I’m not a Kindle lover. I own one because I won it in a contest. And yes, I rush to Amazon when friends tell me they have a new book available or I see a FREE book that sounds promising. The few books I’ve read and finished on my Kindle (okay, four or five at the most) have kept my interest and have been well written. And I have to admit, I seem to read faster using the Kindle than if I’m holding my beloved print books. But, I’m kicking and screaming. I hate change. I’d rather own a print book--no matter how long it takes me to read it and no matter how much it weighs. I like having real page-turning paper in my hot little hands. I like seeing bookmarks and flyers hanging raggedly out of my books. I like taking a pen or pencil or marker and making notes in the margin, underlining beautiful passages or quotes. I’d rather spend the money for what’s often referred to as a real book, than a couple of bucks for a book I can’t prop up on my shelf and admire. I like flipping back and forth and viewing the cover any time I want. I like knowing exactly what page I’m on and exactly how many pages I have left--with no effort. Silly? Probably--because change is coming. Rather, it’s here.It breaks my heart to spend ten or twenty bucks for books I can’t stack on my bedside table. I refuse to do it. It has to be a mighty special friend/author/story for me to spend more than $5.00 in the ebook world. Does that sound mean? Maybe so, and here’s more meanness from me. There was a time I didn’t place much value on book reviews--after all, we have our own personal taste when it comes to reading material. I’m sad to say now I do. If reviewers complain about typos, ramblings, bad grammar, plot holes, I pass on purchasing. If we’re going to put our books out there ourselves, we have a responsibility to do it right. And you can take that to the bank!
Do you own a Kindle or another book reading device? How do you feel about finding typos and poorly constructed sentences in your books? Do you want the author to put forth some effort to learn his/her craft? Does it really matter? Am I just being mean? Let me hear from you.
10 comments:
I read a LOT on Kindle and for right now, I forgive a little more if there are errors, only because the technology for self-publishing is new. I've found errors in print books, too. LOL!
I never spent $10-20 for a print book and with over 300 books on my Kindle, I've paid over $2.00 for maybe a dozen?
The good thing about the Kindle for me is no longer fretting about finishing a book I'm not enjoying as I did when I paid $7-9 for a paperback. Don't like it? Dump it and move on.
It's a new world out there...now to keep the good authors e-pubbing and weed out the bad ones!
Great blog!
I feel the same about my NookColor. I have hundreds of books on it (only paid for a couple, the rest were free). The sad thing about self publishers is most of them are full of mistakes that distract from the story and I give up on them. I much prefer "real" books I can peruse before hand and read at my leisure without having to stop to recharge the battery.
I've found myself surprisingly willing to accept ebooks for light reading. I do check the reviews to weed out the bad stuff. I don't have a real reader, but ePub loads on my very old iTouch. I find I can read in bed without bothering hubby who has to go to bed early, because I don't have to turn on a light. I'm trying to visit all the A-Z Challenge Blogs this month.
I do like my Kindle fire-to a degree, and shouldn't be surprised that so many adults over the age of 30 still want a print book. And to think, I almost didn't do a print copy. I'm glad I did. Just for note, I spent about $2000 on my manuscript before it went to print and still had a handful of typos/format issues. So a few typos are not a problem for me--what I don't like is the amount of amatuer writing floating around out there being pushed as great reading! I hope my writing makes up for the minor flaws in print. Great post, Jess
I agree with you on preferring to have a book in my hands. Kindles and Nooks et al are great for when you are reading on the go and don't have a real print version.
I have read a few ebooks on my iPad, yet I still prefer something I can write in, etc.
Maybe I have book personality disorder because I love both styles of books. I don't know why certain types are drawn to my Kindle while others are on my bookshelf.
As writers we have a responsibilty to our craft. If you aren't going to produce quality work then I'm not going to read it. I'm going to sound mean, too, Jess, because I think it's lazy and unprofessional to publish something with more than a few errors. I'm sure online there's someone who can help you edit. I'd think it's worth the money.
I've found so many errors in printed books and some from big-name publishers I expect better from. When it comes to Kindle, I really like mine. And I love hard copies too. I seldom spend more than a couple of dollars on the books I read on Kindle or iBook, but then I seldom spend much on hard copies either. That's what libraries are for, unless I absolutely have to have it on my shelf.
Honestly, I love to read on my Kindle... it's so much fun and I can have on it so many eBooks... downloaded from All You Can Books... really a great site which I found it randomly on the Internet.
I can't wait to travel and read them, because I got quite many of them.
Have a Nook, not a fan. I prefer the paper in my hot little hands. And one of my greatest pleasures is reading in the bathtub and I'm WAAAYY too klutzy to take a $100+ device that near the water! :-)
RE: quality of books--it drives me NUTS when there are lots of typos (I think a few in any book are inevitable, but more than that means the author/editor was careless and/or lazy). I've even noticed many "professional" books that contain incomplete sentences. I do book reviews for the paper I publish and have been sent some that are very badly written, to the point of being almost unreadable.
Of course people have the right to print anything they want but it really doesn't take THAT much time to do it in a professional manner.
Another thing that bugs me is constant cussing in books. Some is ok if it goes with the character and story, but taking the Lord's name in vain over and over for no reason has caused me to stop reading the book. Yep, I'm mean too! :-)
I'm up to 100 reads on my Kindle so far, with about 130 more books loaded on it.
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