Then there was one that looked like this.
Now, as an employee of an honest-to-God bookstore, I want people to buy printed material rather than e-books because it, you know, pays the bills and keep a bunch of people employed. As a bookstore employee, I know I should despise e-readers with a passion.
But I was a writer long before I was a bookstore employee. And as a writer...I LOVE e-readers. Hundreds of posts have been written on e-publishing and all the new opportunities it offers to authors, so I won't go into all that. I don't own an e-reader myself- no need for one, I don't travel much- but I love that people can read my work on them.
I am also not a paper snob. Oh, don't get me wrong. I love paper. When I go into a stationary shop, it's practically obscene. But I don't turn my nose up at people reading on their Kindles. They're reading, thank God. I don't care how they do it (Same with audio books. I always wondered if the famous poll that indicated 1 in 4 Americans didn't read one single book in a year, took audio books into account).
So sorry, tiny button company. I won't be buying that one.
If at some point we can afford some sort of e-reader I'd love to have one, but I don't think I'll ever stop loving the feeling of an actual paper book in my hands. I don't think you have to love one to the exclusion of the other. And you certainly don't have to tell people "don't buy e-readers!" The reality is the cost of that particular technology still keeps it way out of most of our reach. And as much as I know you have to buy books to feed authors, the library (and project Gutenberg, and libravox) keeps me 'fed' on books when I can't afford to buy them.
ReplyDeleteI've worked at a bookstore for 10 years now and in that time I've seen the prices of physical books rise insanely- a new hardcover was $21-$25 a decade ago; now they are usually priced at $29-$35. Despite the initial expense of an e-reader, if you're someone who likes to read new books when they come out you'll actually save money in the long run (as e-books are usually $5-$7, even new). It's like cloth diapers, a large expense at first but you end up saving loads of money in the first few years.
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