It’s Week 30 of the #MFRWAuthor 52-Week Blog Challenge and this week’s question is Paperback, e_Book or Audio? Well, a book by any other name (or format) is still a book. That said, I do have a preference for e-books first, then audio, and finally print.
My embrace of e-books started in 1999 when I picked up my first electronic book__on a 3 1/2 inch diskette – remember those?–at the Chicago RWA Conference. I also moderated the first ever RWA National workshop on e-books with Jane Toombs and Janet Lane Walters. I went home and read that book on my laptop. It was a PDF file and I stuck a little post-it on my laptop so I could keep track of where I was in the book.
Yes, e-books required some dedication in the early days, but I was well motivated. I’d already run out of space for print books, and had resorted to sneaking new paperbacks into the house when my husband was at work, LOL. I still have boxes and boxes of books from the 1990s stashed in boxes all over the house. Must sort through them one of these days.
Later I read on a Sony Clie PDA and invested in an RCA Gemstar e-Reader which I loved. It died about the time the very first Kindle was announced, so I ordered one, making me an early adopter of the Kindle.
Proudly holding my first Kindle.
Now I read my Kindle books on a Paperwhite and on the Kindle apps on my iPad. Since getting the iPad, I got an account at Audible so I can listen to audiobooks in my car, which I thoroughly enjoy.
And yes, I still occasionally read print books, but always find myself wishing I could turn up the backlighting or increase the font.
Which do you prefer? Print, e-book or audio?
Click on the linky list below to read more posts in the #MFRWAuthor 52-Week Blog Challenge.
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Linda
I’m with you on the eBook choice, Linda, though I haven’t been reading on ereaders as long as you have. They’ve come a long ways. I like my Kindle Fire because it reads to me, and I can change font or size for reading. It’s much easier on my eyes.
Yes, so much easier on the eyes, esp. when we’re tired after a day on the computer.
Ebooks have come a long way. I had no idea they started like that. Always good to learn something new. 🙂 I’m an ebook lover myself. It’s just so easy for so many reasons. My very first one was the Nook Color. I still have it even though I’ve since moved on to a tablet that allows both apps.
At this point, I prefer a table that allows multiple apps, too, though I still like my Kindle e-reader for bedtime reading.
I’d forgotten about reading books on a floppy disk! I have a second generation Kindle and still use it and my Kindle Fire is the first generation. I’ll upgrade someday!
I’m impressed that your second gen Kindle still works! If it ain’t broke, why replace it? I have a third gen, aka Kindle Keyboard, that’s still going strong, though I do most of my reading these days on my Paperwhite and iPad.
Cool! I enjoyed the history lesson, Linda.
Thanks, Ed.
When I read print I look for my light and went to swop all the time lol
I know. Why can’t we make the fonts bigger? 😉
I sure have tried lol and reading print in the dark nope lol
You should think about writing a nonfiction book, The History of eBooks.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I’ll leave that to a non-fiction writer. Makes a good blog post, though. Maybe for next month’s A Slice of Orange blog.
It seems the ability to resize is one of the big draws for an ereader. Your post mentioned an author with my current publisher and one with a former one. My contact with Jane was when I edited an anthology she was participating in.
Jane was an inspiration. Such a nice lady and a prolific and versatile writer.