Why E-books?

Mb4 thanks Christine Duncan for being our guest blogger today!

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Why E-books?

Friends often ask me why I chose to have my book e-published as well as print published. And it was very important to me. It was especially important that I figure out how to get good distribution for the e-book. So why do I like e-books so much? I attempt to explain this about once a year every year. It's really not so much an explanation of e-publication as much as a list of reason why I read them--ooh, let me count the ways.

Before starting out, I have to say I don't read e-books on my computer. I get as sick of the computer as everyone else. But neither do I have a pricey Kindle (I did give my husband a Sony reader for his b-day last year though. He won't even let me borrow it.) It is possible to read e-books on your pocket pc or that old Palm you have sitting in a drawer someplace. As to why you should--all I can tell you is why I do.

First off, I have lousy eyesight that requires hard contacts to correct. No joke--I'm as vain as the next woman, but I just don't see as well with glasses because I have scar tissue on my eyes and the contacts help to smoothe it down. As a child, many moons ago, this was hard. I flat out couldn't see--not the board the teacher was writing on, not the faces of the kids passing in the hallway; it was all just out of focus. Now it's no problem. I LOVE my contacts. Except that my eyedoctor recommends that I only wear them about 12 or 13 hours a day. That can cut out my reading time. But with e-books, I can make the font bigger and bigger so I can still read. For me, e-books often replace those large print books that you can find at the library and usually nowhere else. When I've told people this, sometimes a light will go on in a baby-boomer's face. Yes, e-books are definitely a way around reading glasses too.

Another semi-related thing I love about e-books is that I can read in bed without keeping the light on and disturbing my husband. My iPaq is not the newest out there but it syncs well with my computer and it has a backlight. I can't tell you how cool that is. I was messing with my daughter's iPhone and I know I could read on that too.

"So what?" you say. This means that you can always have a book in your pocket--whether you're waiting in front of the school to pick up the kids or at the doctor's office. If you're going on vacation, you can take a bunch of books--and not add an ounce to your luggage.

And you can download books any time and with some e-readers--anywhere. Two a.m and can't sleep but you've read everything in the house? No problem. Just go online and download your favorite author's latest. And you're not limited to Amazon, Fictionwise or the Palm store. More and more retailers are looking to get into e-books. Vroman's, the So Cal indie bookseller, is even thinking about adding ebooks.

I could go on and on about saving a tree and saving kids' backs by replacing text books with e-books. Oh, and about how e-texts can be updated much more easily and cheapily saving schools and college students' parents mucho bucks. The reasons for e-books abound.
Don't get me wrong. I am not advocating that all paper books be replaced. Sometimes people think it's an either or proposition so they start militantly advocating for paper. That's so unneccessary. E-books are just another way to read. They add something to my life that I need. And I can see them as an application that can add much to many. So I definitely wanted my books available that way. End of story.

Christine Duncan's Kaye Berreano mystery series is available in both print and electronic versions.



Christine Duncan is an Arvada Colorado mystery writer. She got her start in writing for the Christian market, writing for Sunday School magazines. Her credits include Accent Books and Regular Baptist Press.

Her Colorado based, Kaye Berreano mystery series debuted in 2002 with the book, Safe Beginnings, which dealt with arson in a battered women's shelter. Safe House, the second book in the series is due out this spring.

Although the Kaye Berreano mystery series is set in a battered women's shelter, Ms. Duncan's husband wants the world to know it's not because of anything he did!

Come visit Christine at HER WEBSITE
Or at her blog AT GLOBAL WRITE