John Ramsey Miller
Evidently my wife reads my blogs. After I complained here after Father’s Day about not getting a Kindle, I learned that she ordered me a Kindle 3 for my birthday, and it’s been back ordered for weeks and weeks. It may be late arriving, but that’s okay. I was actually joking because I didn’t actually think I really wanted one, but now that I know it’s coming, I’m intrigued and can’t wait to get in my hands. I was playing with one that belongs to a friend and I must say after ten minutes I had not a clue how it worked, nor was I sure I could learn to use it. I suppose I will and the idea of downloading any book I want in seconds without leaving the house is amazing. Will I be getting first electronic editions? I have a lot of first editions hardcovers that I love having in my shelves, and having my shelves replaced by a Kindle is sort of a weird concept.
I’m also wondering if I’ll buy new releases only or add classics I love like THE GODFATHER, which I try to read yearly. Re-reading a novel from your past that moved you is like listening to music from your youth––touch stones. I just bought hardcovers of the RIPLEY novels by Patricia Highsmith and put them next to my Larry McMurtry collection. I have first editions of MARATHON MAN, SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, THE MOVIEGOER, Shelby Foote’s Civil War Trilogy, PLAINSONG, SIX MINUTES TO FREEDOM signed by Gilstrap, the Delta Force guys, Radio Free Panama staff, Kurt Muse, and a bunch of other players in the Panama invasion. Those books all I can get on Kindle, but they won’t be the same thing. Plus what if the drive crashes? Is there a drive in the dang things? What if I lose it? A library wiped out in the blink of an eye. Is everything backed up somewhere in the Amazon internet vaults?
Libraries are downloading their books to most e-readers, but not Kindles. You download the book and it stays in your reader for two weeks so you have to read it before it self-destructs or dims to nothing. I’m overwhelmed by the possibilities and I’m sorry Kindle is a closed channel and doesn’t play with others. I’d also like to be able to load my manuscripts to the Kindle to proof read them like my agent can do with MS documents attached to e-mails using her Sony e-reader. Instead of lugging thick printed MS’s on the subway or in cabs, she can carry fifty or more of them in her purse.
I can’t decide on a cover for John R’s new Kindle. There are fake leather ones, tooled real-leather ones in lots of colors, exotic skins, aluminum ones, and ones made of plastic. I want one whose cover flips around out of the way (even though book covers don’t fold back). I don’t like the fact that Kindle books don’t have page numbers on them. I’m worried about going back to where I stopped off, but I’m sure that isn’t a problem. I’ll figure it all out, but at the moment I look at the Kindle and I feel like Andy Rooney looks.
LOL! Well I haven’t made it to the world of the e-reader yet (I just got my first laptop for heaven’s sake!) so I look forward to hearing about your trial and error then I’ll know what (and what not) to do! *-)
John, I feel your apprehension. Despite everyone around me declaring how cool e-readers are, I have yet to make the move. But I see the possibility of one coming my way this Christmas. I just need you to find all the bugs and have the Kindle folks fix them before I get mine. Thanks for being a trailblazer.
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John, we’re living life in parallel. My wife bought me a Kindle for my birthday. Mine arrived a few days ago.
I had all the same questions and concerns as you. Kindle addresses many of your technical concerns. Your books are backed up on the Amazon site. Kindle remembers and automatically returns you to where you were when you stopped reading. And yes, you can easily upload your manuscript to the Kindle by emailing the document to your Kindle email address (very easy to do). It may take a few days to become fully accustomed to the buttons and navigation rules, but purchasing and reading a book requires only a few basic skills that can be learned in minutes.
But like you, I also feel vaguely uncomfortable about this technology. We’re entering an era in which signed first editions will be bypassed for the convenience of digital editions. These trends make me feel older than I am or, perhaps, older than I want to admit.
My first Kindle “book” was Hostage Zero. Reading a novel written by someone I know made the experience somehow feel more familiar, more natural. HZ is a great book, by the way — John is at the top of his game and it’s easy to understand why his book is flying off Kindle’s digital shelves.
In terms of the Kindle reading experience, I especially like the ease with which I can adjust the font size and line spacing for my aging eyes, I like being able to bookmark a paragraph on the fly and/or make a note to myself (something that writers are more apt to do, I think), and I appreciate having a built-in dictionary.
It’s still too early to know, but I doubt I will use Kindle as my standard medium for reading. Physical books will likely always reign supreme for me. But I have to say, Kindle is one slick device that’s easy to learn and use.
John, I’m teling you, the Kindle is a game-changer. (I can’t speak to other eBook formats.) Every morning, the Washington Post is there in my Kindle for my train ride to work, and every afternoon, I’ve got a book on the screen to keep me company.
On impulse the other day, I bought the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe for $0.99. That’ll keep me busy for a while.
The Kindle keeps track of where you are in everything you’re reading, so if you’re a little ADHD and like to skp around and have multiple books going at any one time, you always come back to the spot where you left off.
I agree, though, about the autographed books on the shelves. As a true bibliophile, I’m not sure how to handle that.
I’ll tell you what, though: Having been an Edgar judge, as I know you have been, I would have LOVED having those 492 books beamed to my Kindle, rather than having them stacked on the floor of my office.
John Gilstrap
http://www.johngilstrap.com
John-
Not to fear, every book you buy for your Kindle is indeed stored by Amazon. You don’t even have to keep them all on your Kindle, you can delete at will, then download them again. And I put all of my friend’s manuscripts (and my own) on my Kindle- there’s a nominal fee to do so, but it’s well worth it.
I just received news that for my next release, most of my ARCs will be electronic. I have mixed feelings about this. Being able to give away a physical book to people in advance definitely has benefits. But I’d imagine that for reviewers and booksellers, who are inundated day after day with galleys, the transition might be a godsend.
Enjoy!
Thanks for the support guys. Sure I’ll love it. I doubt my local paper the Gold Hill Coon Dog Journal is on Kindle yet.
I like the Kindle but expect Amazon will make a move to control ebooks – like they tried with POD companies 2+ years ago & end up public enemy # __. Leaning toward putting my stuff on iBooks. Read somewhere that Apple has already sold 4M iPads (since April) vs 3M Kindles.
Be sure to write a detailed review of your Kindle experience, John.
I’m still on the fence, leaning somewhat toward the next generation of iPad, but I don’t know. The only way you can hold a Kindle in your hand is if you know someone who owns one. Other e-readers, you can go into a store and look at them. That’s a big Kindle minus for me.
Mike-
I have both a gen 1 Kindle and an iPad, and I have to say, the Kindle is the way to go. The iPad is virtually unreadable in any bright light (ie: direct sunlight) and shuts down when it gets “too hot.” I love it for other features, like the ability to watch movies on a plane, and it basically replaces my laptop when I’m traveling. But as an ereader, it’s not great.
“Doesn’t play well with others” is why I got the Barnes & Noble Nook, instead. It has the same screen as the Kindle, does pretty much everything the Kindle does, has just about as many books to download, plus it can access books downloaded from my local library. It’s a very solid device and easy to use.
I think (as a judge for the Edgar and the ITW theat the entries should go to the judges without any author’s names, no cover art, just a number for the submission. That would really level the playing field more than anything that could be done.
Sounds like your suggestive blogging paid off John. And I really like that idea about book judging.