Feed my Kindle

Post by **Alatar** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:01 am

If you're looking for humour, the Jeeves and Wooster books are fantastic, and I'd also recommend the James Herriot books, which are the semi autobiographical stories of a Country Vet in wartime and post war Britain. There was a popular (at least here) TV series made, but the books were a real gem.

However, they don't appear to be on Kindle yet

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:10 pm

On Amazon you can go to a book's page, and there is now a link to click to request it on Kindle.

My second book came out on Kindle and in print simultaneously, and it's also available in a number of other e-book formats. So I clicked that link for the first (and maybe a few of my readers did, I don't know), but HIDDEN WORLDS suddenly showed up on Kindle and in the other formats last month.

I think we will see a lot more books do that—I'm pretty sure my publisher now does an electronic edition automatically. It's pure profit for them and is apparently quite easy, at least if the publisher has the files the physical book was printed from.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:20 pm

I wonder whether Arda Reconstructed will be on Kindle? Or if I even want it to be? There's something about a physical book with covers and pages and all that is magical to me. I admit to having some irrational prejudices against the Kindle, which I may or may not get over.

Post by **Crucifer** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:22 pm

I admit to having some irrational prejudices against the Kindle, which I may or may not get over.

Ditto, but I like the idea of books being more easily accessible, saving trees and being much, MUCH easier to carry around...

Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:28 pm

Oh, I like those things too, Crucifer, but when it comes to it being my book I find that all those things go out the window and I want people to be able to physically hold the book in their hands, to see the jacket cover in all its glory, to see Breogan's incredible illustrations on the page and not on a screen, to be able to rip the tables out of the book and keep them separately if that is what they choose to do.

Sorry. I did say that it was irrational.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:30 pm

I'm with you in general, Voronwë—but I think that many people who buy electronic editions don't do it as an alternative to buying the physical book, they do it as an alternative to not buying the book at all.

And, eventually your print run will sell out, and your publisher may or may not print more—it will be their decision, not yours. If Arda exists as an ebook, people will always be able to find it and buy it, even twenty or thirty years from now.

Post by **axordil** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:41 pm

What Prim said. Myself, I'm still waiting (though it's getting harder) for the iPod/iTunes version of the Kindle, even if it's not Apple making it. I'm talking about attention to interface and business model, not branding.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:48 pm

Prim, everything you say makes perfect sense (except the part about my print run selling out). But it still doesn't change the way I feel.

I also do wonder whether the statement people who buy e-books do so instead of not buying the book at all as opposed to instead of buying the physical is consistently true for different types of books (e.g., fiction versus non-fiction, etc.).

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:56 pm

I do think Tolkien scholars will buy the physical book. I feel more comfortable if any book I might need to refer to is physically present on my shelf.

If I get an ebook reader (and I'm waiting for what Ax is waiting for at this point), I know for a fact that I will probably use it to buy and read any book that I would formerly have bought in mass market paperback—any book I'm buying for entertainment and might or might not like or wish to keep. But if I really like it, I'll probably buy the paperback so the book is on my shelf.

I'll also certainly buy ebook editions of beloved books that I often reread. If Mr. Prim and I are able to live our dream of traveling once the kids are out of college, I would love to be able to bring along a mix of new and reliable old books to which I can add as I go, all in one light, compact package.

Post by **axordil** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:58 pm

Me, I just don't want to buy another bookshelf. I don't have room.

Post by **Alatar** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:07 pm

I just gave away a load of old paperbacks that I've already read, and have in Ebook form also. My Hardbacks will always be kept, but some books are the literary equivalent of chewing gum

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:12 pm

Buying an ebook edition feels like making a hotel reservation for a weekend fling—"I know it's not going to last, darling, but all I want anyway is the pleasure of the moment."

I've been clearing books out. Some I think I can sell, some I'll donate to the Friends of the Library book sale. I've had a bit of a break because writing instead of reading has stopped me from buying new books, so I'm making headway; there's actually a few feet of open bookshelf space in my office at the moment.

Early in my editing career, clients always used to send the copyeditor a copy of the book, so I have five feet of gems like Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics, vols. 79–82, and Topics in Lightwave Transmission Systems. I really should just recycle them, they are totally out of date and no use to anyone—but they originally sold for $100 to $200 each. . . .

Post by **WampusCat** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:49 pm

Voronwë, your book is the sort that I'd want on paper -- precisely because of the illustrations and the tables: books worthy of close attention and time.

But I've found that much of my reading lately is done on the run -- while waiting in line or dining alone or in short breaks between work or housework. This way I can carry all my current books with me and pull out whichever one strikes my fancy at a given moment.

I'll bet I could even read Hall of Fire if I set it up to not show graphics. (Must ... resist ... )

Post by **River** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:03 pm

Primula Baggins wrote: Early in my editing career, clients always used to send the copyeditor a copy of the book, so I have five feet of gems like Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics, vols. 79–82, and Topics in Lightwave Transmission Systems. I really should just recycle them, they are totally out of date and no use to anyone—but they originally sold for $100 to $200 each. . . .

The university I attended as an undergrad would, on occasion, purge its science library shelves and give away the out-of-date material. Just because it was there, I picked up an enzymology book from 1951. There were a lot of things we know now that hadn't even been conceived of in 1951. In fact, biology in general has undergone two or three whole paradigm shifts since then!

Post by **axordil** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:17 pm

After the third paradigm shift, I think they should be called paradigm lurches.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:23 pm

The whole Archaea thing shook me pretty badly. I still sometimes wake up in a cold sweat.

Post by **River** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:28 pm

Heh. There's a somewhat famous microbiologist on campus who will gladly rip you a new one if you utter "prokaryote" in his presence without the proper tone of sarcasm and derision. He broke me of the habit, that's for sure. And the rest of the lab as well.

Ax, you know that scene in the Lathe of Heaven when the world comes apart? That's sort of what biology feels like sometimes. I find it exciting myself.

Speaking of Lathe of Heaven, that's another lovely LeGuin novel for the Kindle.

Post by **axordil** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:34 pm

Ax, you know that scene in the Lathe of Heaven when the world comes apart? That's sort of what biology feels like sometimes. I find it exciting myself.

I certainly do. It's one of my favorite arkspattle nompos, plektola ba norb.

Post by **Impenitent** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:05 am

Okay, now Le Guin is seriously on my list of books to read (and the beauty of that is, I've seen plenty of copies of her books in my favourite secondhand book shop!

) Last time I was in there I saw and bought a copy of The Sword of Shennara, with only a vague idea that I'd read recommendations for it here, but it's been rather disappointing so far (about 5 pages into the book). I'll persist.

On the other hand, The Two Pearls of Wisdom by Alison Goodman (an Ozzie writer) has been a fabulous discovery! Inspired by the culture, the smells and texture of Imperial China and Japan, and based on the concepts of Chinese Astrology and dragon mythology, it's a very rich and well written fantasy world.

Kindle isn't available in Oz (or anywhere outside the US, apparently) and I've not really explored ebooks or ebook readers. I've downloaded books from Project Gutenberg but I read them on the laptop or desktop comp and that's a little awkward and I only really do it when there's no alternative - I prefer the printed page. Still, I'm adaptable...and instantaneous access to myriad books is a prospect too tempting to go past.

Post by **WampusCat** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:36 am

Primula Baggins wrote:Buying an ebook edition feels like making a hotel reservation for a weekend fling—"I know it's not going to last, darling, but all I want anyway is the pleasure of the moment."

But here's the thing: I can imagine my shelf space getting smaller instead of larger as my life simplifies (probably a result not of a noble commitment to simplicity but of running out of money and/or moving to smaller and smaller places). I may not be able to keep so many of my paper books. But my e-books will always be there. Once you've bought a book for the Kindle on Amazon, you can send it back to the server. It waits for you there -- even including any notes you've made in it -- and you can retrieve it for free at any time.

So as long as Amazon stays in business (gulp!), I might be better able to keep the electronic than the paper books.