Paper in a Digital World

I reminisce about the days of walking into one of the two books store in our mall and browsing the shelves of books. I loved touching the spines, reading the back cover, opening it, and flipping through the first few pages. But it seems nowadays that is all but a memory.

[image error]Yes, there are still bookstores out there. Bookstores that are thriving. But they are not as plentiful as they once were. I can’t say that digital publishing caused this shift, but shopping in general has changed. These days a person can by almost anything they want off the web. And to debate the demise of bookstores as the fault of digital publishing versus the fault being the rise of cyber shopping is a lot like trying to figure out what came first, the chicken or the egg. Does it really matter? This is what we have now.

I admit that I can’t go into a store without buzzing by the books. The grocery store, Target, Walgreens. Even at the thrift store, the bookshelves are the first place I stop. But the last time I was at a Barnes and Noble, I was doing a signing, not shopping. I can’t tell you the last time I bought a book at a store. I order. All the time.

So where do I find these books? I hear about some on BookBub, eBookSoda, and ReadFreely. I see some on Facebook ads and blogs. If I like what I see and the blurb sounds interesting, then I’ll usually add it to my Nook or Kindle. Never to be seen again. LOL

Seriously though. I have no idea what all is on my Nook…or my Kindle. Not to mention the books on my phone and the ones on my Audible app. I can’t trail my fingers down their spines and touch the title and think, “Oh, I remember that one!” Instead I scroll through my ‘shelves’ and think, “When did I buy that?”

Some books I have in e-format and then I turned around and bought it in paper. I’ve said plenty of times that I prefer paper to electronic, but paper books aren’t as readily available as they once were. (Or is that just me?)

So tell me…how do you find your books? Do you have a service like BookBub? And if you do, do you turn around and buy it paper? Do you bee-line for the books at Walmart? Or make time to head over to Lifeway, Mardels, or B&N?

Take Our Poll

Everyone who leaves a comment will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of my latest contemporary (secular) romance, Healing a Heart. It’s the second book in the Cattle Creek Series and releases February 7th!

And as always, thanks for reading!

[image error]