Ebooks and Printed Books

Not too long ago someone in my Toastmasters club bought a Kindle reader.  She even did a speech on how much she liked it.  Yes, it has some advantages.  For instance, she told us she can use it while she's driving her car because it has a feature that will read the book out loud.  She also likes it because ebooks are cheaper than printed books, and she can download a book in seconds on Amazon.

Well, being an author, I had plenty to say after her speech, such as how does an author sign an ebook?

For some applications I'm sure an ebook is just fine.  For instance, once I'm sold out of my self-published cookbook, Anna's Kitchen, I'll probably put up a Kindle version on Amazon.  Kindle makes a lot of sense for a cookbook.  After all, if I'm up to my elbows kneading bread dough the last thing I want to do is stop and clean up so I can turn to the next page of the cookbook.  And that read out loud thingy would be handy in that scenario.

An e-book, however, just isn't the same as holding a printed book in your hand and feeling the touch of the page, or the texture of a hard cover book.  There's a certain joy in handling an old book, particularly a book that's been handed down the family, or one that has an inscription written long, long ago, perhaps by a family member long gone.  That's just a quality and experience you'll never get from an e-book.  And then there's that author's signature.  That can make a book collectible.

Yes, I think there's a place for an e-book.  I even have a Kindle version of Gunfight at the O.K. Corral available on Amazon now.  But as for me personally, I think I'll pass on the Kindle.  I prefer having a real book in my hands.

My thought for the day.

GM