Local libraries and e-books

Okay, remember last month when I talked about my feelings on the Kindle 3 after having one for a year? Well, something has changed since then and now. Something that is worth telling you guys.

My local library started lending e-books. And I love it, for several simple reasons:

• It's easy. You think pirating books is easy? Well, checking out an e-book is easier and 100% legal. All you do is select the book of your choice, and, if you're using a Kindle, download it through Amazon like any other e-book.
• You don't have to go to the physical library to check books out. As long as you have a computer and wi-fi access for your e-reader (3G is apparently out for now), you can check out books from anywhere and at anytime your heart desires.
• As such, you don't necessarily have to live near your library of choice, as long as you have a library card. Maybe your nearest library is over an hour away? Well, it's not a whole lot easier to support it. Maybe you're going on vacation? Well, support your local library from across the world!
• Your library books expire on their own. That means no more worrying about getting your books back on time and no more overdue book fees.

Of course, several of these things are a bit troublesome for the future of libraries. There's a lot of debate going on about whether libraries should have to pay for multiple e-book licenses, whether they should have to buy new licenses after a certain number of lendings in order to compensate for traditional book "wear and tear," and how they are going to survive without the funds provided by overdue book fees.

I don't have any solutions for these problems, but I can definitely say that I love the convenience of checking out an e-book via my local library. It doesn't seem like a feature that would be going away anytime soon, so I guess I'm curious as to what you guys think.

So how do you feel about the e-book revolution in regards to the traditional library? Should libraries be treating e-books the same way they treat normal book checkouts? And, of course, have you ever checked out an e-book from your local library, or are you still waiting for it to offer the service? Tell me your thoughts in the comments.

One year with a Kindle 3

About a year ago I got a Kindle 3 and joined the world of e-books. Despite appearances, I was a bit wary about having an e-reader. Why? I just happen be one of those tactile people who like collecting things, so the idea of hardcovers arranged neatly on my shelf is a happy one. Either way, I thought I'd give you an overview of my thoughts after a year of e-reader happiness.

The good:

• E-ink. As a person who gets migraines from eye strain, this is a Big Deal to me. Screw backlit LCD screens--when you want to be reading something for hours on end, e-ink is the way to go.
• With programs liks calibre and DownloadStory, you can read nearly anything on the Kindle, including fanfiction and unpublished manuscripts. I love being able to do this.
• Reading while eating, crocheting, etcetera is now completely possible. Without, you know, crumbling up the pages of your book or losing your place.
• Say you secretly love romance novels, but you don't want anyone else to know. With an e-reader, you can now read your romance novels everywhere with complete anonymity.
• Kindles come with a built-in dictionary. This is fabulous.

The bad:

• With the black and white screen, it's not quite the same as having a gorgeous slip cover or colored ink. Then again, if you care about that kind of thing, you'll probably be buying hardcovers anyway. I still do when it matters.
• You can't really get a book signed. I mean, if I'd purchased the e-book version of The Fault in Our Stars, I wouldn't have gotten a hanklerfish. And I like my hanklerfish.
• Honestly, the Kindle's organization system is a little lacking. There are no nested folders, you can't directly delete anything from a collection, and it a bit wieldy to even get things into collections.

So, do you have an e-reader? If so, which kind (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc?) and what do you think about it? Has your e-reader replaced traditional books for you, or do you still indulge in the occasional hardback? Tell me what you think in the comments.

Lexiconic pontifications

Words are the number one tool of the writer. Without words there are no sentences, no paragraphs, no chapters, and ultimately, there are no books. Sometimes the biggest problem of a writer is coming up with the right word for the situation. But this post is not about word choice deliberation. Or, at least, not in such a straightforward manner.

I have a question. How do you feel about using difficult vocabulary in books?

I'm specifically referring to the vocabulary found in YA and adult books. Why? Because most of the people reading them appear to have a fairly stagnant word bank.

That's right. Younger readers are encouraged to learn new words all of the time. But, teens and adults don't actively try to improve their vocabulary and, thus, the average reading level of adults in the United States is somewhere in the 8th-9th grade range.

I'm asking because a lot of people think challenging vocabulary is obnoxious--especially when there's a lot of it. Sure, the Kindle has made this less of an issue thanks to its dictionary function, but not many people have e-readers and not every word is in the dictionary (ie: foreign words).

Now I think that writers should feel free to use whatever words they want. The instant you start paring down your vocabulary to accommodate people, your story suffers. You have to write what you feel--what fits with the book. For example, what would a story in a cake shop be without mention of fondant?

However, you must be aware of your audience at the same time. No one wants to look up a word every five sentences. Make it easy to infer your meaning. Also, you definitely shouldn't be using complex vocabulary in picture books.

So what do you think about words like luxuriate and mien? Do you want to see them in a book? Or should writers try to limit their vocabulary? Do you think that writers threaten to alienate their audience or muddle the meaning of their stories through certain word usage? Tell me what you think in the comments!

Let your e-reader save your eyes

I know that many of you aren't sold on e-readers yet. There are various pros and cons, but we aren't going to wade through that quagmire today. Instead, I'm going to tell you an awesome feature of e-readers that doesn't involve reading books. And no, it's not games.

Right now I'm entering editing mode. The first thing I always do before tackling a major edit (after leaving my work to marinate for a while) is to re-read it. It's really helpful to go over everything one more time before whipping out the red pen and making things bleed. That way I don't accidentally try to cut important information or develop a plot point that is better trashed. Doing a once-over helps me visualize the work as a whole.

But, as many of you know, re-reading a manuscript on the computer is an eyestrain nightmare. Blame your LCD screen. Why? Because computer screens are shifted towards the blue end of the color spectrum, which also happens to be the end that our eyes have the most trouble focusing on. Your eyes have to work harder than normal and it causes all sorts of painful nightmares.

Eyestrain and I know each other very well. We are at war. But this time I won the battle.

To avoid reading all 102,000 words of my draft on my laptop I transferred the entire thing to my Kindle. Not only is it cool seeing your words as an e-book, you won't be sucked into the black hole of over-eager editing, and you won't get blinding computer headaches. Yay!

Those words on the Kindle? Yeah, those are totally mine.

I'm not sure about the Nook or other e-readers, but if you have a Kindle this is pretty easy to do. You can follow the helpful instructions at Amazon or use Calibre to convert documents and keep them organized. It's all pretty simple and it's definitely worth the effort.

How many of you guys have e-readers? Have any of you read manuscripts on them, or do you just focus on published works? If you don't have an e-reader, is this the kind of feature that might sway your opinion on them? Tell me in the comments.

Books and e-books can coexist!

You've all heard about the great war of Pixels vs. Paper. There are numerous battles were people argue about the merits of e-books and physical books. There are lots of claims that e-books are going to ruin publishing and that the hardcover is going to die a horrid death. As someone with a Kindle and two six-foot-tall bookshelves, I dare to make the claim that books and e-books can live together happily.

Which is better?! Hardback? E-book?

If you ignore all of the drama around the publishing industry itself, the main issue with e-books is aesthetics. Sure, they're cheap and portable, but they're not pretty, they don't smell like paper, and they don't look impressive on your bookshelf.

Surprisingly, the same things can be said about paperbacks. They're cheap and portable. But they're not really pretty, they don't have the crisp paper thing that hardbacks have, and they don't look nearly as sexy on the shelf. Yet, no one is really convinced that paperbacks are a sign of the book apocalypse.

In fact, paperbacks and e-books are so similar that I agree with Eric over at Pimp My Novel. E-books aren't going to kill hardcovers. Instead they're going to replace the mass market paperback.

And is that really a problem?

Many of you are screaming, "Yes! Yes! of course it is! Yes!"

For me, not so much actually. I find that the things I buy in paperback are usually the things I'm less attached to, and it's been the same for e-books. I demand that my epic, multi-part sci-fi fantasies to be in hardcover, but that's about it. For example, I bought hardbacks of The Hunger Games Trilogy even after reading them on my Kindle.

I guess I just want everyone to realize that owning an e-reader isn't going to suddenly convince you to buy everything in e-book format. Maybe you want physical books, and that's perfectly fine. People just seem to forget that there are options and you can have all of them. Hardcovers and e-books live together in my household and it's working well.

If you're curious about e-books, go check out the e-reader displays at Best Buy or Staples. Or maybe look into the free Kindle Reading App, since it's not like you need an actual e-reader to read e-books.

What do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Understand what I'm trying to say, or still think e-books are devil spawn? Tell me in the comments. I want to know.