Bruce Beckham's Blog - Posts Tagged "kindle"
Kindle pros and cons
Quite a lot of people contact me to say they don’t own (or don’t even want to own) a Kindle, or similar.
Mostly this is because they love the sensory experience of real books, and the pride and pleasure of being surrounded by their personal collection.
I’m in accord.
Plus, you don’t have to switch off real books for take-off and landing.
My daytime reading is always a printed book.
However, there are some pros of the Kindle.
As an author, you can reach anyone, pretty much anywhere in the world, instantly. The breaking of the stranglehold held by publishers has struck a great blow for freedom and enterprise.
More prosaically, you can read in the dark without disturbing your partner, and in the bath without fear of falling asleep.
And, finally (though this is not intended to be an exhaustive list), there is the built-in dictionary.
Touch a word and up comes the meaning.
I’m reading Sherlock Holmes at the moment. Not only was Conan Doyle writing in the idiom of his time, but also he clearly possessed a vocabulary the size of a planet. Every few pages a word comes up that I just don’t know.
Last night it was barouche: “a four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage with a collapsible hood over the rear half, a seat in front for the driver, and seats facing each other for the passengers”.
Fact and fiction in one fell swoop!
Mostly this is because they love the sensory experience of real books, and the pride and pleasure of being surrounded by their personal collection.
I’m in accord.
Plus, you don’t have to switch off real books for take-off and landing.
My daytime reading is always a printed book.
However, there are some pros of the Kindle.
As an author, you can reach anyone, pretty much anywhere in the world, instantly. The breaking of the stranglehold held by publishers has struck a great blow for freedom and enterprise.
More prosaically, you can read in the dark without disturbing your partner, and in the bath without fear of falling asleep.
And, finally (though this is not intended to be an exhaustive list), there is the built-in dictionary.
Touch a word and up comes the meaning.
I’m reading Sherlock Holmes at the moment. Not only was Conan Doyle writing in the idiom of his time, but also he clearly possessed a vocabulary the size of a planet. Every few pages a word comes up that I just don’t know.
Last night it was barouche: “a four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage with a collapsible hood over the rear half, a seat in front for the driver, and seats facing each other for the passengers”.
Fact and fiction in one fell swoop!
Dreaming of a Paperwhite Christmas?
In the UK, leading bookseller Waterstones has recently discontinued the Kindle from its stores.
Personally, I have always found it curious that the device was merchandised alongside real books in the first place. Isn’t it a kind of Trojan horse? At best it misreads the customer’s very motivation for visiting a wonderful bookstore.
Now, before I say any more, I ought to confess that my author’s colours are pinned firmly to the Kindle mast. Were it not for Kindle, there would be no Bruce Beckham, no Inspector Skelgill.
But I prefer to read real books, and do so at every opportunity. I love to be surrounded by them in my study. I can’t imagine how the room would look with just a lonely Kindle propped on a shelf. (Tidy, I suppose.)
However, the Kindle (or e-reader generally) does have its advantages. And in a small way I am a convert.
Preeminent among these benefits is finding one’s way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. (You need one with a backlit screen.) Having a youngest daughter that randomly camps on our bedroom floor in the early hours, such a device is a great boon.
You can read in the dark without disturbing your partner, and when you drop off the screen shuts down and it remembers your page. (Unless you do ‘sleep reading’ like me, when you continue to ‘swipe’ despite being otherwise unconscious.)
And there is the convenience factor. All the books you need for a holiday in a slim volume. Plus the battery seems to last forever, especially compared to today’s greedy mobiles.
So, are we heading for a world without bookshops?
Well, if Waterstones are right, perhaps the tide is beginning to turn. A friend of mine in Edinburgh is going gangbusters with her indie store. And, Christmas is coming.
Today I’ve been panicking and ordering presents galore. Oh, yes – from Amazon. But... the books... I bought real ones. I mean – how can you give an e-book for Christmas?
Well, you can, actually, it’s quite easy – but what I’m saying is an e-book lacks a certain essential gift quality. Call it substance. You can’t wrap it (this is actually a benefit for anyone receiving a gift from me), you can’t cram it in a stocking, and you can’t convey the trouble you’ve gone to (despite, in my case, an inability to chose anything remotely appropriate).
So it has to be solid, rectangular, ergonomically rewarding, artfully designed, functional, and pleasing to receive.
Wait a minute – that sounds like a Kindle Paperwhite!
Personally, I have always found it curious that the device was merchandised alongside real books in the first place. Isn’t it a kind of Trojan horse? At best it misreads the customer’s very motivation for visiting a wonderful bookstore.
Now, before I say any more, I ought to confess that my author’s colours are pinned firmly to the Kindle mast. Were it not for Kindle, there would be no Bruce Beckham, no Inspector Skelgill.
But I prefer to read real books, and do so at every opportunity. I love to be surrounded by them in my study. I can’t imagine how the room would look with just a lonely Kindle propped on a shelf. (Tidy, I suppose.)
However, the Kindle (or e-reader generally) does have its advantages. And in a small way I am a convert.
Preeminent among these benefits is finding one’s way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. (You need one with a backlit screen.) Having a youngest daughter that randomly camps on our bedroom floor in the early hours, such a device is a great boon.
You can read in the dark without disturbing your partner, and when you drop off the screen shuts down and it remembers your page. (Unless you do ‘sleep reading’ like me, when you continue to ‘swipe’ despite being otherwise unconscious.)
And there is the convenience factor. All the books you need for a holiday in a slim volume. Plus the battery seems to last forever, especially compared to today’s greedy mobiles.
So, are we heading for a world without bookshops?
Well, if Waterstones are right, perhaps the tide is beginning to turn. A friend of mine in Edinburgh is going gangbusters with her indie store. And, Christmas is coming.
Today I’ve been panicking and ordering presents galore. Oh, yes – from Amazon. But... the books... I bought real ones. I mean – how can you give an e-book for Christmas?
Well, you can, actually, it’s quite easy – but what I’m saying is an e-book lacks a certain essential gift quality. Call it substance. You can’t wrap it (this is actually a benefit for anyone receiving a gift from me), you can’t cram it in a stocking, and you can’t convey the trouble you’ve gone to (despite, in my case, an inability to chose anything remotely appropriate).
So it has to be solid, rectangular, ergonomically rewarding, artfully designed, functional, and pleasing to receive.
Wait a minute – that sounds like a Kindle Paperwhite!
Cover to Cover
Did you know when you borrow a book from Amazon the author gets paid by the page? While your Kindle is online, Amazon monitors your reading progress. The more pages read, the more the royalties.
It didn’t take long for some sneaky publishers to invent ways to trick Amazon. For instance, putting the Contents at the end of the book, with a hyperlink at the beginning. Apparently Amazon’s supercomputer can’t tell the difference between the speed of normal reading and the speed of light!
Recently Amazon began suspending books partaking of such shifty practices. And all hard-working authors would say, ‘Here, here’ to that. But I think it highlights a more important matter – and that is delivering the promise to the reader.
According to a formula devised by Wisconsin mathematics professor Jordan Ellenberg, only 1.9% of people finished Hard Choices by Hilary Clinton. As for Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, the figure was 6.6%. And just a quarter of readers completed Fifty Shades of Grey – although perhaps one can draw other conclusions for why that might be the case!
Okay, we’ve all been defeated by certain books (in my case it’s Middlemarch, twice – hard to believe, I know) – but surely the one true measure of an author’s achievement is that their works are read to completion?
Sir Walter Scott, Caledonia’s literary giant, noted that: “the author must pay heed to the time and patience of the audience.” Nowadays, when the writer fails in this regard, it’s not just the reader who is disappointed, but also the author who takes a hit in their pocket.
It didn’t take long for some sneaky publishers to invent ways to trick Amazon. For instance, putting the Contents at the end of the book, with a hyperlink at the beginning. Apparently Amazon’s supercomputer can’t tell the difference between the speed of normal reading and the speed of light!
Recently Amazon began suspending books partaking of such shifty practices. And all hard-working authors would say, ‘Here, here’ to that. But I think it highlights a more important matter – and that is delivering the promise to the reader.
According to a formula devised by Wisconsin mathematics professor Jordan Ellenberg, only 1.9% of people finished Hard Choices by Hilary Clinton. As for Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, the figure was 6.6%. And just a quarter of readers completed Fifty Shades of Grey – although perhaps one can draw other conclusions for why that might be the case!
Okay, we’ve all been defeated by certain books (in my case it’s Middlemarch, twice – hard to believe, I know) – but surely the one true measure of an author’s achievement is that their works are read to completion?
Sir Walter Scott, Caledonia’s literary giant, noted that: “the author must pay heed to the time and patience of the audience.” Nowadays, when the writer fails in this regard, it’s not just the reader who is disappointed, but also the author who takes a hit in their pocket.
Are e-books too expensive?
In bed a few nights ago I found myself thrown into a panic.
I opened my Kindle to discover I’d finished my last book.
There ensued what in marketing jargon is called a "distress" purchase.
Next morning I woke to an email from Amazon informing me I’d spent £5.99 (roughly $8.50).
Later I discovered the paperback on sale for as little as £1.99 ($2.82), including delivery.
Now, I’ve been hearing that sales of e-books have peaked – and when I noticed ‘15th Affair’ by James Patterson for $14.39 (e-book) and $13.43 (paperback) – I began to think, “No wonder!”
The first ‘Jack Reacher’ I found for $7.14 (e-book) and $7.19 (paperback).
And the opening ‘Harry Potter’ on the UK site for £5.99 (e-book) versus £3.49 (paperback).
Sure, without Prime membership there could be some freight costs to add for the hard copies – but you probably get the gist.
Personally, I think digital reading has a long way to grow – but it looks to me that, as yet, the big publishers have not wholeheartedly embraced the free market.
I opened my Kindle to discover I’d finished my last book.
There ensued what in marketing jargon is called a "distress" purchase.
Next morning I woke to an email from Amazon informing me I’d spent £5.99 (roughly $8.50).
Later I discovered the paperback on sale for as little as £1.99 ($2.82), including delivery.
Now, I’ve been hearing that sales of e-books have peaked – and when I noticed ‘15th Affair’ by James Patterson for $14.39 (e-book) and $13.43 (paperback) – I began to think, “No wonder!”
The first ‘Jack Reacher’ I found for $7.14 (e-book) and $7.19 (paperback).
And the opening ‘Harry Potter’ on the UK site for £5.99 (e-book) versus £3.49 (paperback).
Sure, without Prime membership there could be some freight costs to add for the hard copies – but you probably get the gist.
Personally, I think digital reading has a long way to grow – but it looks to me that, as yet, the big publishers have not wholeheartedly embraced the free market.
