Why I switched to ebooks.

There's a lot of chatter about "I prefer real books" just look at Amazon's new commercials for their Kindle. I have an old Sony eReader it's not color, doesn't have wi-fi but works perfect for me. Still I hear the old saw about "real books".

On my trusty Sony there are 42 books by authors like J.R. Ward, Alexis Morgan, Ilona Andrews, Lora Leigh, Jennifer Estep, CT Adams and Cathy Clamp, Joss Ware, Angela Knight, Lewis Carol, Kerrelyn Sparks, Nalini Singh to name some. Last I checked the all wrote "Real books".

Before I made the switch I read print books, cause that was all there was. So, I figured hmm two of those books I know are only in Hard Cover and 40 of them in paperback. So I pulled an equal number from my overcrowded bookshelves.

I couldn't carry all those in my purse. But I sure can carry my eReader. I don't have to hunt down bookmarks, and then don't have to worry about them falling out. The only disadvantage I've found is it is harder to turn to a specific section in an ebook - BUT if you just hit the little bookmark button, it's easy to find them.

Comment from Christine London -

"Love your visuals. They says it all. When our shelves begin to bow in the middle with the weight of our love of words, thank the literature Gods for the e-reader invention. Now I can carefully pick and choose the books that occupy a place on my physical shelves. Like the films I buy on DVD to watch again and again, a great read earns the right to inhabit the limited physical place in my home.

I just bought a Kindle two weeks ago. My dry, tired eyes have never been so happy when I climb into bed at ten p.m. after a long day on the computer. Crank up the font size, pull out the corner bookcover book light, sink into a cloud of backresting pillows and SMILE! It is the most revolutionary benefit to my reading life in my life. Print and paper dust mites banished, I don't even sneeze anymore when cracking a good read.

#1 recommendation for anyone who loves to read? An e-reader. This summer as I travel about the country and Europe the weight restirctions on the airlines worldwide shall not daunt. I have a six ounce e-reader and the world of books at my fingertips.

Thanks for the great post, Delilah.

eBook Piracy take 2`

Hmm this week seems to be the week of repeating earlier topics. Today I want to talk about eBook Piracy - again.

So I talked about how eBook piracy effects the authors - the bottom line if they don't make money writing they stop writing. Publisher's don't make money they fold. If you want to read that entry it's here.

Now to continue that theme. Not only are you taking money from the author and the publisher. I've heard the excuses "I can't afford to buy the books I read too many." "They're making tons of money (not true) so it won't matter if I download it." (Guess what you aren't the only one downloading the book there are hundreds of you. One author did the research and one of her books had been downloaded over 1,000 times.) "I just download to try it out if I like it I'll buy it." Yeah, yeah, yeah all us writers and our publishers are living in mansions and have servants to clean and it won't hurt if we get robbed - WRONG assumption. For my case I live off social security and disability - my royalty checks are enough to go out to dinner once and that's about it. BUT there are others that feel the financial effect of each and every illegal download. Folks you probably never thought about. Who? Copy/Content Editors, Line Editors/Proofreaders and Cover Artist.

Now in the big New York houses I'm sure those folks get a salary but for the sake of this entry I'm not talking about them. I'm discussing ePublisher staff. Each group gets a tiny percentage for their hours of work and/or expenses.

1. Copy/Content Editors - for their tiny percentage these wonderful ladies and gents read each story assigned to them, mark what can be made better, correct punctuation, and to make sure the house style is maintained. They do this not once but a minimum of twice and some books take three or four or more times. That's HOURS and HOURS of work.

2. Line Editors/Proofreaders - now some publishers pay these ladies and gents a flat fee and that's great... but some don't. The Line Editors/Proofreaders are "fresh eyes" that check the story for things the Copy/Content Editors and Author missed because of having read the story too many times.

3. Cover Artist - I bet you're wondering why this is highlighted, well I'll tell you. In the ePublishing world the artist purchases the images that are used. The images range from free to $15.00 each and each cover has usually 2 or more images. Then they put together the images and make the text fit the book. Not every cover any artist does is an OMG! cover and yes, some are ick. But no matter WHERE the cover fits on the spectrum they are out that money. Then you come along and upload the book with the cover they spent hours on, covers they paid for the images out of their own pockets and the poor artist gets nothing. Not Cool!

So now you have slipped your stingy, greedy, self intitled little hand into 5 peoples wallet and stolen from them. I know, if you're a pirate you are rolling your eyes at me. But think about this... I walk into your job and take whatever I feel like and walk out without paying. How would you feel? Just remember that's exactly what each publisher, author, copy/content editor, line editor/proofreader and cover artist feels when you push that "Download file" button.

Sarah's Story News

Sarah's Story released on May 21st. That day I was guest blogging on four different blogs, bitting my nails about how the book would do and dealing with no sleep.

Nothing has ever made me as nervous or excited as my very first release date. It was something I'd dreamed about for years and that day it became a reality! But the day wasn't over yet. At 5PM Sarah's Story made the Red Rose Best Sellers List! Where it has risen and fallen for the past week. Sometimes it was off the list, but most of the time Sarah's Story stayed on it. It is also the number 1 Time Travel Romance at Red Rose Publishing!

While all of that is fantastic and I'm supremely honored by the response it's getting - I'm not done yet. There are other stories that need to be written and my desire to see Sarah's Story in print.

Why do I want print? It's not that I think print is better than ebook. I have most of my favorite author's books in bothe print and ebook. It's that I want to hold it in my hand, maybe that will make this incredible journey finally feel real. Maybe it won't.

Maybe everyday for the rest of my I will wake up and rush to the Red Rose Publishing site and look to see my book listed there to prove it isn't a dream.

Think before you download

I usually don’t talk about e-book piracy; it’s something I’m realistic enough to realize will happen. As an author of e-books, I know eventually my book or books will be pirated. But, I wanted to put the reality of what it does to authors before you, so maybe you’d think twice before clicking that link.

My book sells for $2.99 of that I make just over a dollar on every sale. So if say 50 people download the book those 50 people have reached into my wallet and removed a $50. What if it was a hundred? A thousand? Now, ask yourself would I reach in a stranger’s pocket and take a fifty? Of course you wouldn’t. Recently a fellow author found his book on a pirate site – there were 150 downloads. That’s 150 books or in his case $300.00 that was stolen from him.

Unlike the print houses that give the authors advances, an e-book author’s total income is from sales of the book. E-book authors don’t have massive Public Relations departments behind them, they have to pay all marketing cost themselves. Unlike print houses, e-books don’t sit on shelves of bookstores across the country – well some do the lucky ones that went to print.

Before you click that download link at a torrent site or megaupload or sendspace ask yourself one question. If I was in a bookstore, would I just drop this book in my purse and walk out of the store? Because that is exactly what you are doing when you download a book without buying it.

I know of one e-book author that is disabled and on social security disability, her book sales are how she makes ends meet. Every time I hear of one of her books being pirated it saddens me, because I know that the folks downloading it don’t realize the ramifications to her life.

Do I think you are evil if you pirate a book? Of course not. I think you are unaware of the consequences to your favorite author. If they can’t make what they need writing, they’ll stop writing. So I ask again, before you click that download button – consider the money you are pulling out of the author’s wallet.