Lifting the veil...
I'm a newbie to eBooks. I had no idea that so many publishers/vendors/books/eReaders existed! Thanks to my V-card in the industry, Jane and Jayne at Dear Author.com have put up a post today about eBook publishers/vendors. Very helpful! In an attempt to spread the word, here is my rundown on the sites. For anyone who can answer my questions or give me any insight...PLEASE!
1. Fictionwise
@-I am a historical romance reader. It appears that while erotica is given it's own classification from romance, the romance genres themselves are not divided. You can not go into a romance subgenre of time travel, paranormal, contemp, or historical. For a strictly historical reader, this makes things very irksome, seeing that I have to read through the blurbs for a lot of books I don't want, just to find one that I may want.
@-What are secure eBooks?
@-I like that they tell the number of words and estimated reading time. I really, really like that!
Other sites that appear to not list sub-categories of romance, therefore not of use to me. (If I am wrong, please correct me!):
eBook Impressions
Amazon eBooks
MobiPocket
Palm-eBook store
3. CyberRead
@-I am a minimalist. So, first impression of Cyber Read...I like it! And then, they have their romance genre divided up into sub-categories, including historicals! Making me happy here...
@-The price is high for authors I've never heard of. I went through the first three pages and didn't know a single name. Do I want to spend $6-7.50 on a new to me author? Um....I think not.
4. Diesel Ebooks is my favorite so far!
@-Right out of the pen, it has romance and all sub-categories listed! Woo-Hoo.
@-Site is minimal and appealing to the eye!
@-Shows the retail price and savings...is the .34 worth not having the book in your hands?
@-Sells Harlequin...surprise!
Not my cup 'o tea:
Elibron
eBook Mall
ESSPC
Paperback Digital (interface not Fiona friendly)
5. eBooks.com
@-Has everything I want...minimalist front page, romance subgenres and Harlequin!
6. eReader
@-Nice site! Romance sub-categories includes Frontier Romance (seeing this Sybil?), Regency, and "passion".
7. Powells
@-First off, they have a 'graphically inclined' link here. So I just have to love the site.
@-I found navigating a bit difficult...had to go to eBooks and then I had to figure out that I have to pick a format, then I had to pick a category, then once I was in romance I could choose a sub-category of historical. That was a lot of work.
@-Best prices in town so far!
Okay, that is just the first half of Jane and Jayne's list and I am exhausted. Going to stop there. Of course, I got a couple of good vendors to add to Samhain and Ellora's Cave. My only question is...do I want to give up my books? I like reading quickies, short stories and erotica digitally, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to give up my paperbacks.
Questions to paperback converted eBook readers...if you want to go back into a book and look something up...is it easy to find?
...Fiona...
1. Fictionwise
@-I am a historical romance reader. It appears that while erotica is given it's own classification from romance, the romance genres themselves are not divided. You can not go into a romance subgenre of time travel, paranormal, contemp, or historical. For a strictly historical reader, this makes things very irksome, seeing that I have to read through the blurbs for a lot of books I don't want, just to find one that I may want.
@-What are secure eBooks?
@-I like that they tell the number of words and estimated reading time. I really, really like that!
Other sites that appear to not list sub-categories of romance, therefore not of use to me. (If I am wrong, please correct me!):
eBook Impressions
Amazon eBooks
MobiPocket
Palm-eBook store
3. CyberRead
@-I am a minimalist. So, first impression of Cyber Read...I like it! And then, they have their romance genre divided up into sub-categories, including historicals! Making me happy here...
@-The price is high for authors I've never heard of. I went through the first three pages and didn't know a single name. Do I want to spend $6-7.50 on a new to me author? Um....I think not.
4. Diesel Ebooks is my favorite so far!
@-Right out of the pen, it has romance and all sub-categories listed! Woo-Hoo.
@-Site is minimal and appealing to the eye!
@-Shows the retail price and savings...is the .34 worth not having the book in your hands?
@-Sells Harlequin...surprise!
Not my cup 'o tea:
Elibron
eBook Mall
ESSPC
Paperback Digital (interface not Fiona friendly)
5. eBooks.com
@-Has everything I want...minimalist front page, romance subgenres and Harlequin!
6. eReader
@-Nice site! Romance sub-categories includes Frontier Romance (seeing this Sybil?), Regency, and "passion".
7. Powells
@-First off, they have a 'graphically inclined' link here. So I just have to love the site.
@-I found navigating a bit difficult...had to go to eBooks and then I had to figure out that I have to pick a format, then I had to pick a category, then once I was in romance I could choose a sub-category of historical. That was a lot of work.
@-Best prices in town so far!
Okay, that is just the first half of Jane and Jayne's list and I am exhausted. Going to stop there. Of course, I got a couple of good vendors to add to Samhain and Ellora's Cave. My only question is...do I want to give up my books? I like reading quickies, short stories and erotica digitally, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to give up my paperbacks.
Questions to paperback converted eBook readers...if you want to go back into a book and look something up...is it easy to find?
...Fiona...
Posted by Kerri Wall at 8:19 AM
10 touched me
So my anni is on July 5th and Linc got a Blue Tooth wireless ear piece for his Blackberry and I had been tossing around the idea of an eBookwise. I bit the bullet this morning and Linc bought me one! Yeah!
So, apparently, from what I can see, I either buy from Fictionwise or I buy with the Rocketbook format. This apparently knocks out several of the ebook dealers above...Diesel Ebooks and Powells mainly. However, Ellora's Cave sells in Rocketbook format and Samhain sells in eBookwise format! Woo-Hoo...all is still right with the world!
Anyone have an eBookwise and can give me any info/tips?
Thanks!
...Fi
Now, I am not going to spill all my ebook content to you here else I'll have nothing to blog about. You'll have to read the weekly articles, but to the extent that I can help you out, I will.
The ability to go and look up stuff in your ebooks is about 100 times easier. Can I say "find" feature? And how about bookmarks? You can bookmark the book up the whazoo. You can annotate the book. You can highlight it. The digital nature of ebooks makes back referencing so much easier than in paper form.
One important concept when determining where to buy is what format you will want to use. I think it is important to be consistent in format buying otherwise you'll need 5 different readers for all your books and that is really inconvenient. The point of ebooks is about convenience and anything that detracts from the big C is a big F in my book.
A pricing, whoo boy, the pricing can vary wildly from site to site. Elibron.com and paperbackdigital, while hard to navigate, sell books at 33% to 40% off. When you can't resell a book, that's important to me. Simon Says sells all of its books at 40% off at its website. The unfortunate thing is that there isn't great customer service from any of those sites. But I suffer through it because of pricing.
JMC just bought an ebookwise.
The above comment was from me, Jane. Not Sybil. S orry about that.
Thanks for all the helpful info Jane! I keep telling myself that slow and steady wins the race but my head is just spinning with all of this!
...Fiona
I bought an eBookwise not long after Jayne posted about ebooks. I'm VERY happy with it.
I've bought so far at Loose Id, Amber Quill, and Samhain, in addition to Fictionwise and eBookwise. And I've uploaded several free ebooks from the University of Virginia etext library. Very easy to use.
I tend to use it for the commute (45 minutes each way), so I don't have to worry about whether I'll finish one book and need to have another book with me. Instead, I buy several ebooks, download them all and have the next one on tap for when I finish. I think, though, that as much as I enjoy the ebook reader, the majority of my reading will still be in paperback format. Just because I like the feel of the book in my hands.
Thanks jmc!
I'm a little worried about 'understanding' my ebook. I tend to not read the instructions and then I'll take it on vacation (minus instructions) and get very, very irritated. LOL
I too have a 30 minute commute and Linc usually drives so I can read...and now I won't have to find my booklight and hope the batteries are good on the drives home!
...Fiona
OMG! LOL I was sitting going what the hell I so don't remember posting that!
OK I need more sleep ;)
My ebook is here! Woo-Hoo!
*passing Syb a pillow*
...Fi
I read both in e and in paper. I read at lot while I'm pretending to work so I'm reading in e there, but I still love my paper. If it's a book I think I'll like I get it in paper. If it's something that looks interesting enough and might keep me from being bored at work I'll give it a try in e.
Like JMC, I also like the fact that if I do finish my paper book in the middle of my commute I don't have to stare off into space, I can pull out my pda and start a new book there. And then continue reading at work! And if I'm unlucky enough to not get a seat it's easier to get the pda out, put it on autoscroll and read there, rather than trying to balance a book and all my other bags and still not fall into the guy sitting next to me because the driver took a turn on two wheels. Ahem.
I do like the fact that ebooks take up no room on my already overcrowded shelves. Yes, my 512MB flash drive is almost near capacity but #1 I can't tell you how many books I've got on it but I know it's more than I'd be able to fit on shelves, and #2 buying another flash drive is cheaper than buying another bookcase (and putting it together, and hammering in the nails crooked, and having no place to set up...you get the idea).
So far so good with the ebookwise. I couldn't believe how fast I had it hooked up and books downloaded into it. I finished one book and started another, changed my mind and picked a third...and I didn't have to pack 5 paperbacks!
I really like how I can alter the backlight.
...Fi
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