What do you read eBooks on?
Before I continue talking about ebook readers and formats and their use in self-publishing and distribution, I would like to take a little look at what kind of devices people read ebooks on.
Most people are going to read ebooks on 3 devices: Desktop computer, laptop computer and PDA (handheld). The first two are nearly the same and have many of the same limitations.
Personally, my interest in ebooks got rekindled only when I bought a Palm PDA. I quickly discovered that the Palm with a high res., backlit color screen made a great ebook reader. In fact it is what I use 98% of the time. It's great to be able to read in bed with no lights on, the backlit screen works perfectly. The main books that I read on my desktop computer are generally reference works (it's great having a search function on a book) and technical books related to Internet skills. I have never read an ebook on my laptop, however I do keep a couple of ebook reader programs installed and if i ever had to go on an extended trip I would load both it and the PDA up just in case.
What makes this discussion important is that a lot of people are like me, they only read their fiction ebooks on a handheld. This means that the format(s) you offer your ebooks in need to take PDA's into consideration.
That might mean that it will mean offering your ebook in several formats, becaus ethose that are good on a desktop might not be very good on a PDA.
I think we need to do some research on who reads ebooks on what device. What do you read ebooks on? Don't be shy you can post annonymously so shout out. :)
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Convert to palm
2 Comments:
I use the comp, and a friend's laptop when I'm not here. I like the fact I can put a couple of hundred books on a CD, and can read whatever fits the mood.
Another thing to consider with ebooks is that people my age with failing eyesight can magnify the text to make it easy to read. That has given some friends years of reading when they would have had to give it up without the ability to change the size and brightness.
I have boxes of books filling my basement, and I have come to the realization that I will never read them twice. This is one reason I like ebooks because they take up no further space. It is great being able to have so many on your HD or CD. I do like having the option of also buying a printed POD book and printed books really make better gifts too.;)
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