Save a Tree Read and E-Book

Thanks to Dawn Murphy for her thoughts on ebooks. "6th March was the start of e-book week. I often wonder why I don't see more about e-books on PDA sites, productivity, gaming, etc but nothing about books. Is it because statistically most readers are women and most people with PDAs are male? I'll assume so, though I haven't personally researched it, but it seems likely on the basis of anecdotal evidence.

So, palm users, if you don't read on your PDA, why not? We readers can be a bit fanatical in our book buying habits, I'll admit, and it can be a stress to any relationship if your partner doesn't understand. So readers and partners of readers might like to think on these facts. Maybe your next present could be a PDA and an e-book voucher.
• Think of those interminable journeys on crowded buses, tubes and trains. They could be enlivened by a good book. Your PDA's smaller and lighter than a book, you can store several books at once, no flipping pages just twitch the thumbwheel and you can read while strap hanging.
• Any ladies who like to read the odd bodice-ripper, but are fed up with bystanders staring at the covers as though you're a) unintelligent and b) a bit of a pervert? Then an e-book's the answer -- no one can see the cover.
• Fed up with taking a suitcase full of books on holiday -- just load up 50 books on a memory card and you've got plenty of reading material with no excess luggage and no arguments from the other half.
• Running out of storage space at home, fed up with arguments about building shelving and your book buying habits. Again e-books are the answer, store them on a couple of CDs, no shelves and what he can't see he won't shout about.

What do you need?
If you've already got a PDA you're halfway there. All you need is some free software, probably a storage card and some CDs for backups, although some sites provide an online bookshelf. Most sites that sell e-books have links to get software, but for palm users the 2 most relevant readers are eReader and Mobipocket. They can be downloaded from www.ereader.com and www.mobipocket.com . Most books come in several different formats and you will need to make sure you get the right one, but there's usually information on the site if you're at all unsure.

What can you get?
Just about anything and everything. There should be something to suit all tastes. From mainstream authors, like Cornwell, Patterson, JD Robb, Nora Roberts, to content from small publishers. Romance, erotic romance, sci fi, mystery, police procedural -- you can find all of them at small publishers and authorised book re-sellers. You can get more speculative and adventurous work that NY won't consider in the smaller epubs. Quality is generally similar to print and though some of the books are smaller they are also correspondingly cheaper. However because this is a relatively fledgling field you will occasionally come across a poor or poorly edited book, so you do need to shop around a little and read excerpts to find something that suits you. I have been told by some ladies that they've caught their SOs (who don't normally pick up a book let alone a romance) sneaking reads at the spicier bits in their erotic romances, so there really is something for everyone. Prices are generally in $US and work out quite cheaper due to the exchange rate, although you need to be careful about EU VAT tax, a disgusting imposition IMHO. The EU takes the position that e-books are analogous to software not books based on the mistaken impression that you get extra content, this is wrong the capability is potentially there but it's rarely used. This is a fledgling industry and tax like this goes a great way to stifling it.

Finally, if I've convinced you to give an e-book a try, where do you go from here?
Well you can always use google. But for a start here's a small list of book sellers, ignoring the big publishers you already know:

1.  Re-sellers with online library capabilities:        
www.ereader.com        
www.fictionwise.com        
www.ebookad.com

2. Erotic Romance Publishers:        
www.ellorascave.com        
www.extasybooks.com
   
3. General Romance Publishers        
www.liquidsilverbooks.com
 
4. Mixed Genre Publishers        
www.whiskeycreekpress.com        
www.ltdbooks.com        
www.booksforabuck.com (yep, only $1)
- Sammy (Manchester, UK)