Friday, June 25, 2010

The Weekend Cometh...

It's finally Friday. In Arizona, it is too hot to be outdoors for long, which makes it a good time to read. Lots of people have electronic readers or apps for their phones to read ebooks.

The general consensus in the publishing industry is that money can be made from ebooks. Of course, the details of how to make money from ebooks varies from source to source.

Cactus Rain Publishing does not offer ebooks. The current ebook climate is too disorganized, in my opinion. In some cases the ebook isn't stored permanently on the eReader, so there is a second fee to "download" it again. Some systems store the ebooks in "your" library on the retailer's server, which reminds me of paying to borrow a library book.

The readers are totally cool. There are tons of options of handheld devices to chose from for those loving gadgets. I think there is something else coming once we cycle through the "more of the same" phase and someone comes up with a new idea.

I'm working on something that I think makes ebooks actually work better for the [human] reader. This project has been in the works for four years. There are all kinds of technical issues, non-disclosure agreements, patent processes, and of course, the big one - funding.

In a nutshell, [whoops, nope, I can't write that on the internet and have someone with more money than me - nearly anyone you can think of who has a hand in ebook delivery - take my project and keep it for their device only].

The main point is, Cactus Rain may eventually offer ebooks in a new design, but for now, we are stuck with good 'ol printed books.

5 comments:

  1. Ooh, sounds interesting Nadine. I am an old fashioned book reader. Not sure about ebooks, maybe in the future.

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  2. I'm not sure it really is old fashioned. I wouldn't take a $300 reader to the beach - sand, water, sun... makes no sense to me.

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  3. A friend showed me her Kindle last weekend. She, of course, loves it and I have to admit I was a little fascinated by all the stuff it could do. You can even check the definition of a word with a simple click. None of this walking into the next room to check the Oxford English Dictionary.

    However, I'm still not convinced that I could actually get into it. I like the feel of a book in my hands. I like to dog-ear pages. I like to underline my favorite passages. Of course my friend would tell you that Kindle can do all that, too. But I guess I'm just not ready to make the leap.

    All the best,
    Susan

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  4. Hello Susan, you slipped in here while I was mowing the yard - yes, 104 degrees here. (I'd rather be writing.)

    I tend to underutilize gagets. My phone does all kinds of things. I use it as a phone.

    I'm all for innovation. Let's face it, I'm glad we don't have to haul around clay tablets and read cuneiform. I want a StarTrek holodeck, then I'll jump in with both feet!

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  5. Hope you are wonderfully well, Nadine, and managing to keep cool in Arizona's heat. Thanks for an interesting post. I'm happy to embrace ebook technology but I do so hope there'll always be paper books. I guess there's room for both. xx

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