Original image via Bing Creative Commons, courtesy of http://gadgetvirtualtour.wikispaces.com/ereaders
A month or two ago, Sony announced they were closing their eBook Store and all accounts were being taken over by Kobo. Today, another eBook Store announced they were closing down – Diesel EBooks.
What does this mean for the eBook industry?
Is publishing going through another change?
Could this mean that paperback or print books in general are making a comeback?
Since 2010, publishing in general has been on a fast track of change. With the introduction to eReader and eBooks, the delivery process of books has made it easier on readers to get their next read faster. But how much staying power does eBooks actually have?
I think that they will not go the way of the dinosaur as was thought to be what was to happen to the print books. The fact that print books appear to be picking up in sales may have some indicator to the overall economy. When the economy falters, some readers will look for ways to acquire their next read at the lowest cost possible. This could be via free books or low priced books.
Recently I have noted that not as many people are interested in the free books. What could this mean? But when it comes to free paperbacks the interest is still there.
Most of my friends want print books. They like being able to hold an actual book in their hands when they read. I know that when I bought my Kindle I had to go out and buy a cover that made my eReader handle more like a book. I didn’t buy the cover to protect the eReader. The cover helped me make the transitions to eBooks.
There has also been a lot of buzzing about the new eBook venues appearing on the web. Scribed and Oyster has been getting a lot of authors in an uproar. Some have been accusing these venues of pirating their works.
Is the work actually pirated if it is on the site and no-body buys it because they do not know the venue exists?
Regardless, I will be one of those few authors who is willing to let my books continue to be picked up by Oyster and Scribed. If my books pick up readers by being offered by a subscription service, then so be it. What is the difference anyways between a subscription service and a local library?
In my mind, not much.
ROW 80 Update:
The writing has been going slow. I don’t think I have burnout, but it could have been close to burnout if I had not decided to allowed myself to step away from blogging, social media and writing in general. My brain has been slogging. I have tried several different approaches to writing, and none of them were working for me. I even tried digging out old works in progress that have been left sitting on the back burner for a few years. This would work for a thousand words or so and then nothing would come.
So for the past month I have taken my fingers off the keyboard and gone back to my online gaming. I am a World of Warcraft enthusiast. I even do WOW binges where it is the only thing I do when I am online. This has been helping me let my mind rest, seeing as this is the first post I have been able to make in weeks where I didn’t have to push to get the words out of my brain.
This is my level 90 human mage. She kicks ass! Right now she is wearing a Panderian Outfit. I have not gotten her any of the rare items as of yet. I will soon, that is if I suddenly don’t get the urge to start writing once again.
Something I have noticed of late: Auto Correct!
It appears that my brain has invoked its own auto correct. When I am talking, sometimes my brain is changing a word to something different than what I was thinking of when I speak, and I find myself saying, “Damn auto correct.”
Anyone else having this problem?
Linda Nelson 