I’m wondering how many of our readers like electronic books.  And if you like e-books, do you have an e-reader or do you read them on your computer?  And if you have an e-reader, is it an ipad, a Kindle, or a Nook?

Last Christmas I received a Kindle as a gift. It’s wonderful. In seconds, I can search for and download a book from Amazon.  More than that, I can carry tons of books with me in the tiny little space of my Kindle.

Yes, there are books that I like to own in hard copy. I don’t think anything will ever really replace books. I don’t think I’d take my Kindle in the bath tub, and hard copy books don’t require batteries.  But I love being able to carry my entire reading list with me without the bulk or weight of books.  At any given time I can switch between a fiction, self improvement, or research book without setting down my reader. I’ve even started buying articles on Amazon and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a newspaper or magazine subscription on there soon.

So tell me, do you read e-books?  And if so, what do you read them on?

iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

iPad vs. Kindle

iPad’s iBookstore has inked a deal with Smashwords and Lulu, two of the more popular self-publishing services.  Unpublished authors (and published seeking a larger percentage of the traditional cover price) are lining up to self-publish through their services in the iBookstore starting April 3rd, the launch date of Apple’s iPad.

In an email leaked to Smashwords’ clients, details emerged.  The price must end with .99 cents, the total price must be lower than any paper edition (if one exists), the cover must be at least 600 px and the book must have a unique ISBN (Smashwords is helping with this.)  Apple gets 30%, Smashwords gets 10% and the author receives the remaining 60%.  This is far more lucrative than the 35% for publishing on the Kindle and 4-8% for paper books.

iPad is also offering free downloads of public domain titles from Project Gutenberg.

The line has been drawn in the war to come.  The question is – who will be the winner?  I’m hoping it will be the reader and the author, but time will tell in this volatile industry.

For my friends in the Northeast, stay dry.

I’ll be back on Monday with tips to clean up your writing. Mary takes over until then.

Cheryl