Tag Archives: ebook readers

Kindles are forever but you don’t need to own one to read ebooks

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When I told my friends and acquaintences that I had published my book, Samantha they expressed interest in reading it (well feigned it convincingly anyway)! However a number of people remarked that as Samantha is an ebook and they don’t own an ebook reader it would not be possible for them to read Samantha.

It is a commonly held misconception that possession of a Kindle or similar device is essential for the reading of ebooks. In fact Amazon offer a range of free apps which allow for the reading of Kindle content on computers, Ipads and Ipods (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_164007747_3?ie=UTF8&docId=1000425503&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-9&pf_rd_r=1MNRJQD1S63J3G4XJ48E&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=396445167&pf_rd_i=1000423913). I love the portability of my Kindle but it is good to know that there are other options available for reading ebooks  sold by Amazon.

Decline in print book sales slows in 2012

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A piece in today’s Guardian (9 January) observes that the decline in print book sales slowed in 2012. While ebooks and ebook readers proliferate the love of traditional books dies hard.

The article points to the huge discounts offered by ebook retailers such as Sony and Amazon in order to enhance ebook sales. For example some best selling authors have had their ebooks sold for as little as £0.20. The two authors interviewed by The Guardian admit to having mixed feelings concerning the discounting of their work. On the one hand they welcome the increased exposure which discounting provides (more people buy their work) while, on the other hand the writers feel that such discounting devalues books as it fails to take into account the great effort in terms of time and money expended in producing works of literature.

For this interesting article please visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/09/printed-book-sales-2012