Monday, January 10, 2011

New Year, New Year

Well... I have survived the holidays, albeit only barely. Sorry for the blog silence, but the insanity that is family, food and festivities took presidence. I had a wonderful Christmas, and hope that you all had a great Christmas/other holiday/winter Saturday. :) The new year always makes me think about new beginnings, and while I've stopped making resolutions, mostly because I can never keep them, I do like to think about what the new year holds for me, and the rest of the world.

A lot of these thoughts have been centered around writing. This spring my work schedule allows me to spend every other afternoon at Borders with my writing buddy and one of my favorite people of all time, Cari.We met a few years ago in a critique group and have supported each other in our writing since. Our new writing ritual has been great for me. I've been working hard on building character sketches and trying to flush out the motivations for my characters in the new YA fantasy novel I'm working on.

Cari and I have also spent a decent amount of time talking about the future of publishing, especially surrounding self-publishing on the Kindle and other ereaders, and the fate of the big traditional publishers. She had a great post on her blog today about her sadness over leaving behind the printed world in favor of her newly purchased Kindle.

I resisted the idea of an ereader for a long time. Citing that I liked the feel of the book in my hands, the smell of it, the way it looked on my shelf. No more than 6 months ago was I singing the song of the dead tree. That completely changed when I got my Kindle. I ended up buying it on craigslist for a bit of a discount, thinking that I wouldn't like it and would have to sell it shortly. Wrong. I love that stupid little thing like I love my cat, my shoes and my purses.... in other words, a friggin' lot. I don't' miss the feel of a book, or the smell, or all of the books on my shelf. I love the convenience. I love having books with me all the time, being able to download new books instantly. Heck, I even like working out now because it's another 45 minutes I can read without guilt.

So yes, I like my Kindle. I think it's the future of publishing. I know that JA Konrath has been extolling the virtues of indie publishing for a while, but I'm drinking the Kool-Aide with him now, especially after Borders' disasterous few days in the stock market. I think that epublishing will be great for authors. People, myself included, are a lot more willing to take risks on new authors and books outside of their normal interests when those books are only a few dollars. A perfect example: I haven't read and of Steig Larson's books- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and so forth. I know they've all received amazing reviews. I've even heard first hand from people whose tastes I trust that they are great books, but I hadn't read them yet. Why? The price. I didn't want to spend $15-20 on something I wasn't sure about. But, while scrolling through Amazon's recommendations for me yesterday, I came across those books, available for Kindle for $5. I downloaded them immediately. $20 is hard to risk, $5, not hard at all. I waste more money on coffee and tea.

I hope that I'm right about the future of publishing. Right now, I think I'd really prefer  self-publishing rather than taking on the uncertainty of a major publishing house contract, but we shall see what the future holds.

How about all of you? Do you have an ereader? Want one? How do you feel about the apparent downfall of major publishing houses and the rise of the indie author?

4 comments:

  1. I didn't know that you were worried about missing the smell/feel of a book when getting your Kindle. Relieved to know someone I trust easily overcame that addiction. There is hope, yet!
    Btw, LOVE the new look! Especially the bookshelf list.

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  2. Thanks! I keep playing with it a bit, but I like this so far. :) I did think I'd miss holding a book. Not at all... it's much easier to read my Kindle and drink or eat. :)

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  3. I don't have an ebook yet, but if I got one, I'd get the nook, so I can check books out from the library. You mentioned spending a lot of money buying someone's first book and how its better now because it's cheaper on an ereader. It's free from the library! You can get the book from the library and read it, and if you didn't like it, you didn't waste any money. And if you did, well then you can buy it if you want to keep it. You can even download books to check out from the library (if your library supports it) but only on the nook.

    So, Im still iffy on the ereaders, but I will probably get one soon, just for travel and convenience sake. I still love the feel of a book in my hands.

    And let me say, as writers, most of us still have that longing to hold an actual paper bound book we wrote in our hands and kiss it when it arrives on our doorstep.

    But we do have to keep up with the times and agree to sell ebooks and all of that. Because they are here whether we like it or not, you know? But I don't think traditional publishing will go away, it just has to adjust as well.

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  4. I looked at the Nook before I bought my Kindle. I had a really hard time with the two screen for some reason. Though it is a bummer that you can't currently check out library books with the Kindle. However, I don't really check out library books now. I like to mark and tab and whatnot and the library tends to frown on that. :)

    I really wanted to hold my book too, and have that big time traditional publishing contract...until I held my Kindle. Now... I don't care to have a big contract. I'll take my 70% royalties instead. :)

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