Girls Write Out: E-BOOKS

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Everyone has been talking about e-books. Christmas is over and we've heard it was a record breaking year for Kindle and Nook as well as myriad others in the e-book wars. I have a Kindle and love reading on it, especially when I'm traveling since I can load tons of books on it.

I received several gift cards for my Kindle in the past few months which is super fun because I can browse and get whatever I want. I was doing just that today and realized something.

I don't even like to look at the cheap e-books anymore. . .

I barely glance at the freebies before I delete the email that tells me about them. If a book isn't at least $2.99, I'm not interested. The $5 -9 range is better. I've found when it comes to e-books that you get what you pay for.

Today when I was browsing at Amazon, I was annoyed to see that the bestsellers included free Kindle versions and books that were very inexpensive, even though I told it to look at only print versions. I did that deliberately to sort out Kindle books so I could make my choice on quality THEN see which ones were available on Kindle. So I can't rely on their filter to help me figure out what books are worth buying. So as we enter this brave new world, if you want to call it that, it's going to be more and more difficult to find good books.

That's my main beef about the self-publishing trend. We need good editors! Getting a book to print takes a village. :) And it especially takes top notch editing. I'm not talking about just typos but the substantive edit that makes a story bigger and better. By the time my books hit the shelves they have gone through myriad readings by more people than I even know. But even more importantly, my editor has deemed them good enough to put on the shelf.

Do you have any techniques for finding books in a genre that you like that are well written AND actually edited? What has been your experience with buying e-books? My daughter is at the same place--she has found so many of the free or cheap books are only worth that. Are you finding it hard to find books you actually want to read for your Kindle or Nook?

Labels: Blue Moon Promise, e-reader

Colleen Coble
posted at 7:05 PM
Comments (7)

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7 Comments:

At 8:41 PM, Timothy Fish said...: I've always had a hard time finding books I wanted to read. Cheap eBooks only makes it worse.
At 12:43 PM, Ronya said...: To be honest, I wouldn't say that LOVE reading on my Kobo (or my Sony that I had before that). But with that said, I can often get more for my money by buying a digital edition. I still tend to buy most of my favorite authors trade paperback version, because I want it on my shelf.

As for the actual question stated, I much prefer going to the bookstore and seeing what is new out that I haven't read. I do see the need though to have a good way to do this online as more and more bookstores close or don't carry as many on-hand. I don't want to miss a favorite or not meet a new favorite because I didn't see it on the bookshelf.

One thing that I rely heavily on, whether ebook or "real" book is recommendations from authors I know and like.

I guess now is the time for someone to start a website dedicated to quality books. :O)
At 1:27 PM, Judy Gann said...: Thank you, Colleen. Speaking as a librarian, the biggest obstacle for self-published authors who want to place their books in the public library is the lack of editing.

Fair or not, when a self-published book crosses acquisitions librarians' desks, they think, "Self published. It's not been edited."

Yes, there are RARE exceptions to this blanket statement.

Library book budgets are tight (for digital as well as print titles). We value the filter of editors.
At 1:33 PM, Kristin said...: The thing I love about my Kindle (though I still prefer a book) is that I can have it with me at all times and read what I feel like in the moment. I also like that people can't tell what I'm reading. I read a lot of non-fiction and brain books, and I don't want to share that with the world at large.
At 7:41 AM, Timothy Fish said...: Kristin,

I'm that way with romance novels. After I wrote For the Love of a Devil I decided to read Redeeming Love because I had heard that it was based on Hosea, and I wanted to see how it compared to my take on the story. I pulled the cover off the hardback so I wouldn't have to explain why I was reading a romance. With ebooks, the cover is already pulled off.
At 1:55 PM, Anonymous said...: My rule number one for finding good Christian books from new authors to check the publisher, and I find this applies to both print and eBooks. If I see a book from Bethany House, Waterbrook, Tyndale, Thomas Nelson, Summerside, Revell or Zondervan, I am much more likely to try it. Some publishers will release a free eBook when the author's second or third in a series is coming out. Bethany House did this with Dale Cramer's Paradise Valley, and got me hooked, so I purchased The Captive Heart as soon as it was available.

My second rule is to read Family Fiction to see what my favorite authors and new authors are up to.

I love my Kindle. I have Jury Duty next week, and I'm going to take it with me with several books loaded to read.
At 4:19 PM, Unknown said...: The price of the book and whether or not it was self-published are in no way any indicator of the quality of the story. I have read free books that were top notch and paid books from known publishers that were lousy. I do agree with your statement about editing. Both of my worst reads should never have gone to print. For what its worth, one was published by a major company.