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EBooks Gaining Ground
As Sony broadens its library by adding alternative formats for the Reader Digital Book and Amazon lowers the price of their popular new Kindle, the gap between reader and ebook narrows. This is great news for all authors, whether they read electronic books or not. Personally, I have been a convertee for many years. I am annoyed if I can’t find the book I want in digital format. I started with the heavy but intriguing Rocket eBook—a device way before its time—that loaded HTML formatted documents via a cradle connected to the serial port on your computer. Its successor, known fondly as the “REB”, added USB capability, but the reader was still monochrome, clunky to carry and availability of titles was meager. That was back when New York pubs turned a blind eye on the viability of ebooks, ignoring their potential to create a new, profitable business model in publishing.
At least a dozen dedicated ebook readers followed, including the already invaluable (see Summer Reading, below)
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I was fortunate enough to travel to Hawai’i this summer with my family. Fortunate not only to be spending time in my favorite island paradise, Kahana on Maui, but appreciative of the lack of crowds at airports, roads and various vacation spots. For those dependent upon that tourism trade, times are not so good. The Automobile Club reports that travel is down, with many families resorting to short (under 50 miles) trips by car. And you can’t get from California to Oahu by SUV.
That being said, my thoughts turn to summer reading. |
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EBooks: Cheaper Than Gas! |
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BEACONSTREETBOOKS .COM |
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SUMMER 2008 |
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Volume 2, Issue 2 |
ABOUTPOINT
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The Reviews Say it All!
"Wonderful cast of characters..." - Suspense Romance Writer Review
"I fairly heard the waves crashing against the rocks at the lighthouse."
"a wonderful read...ghosts...mystery… kept me hooked to the very last page.”
“A quiet coastal town with a stormy past tows the reader in from the very first page. Unresolved mysteries and a passionate romance keep the pages turning.” -Molly Evans, Author of The Surgeon’s Proposal (Harlequin) |
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From Anne |
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Summer Reading… continued Palm® devices and their Microsoft-loving cousins, the Pocket PCs. Internet bookstores began cropping up, at first carrying mostly ebooks offered by small press and ebook-only publishers. The wait to attract the big guns seemed excruciatingly long, with conservative, paper-hungry New York presses slow to admit to their possible short-sightedness and experiment with a few titles in electronic or digital format. Veteran Fictionwise store owners Steve and Scott Pendergrast, who opened their doors in June, 2000, played that waiting game and now enjoy enormous success as the “go-to” bookstore for bestsellers, non-fiction, short stories and classics. Fictionwise has made it easy and affordable to download a trunkload of books, even providing “bookshelves” for their customers on their site, and offers clear instructions and descriptions of the many formats available.
The Shakedown
Currently at $299.99, the Sony machine comes in sexy, Sangria red and with 100 free “Classics” books. The Kindle can be yours for $359.00, and Amazon boasts a $9.99 price tag for most NY Times best sellers and new releases. I don’t have the space to compare these fun-but-still-pricey toys; and I still read on my Dell Axiom Pocket PC, which, unlike either of the aforementioned readers, is back-lit for nighttime use. Still, I’m curious and will eventually drop that plastic card for one of them. The question that still looms for me is about format.
Not that any of MY readers are old enough to remember, but there was this music industry format progression from 4-track tapes to 8-tracks, to cassettes, and finally (not) — compact disks. In the video world, the showdown was between Sony’s Betamax format and the-rest-of-the-world’s VHS tapes. You know who won that one. The MAC vs. PC contest rages on, and the recent victory of the Blu-Ray Digital format over “high definition” is fresh on the minds of many video technophiles.
The ereader world is no different, and a quick glance at Fictionwise’s help page reveals a list of no less than eleven different formats, all with different device compatibilities. Somewhere down the line, two things must happen, and those of you who’ve been around awhile will recognize this sage offering as very old news. One multi-featured and secure digital format must emerge as the preferred digital software, and the successful hardware device must be affordable. History will show that, like other personal data devices (cellular phones, MP3 players, iPod™ devices, etc.) the lucky number is usually under $150.00.
The Tie In
As I write this, gasoline prices are hovering midway between $4.00 and $5.00/gallon. If your tank holds 20 gallons, you’re dropping $90.00 at the pump. Four fill-ups and you’ve just spent the price of an ereader and the current bestseller, haven’t polluted the air or contributed to deforestization. Still managing a flight to an exotic locale? Take as many books as you could possibly want without paying the airline for the extra weight of those heavy new releases you paid full price for! |
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Mr. Mysterious Cara has been crushing on Mitchell Cardell for quite some time, only sharing his true identity with best friend Allyson. Their friend Jeremy, who has managed to learn everything about Mitchell except his real name, has been given a codename only: Mr. Mysterious
When Cara’s friend Paul asks them to join him and his buddies for a movie, Cara agrees and relays the invite to Allyson, who’s on board for a good time—but seems to know something about the upcoming night that she keeps hidden from Cara.
A night of hanging with friends, a night that seemed so simple, might just turn out to be an amazing night that Cara and Allyson will never forget!.
New teen romance by Alyssa Montgomery! |
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Lighthouse Lovers!
August 7th was National Lighthouse Day! Hope you got a tour!
Other lighthouse news: According to The Keeper’s Log, the Official publication of the United States Lighthouse Society, Scituate Lighthouse is looking for a new keeper! Don’t ask me how to pronounce it, but you can find more info about this private aid to navigation, Massachusetts lighthouse here:
Also: Check out my upcoming appearances (See calendar, left) at BANK OF BOOKS in Ventura, California, where I’ll be chatting about WRITING THE ROMANCE NOVEL on August 30, 2008, and HOW NOT TO DRIVE YOURSELF CRAZY on October 4, 2008 !
‘Til next time, keep the light shining! - Anne |
