

While I did not click on every hyperlink, all of the ones I did check were working as expected.

Per the Editor Unleashed “Get an Agent” page, the listings were updated/checked as early as two weeks ago.

Finally

Ok, here is my chance to gush a bit.  First, I have to say that I love the concept of this book.  Finding reputable agents who are web savvy and are also accepting new writers would take hundreds of hours of research.  For myself, just having the listings has inspired and lit a fire.

Long time readers of Tumblemoose know that the Writer’s Market book has always been one of my strongest recommendations.  At about 29 bucks, I still recommend it for the valuable market information it contains.  With that said, it is NOT the best place to try and find representation for your work.  It is possible that listings are out of date even well before the publish date.  Agents can move around, emails change, etc…

My point here is that the listings in Get an Agent are current and Maria has done all of the leg work for you.

Recommendation: Yes. At a mere $14.95 it is a true e-book bargain.

Head on over to this page right now and order it up