Paperback or ebooks?

[soulsinging]

One thing I forgot, if you have a kobo (not a kindle last I checked) the cover art is displayed on sleep which makes it feel more like a book to me.

Aaaand, if you sideload the books on, you can choose whichever cover you want

I sideload ALL my e-books with the help of Calibre. I don't want Kobo or Kindle (I have both e-readers) to control my e-readers and/or content.
Calibre also allows you to adapt the title and author, so you can apply the same format throughout your collection, which is especially helpful with books that are part of a series.

Any suggestions on further reading about Kobo/Calibre? I never heard of either and while I do love my kindle more than I expected, I hate supporting Amazon. Anything I can do to cut ties would be good.

 

[.matthew.]

@soulsinging

How to sideload on Calibre This is a pretty basic step by step guide to loading books using Calibre. I should note that you can convert books from any format you buy them in, into .mobi which then allows you to sideload them onto your existing Kindle. Keep the device and shop where you want.

Kobo is a company that pretty much just makes ereaders. They are usually on par or slightly ahead of Amazon and the two companies seem to work on the same styles and tech at the same time (they both have the 6" models, and the bigger side heavy new ones - although Kobo has two of these, one in fancy materials and a much cheaper one in basic plastic that's a little smaller but still big). I'll say the build quality on Kindles is a little better, but I've always found the frontlight on Kobo to be superior. Recently Kobo has shifted into more of an Amazon mode, so no more expandable storage and a prominent store heavy UI, but you can more easily load you own software onto Kobos without having to jailbreak the, (I use Koreader and it's so good). Even without the 3rd party software, the Kobo has more customisation in fonts (which you can also sideload on) size / spacing options, and dictionaries. They do lack the x-ray mode of Kindles, if that matters to you...

Edit: While I'm guessing the forum rules won't allow me to link it, there are ways of using Calibre to convert amazon books into a more open format for use on other devices / creating backups.

Edit edit: The base model of Kobo (the Clara) also has the new yellow toned Comfort Light options that you only find on the more expensive Kindles.

 

[Elckerlyc]

I use the meta plugin (or whatever it'd called), to add the series acronym before every title as it's loaded on. So (although I hate the series this is just an example) A Song of Ice and Fire [1], would show on my device as ASoIaF - 01 - A Game of Thrones.

I do something similar: [ASOIAF 01] A Game of Thrones. Puts series up front when sorting by name.

Any suggestions on further reading about Kobo/Calibre? I never heard of either and while I do love my kindle more than I expected, I hate supporting Amazon. Anything I can do to cut ties would be good.

Calibre is a freeware program (you are asked for a donation, which is well worth it) for Windows and Linux. It's basically a database of your e-books.
With Calibre you can
Add labels or tags of your own design, like language, genre, series-numerating, date of purchase etc
Convert e-books to different formats: epub, mobi, azw (Amazon), pdf and a few more.
*cough* remove DRM *cough*
Formatting text
Search descriptions and covers on the internet.

 

[Finch]

Any suggestions on further reading about Kobo/Calibre? I never heard of either and while I do love my kindle more than I expected, I hate supporting Amazon. Anything I can do to cut ties would be good.

calibre-ebook.com
I have some old Sony E readers . With Calibre I can down load files, convert them and load them on to my readers . The link will give everything you need to know

 

[olive]

I think they have different functions for me.

I carry my kindle everywhere. (Paperwhite.) I have been using it since the push-button ones and it was a revolution for me. I can't think of not having it. It's also UK bound because it is for reading in English so it's very handy that it has a dictionary in it. I just need to touch the word for the definition of it. It's very easy to buy books. It's almost all fiction.

But my textbooks, reference books, academic research...etc is paperback. I don't need to carry them around. I mostly buy them second hand.

 

[Overread]

One thing I forgot, if you have a kobo (not a kindle last I checked) the cover art is displayed on sleep which makes it feel more like a book to me.

I still dont' get why Amazon hasn't let the Kindle do this! I also don't get why, since they've stuck with their own covers, they haven't sold cover-packs and such to make side money letting people customise the screensaver. It's not as if Amazon's own choices are all that interesting. It seems such a simple feature to add and yet they've not.

 

[Vince W]

I still dont' get why Amazon hasn't let the Kindle do this! I also don't get why, since they've stuck with their own covers, they haven't sold cover-packs and such to make side money letting people customise the screensaver. It's not as if Amazon's own choices are all that interesting. It seems such a simple feature to add and yet they've not.

That would mean Amazon giving up control of something. Not something they're famous for.

 

[.matthew.]

The cover thing is a huge deal for me, enough to where I'd never buy a kindle even if every other feature was there (which they aren't even close to). I need the reminder on my bedside table to catch my eye and make me read.

Plus, covers can be so pretty

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

I lived in north west London for most of my life . The fantasy Center was originally in Harlesden and run by Ted and Dave it moved to the Holloway Road . Ted retired and was replace by Erik . The shop closed on 2009 , both Erick and Dave had an encyclopedic knowledge of all thing Science Fiction . Another good book shop that closed about the same time was Murder One , in the Charing Cross Road . The basement was dedicated to science fiction and for new books was London's largest .

After reading an interview with Ursula Le Guin in which she mentioned one of her favourite novels, I popped round the corner to Fantasy Centre to see if they had a copy. Found the book and took it to the counter, where either Dave or Erik (a tall, handsome man with a fine head of white hair) exclaimed "Ah! Voyage To Arcturus"! I told him it had come highly recommended, and after a brief interchange he bagged up the book, took my money and informed me "By the way, it's crap."
I still haven't finished the book...

 

[Parson]

FWIW, the used bookshops with the best SFF sections I've ever found are City Lights in London, Ontario and the Curious Bookshop in East Lansing, Michigan. A behemoth like the Strand doesn't even come close, no matter how much I love it. And, yes, I try to go to used bookshops in every place I visit. Of the places I've been, I'd say probably Urbana-Champaign, IL, and Atlanta are the best for quality + quantity of used bookshops. My favorite used bookshop I've ever visited may be Jackson Street Booksellers in Omaha. Bookman Bookwoman in Nashville is also pretty great.

Holy Cow! Are you the guy who wrote the song "I've Been Everywhere, Man?"

I still dont' get why Amazon hasn't let the Kindle do this! I also don't get why, since they've stuck with their own covers, they haven't sold cover-packs and such to make side money letting people customise the screensaver. It's not as if Amazon's own choices are all that interesting. It seems such a simple feature to add and yet they've not.

But .... most of the Kindles that are sold are Kindles "With Special Offers." So they can market a book to you (or something else if you are reading on a Fire.) every time you take the machine out of sleep mode. --- Embarrassingly, I've bought a few of those. ---- So why would they want you to put your cover on the opening screen?

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Holy Cow! Are you the guy who wrote the song "I've Been Everywhere, Man?"

Well, I counted recently and I've been to 34 of the contiguous 48. Not sure how it happened, it wasn't planned: conferences, relatives to visit, friends, weddings to attend, vacations... Nothing special. I'm pretty sure my brother has me beat, though.

 

[Overread]

But .... most of the Kindles that are sold are Kindles "With Special Offers." So they can market a book to you (or something else if you are reading on a Fire.) every time you take the machine out of sleep mode. --- Embarrassingly, I've bought a few of those. ---- So why would they want you to put your cover on the opening screen?

As an actual extra bonus to encouraging people to buy the higher priced kindles that don't have the advertisements on them. Plus the adverts only appear now and then not all the time (from my understanding) so there's still regular displays that could be shown. Again Amazon could retain full control by selling packs of artwork for people to use for some customising or they could just enable a feature that displays the front page of the last read book.

 

[Azoraa]

waaahhh I thought I'm the only one missing the covers!!
I read almost exclusively on my Kindl, for years now, simply because it's so practical and I don't need to schlepp 10 books to wherever I go, because I don't know in advance what I'll feel like reading.
But I don't remember the books by cover and author and title after finishing a book - it's a nightmare!!!
At one point I've actually printed the covers of the last 20 books or so I liked, and put them up on the kitchen wall -- my virtual bookshelf
very satisfying, and a great conversation starter )

 

[Parson]

As an actual extra bonus to encouraging people to buy the higher priced kindles that don't have the advertisements on them. Plus the adverts only appear now and then not all the time (from my understanding) so there's still regular displays that could be shown. Again Amazon could retain full control by selling packs of artwork for people to use for some customising or they could just enable a feature that displays the front page of the last read book.

I agree that they're missing a bet by not making the cover of your book be the rest screen for your Kindle. Maybe you should suggest that to Amazon? they always like to make money. But (he says very quietly) my wife and I have 4 Kindles and 3 Fire tablets which all work. And everyone of them has an "offer" on it every time you look at it.

 

[Overread]

Kindle even has that annoying habit of not even STARTING a book on the front cover, but a few pages in!


Parson I've suggested it long ago in the past. Heck when I got my first kindle (the one with the keyboard that they mass marketed heavily) it was one of my first comments to Amazon - clearly they've been missing a trick for years!

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

My Kindles and Fires have always had an ad as their rest screen too. It really doesn't bother me in the least. I mean, especially on a Fire, between turning it on and signing in, how much time do you spend on the rest screen? One second?

 

[Laura R Hepworth]

I like ebooks well enough (it's certainly easier to take an ereader when traveling than to pack a separate suitcase just for your books ), but I will always prefer to have a physical copy over an ebook any day. That said, my elibrary is well over 1,000 books .

 

[Ashley R]

So I was curious to know your thoughts on what you'd all prefer - paperback books or ebooks? (snip) What are your thoughts?

It depends. As a reader I prefer paper because I spend so much of my time looking at screens.

But as an author I must address the changing market. Depending on genre, anything from 20 to 30 percent of your market is eBooks. That's a lot of readers.

 

[.matthew.]

It depends. As a reader I prefer paper because I spend so much of my time looking at screens.

But as an author I must address the changing market. Depending on genre, anything from 20 to 30 percent of your market is eBooks. That's a lot of readers.

An ereader screen isn't like looking at a computer screen though, except in outward appearance and that is quickly forgotten.

20 to 30 IF you are traditionally published maybe, but if you go the self publish route it's going to be 100 percent unless you get big enough to have a run of paperbacks printed.

 

[Pyan]

An ereader screen isn't like looking at a computer screen though, except in outward appearance and that is quickly forgotten.

I must admit, that was one of the things that most impressed me about the Kindle, after trying to read books (mainly downloaded from Gutenberg) on my PC screen - that it was so much more like a book than an electronic device.