Journey of the Heart

To eBook or Not to eBook

Posted on June 14, 2011 | 10 comments

Had some questions come in after yesterdays Blog post and thought I would cough up my personal response.

Do you read eBooks and on what?

Of course I read eBooks. I have been reading eBooks for a little over 10 years now. Echelon was one of the early companies that sold our books as eBooks. Back then we did email transfers and CD-roms in DVD cases. It was expensive and time-consuming because we did them ourselves. Oy! We’ve come a long way since then. While some of our authors choose to put their eBooks on disc for the convenience of their readers, we no longer do it as a company.

However, with the progress in the industry, it is easier than ever for readers to enjoy the pleasures of reading an eBook. As to what I read on, I do most of my book reading on my beloved Kindle. Back in the day, I bought a Nook so I could check the quality of our eBooks before they went up for sale on BN.com and various other sites. I soon discovered that I wasn’t as comfortable reading on the Nook as I thought I would be. So I got myself a Kindle. Just to check it out, you see. It was love at first read.

Why I love my Kindle:

Lightweight. My kindle weighs a little over 8 ounces and is quite thin. In my opinion, this makes it easier to hold.

Keyboard. I don’t use it often, but I do like that my Kindle has an actual keyboard for typing in my notes and such. The separate and raised button allow for much better accuracy.

Page turners. On either side of my Kindle are actual buttons that you push to turn the pages. One for forward and one for backward.

Storage space. My Kindle has 4 gb of space. They say this is 3500 books. I have not been able to test this, but I sure am trying hard.

Battery. This baby can hold a charge. I have had it for months and have only charged it 4 or 5 times. I use it quite frequently and to be honest, I am surprised I have not had to charge it more often.

File accessibility. This is a big one for me. My Kindle not only reads the designated file type (which is Mobi), but also pdf, html, txt, it allows several different graphic formats like jpg, bmp, and png. But the thing I love most about my Kindle is that is plays mp3 files and I can download my Audible.com books onto it to listen. I can tell you that right now, aside from actual books to read, I have about 50 unabridged audiobooks and the Pimsluer Course to learn to speak Urdu. Whhhoooo baby! There are several other formats it recognizes, but I got tired of listing them.

Why the Nook is just okay:

My Nook weighs in a little under 12 ounces. That’s a good size steak, people. And the newer models are even heavier. This makes it awkward for people with hand issues like arthritis, or whatever.

My Nook has a touch screen and quite honestly, I find them difficult to use. The very small screen on the bottom makes it annoyingly difficult to type, especially if you have healthy fingers. Getting the damn touch screen to come up is a whole nother issue.

My Nook has two arrows painted on either side of the device that indicate you should push there to turn the page. Again, no actual button and if you don’t hit it right on, you have to try again, and sometimes again.

My Nook has 2 gb of space, which is supposed to be 1500 books. Haven’t hot that either. Newer models have more space.

My Nook will actually hold a charge for about 8 days before I have to hook the baby up. It is even less if I actually use it.

My Nook, being an older models recognizes ePub, pdb, pdf, jpg, gif, bmp, and mp3 files, but I honestly have never been able to figure out how to get one of the damn mp3 files to play on it. Could be user error, but that says something about the device, too. At least in my opinion.

Now, neither of my devices are backlit, and this is okay for me. I’m not allowed to read in the dark anyways. I do have a Kandle, a light for my Kindle. I tried to find a book light for the Nook, but the thickness made it hard and the one I got would not stay clipped on securely.

Neither of my devices have AT&T access. They are straight wi-fi, and this has worked fine for me. I do most of my eBook buying from home anyways.

Buy at Kindle Now!

Keep in mind that these are just my opinions on the two devices and there are several other eBook readers out there that you may like better. For those of you who don’t want to buy an eReader, but find yourself wanting to read a book that only comes in eBook, then you have a couple of options. I am not familiar with all of them, but I know that Kindle has a desktop application that syncs up with the device and your Kindle account. So you can read that book on your computer. And while a lot of people say, “I don’t want to read on my computer.” You read on your computer all the time, otherwise you wouldn’t be on it as much as you are. You are reading on your computer right now, so find another excuse for not giving eBooks a try. You choose when and how long you read, so it’s not really that big of an inconvenience. Right?

I hope this has helped some of you who have been waffling about buying an eReader. And FYI, Wal-Mart has the older model wi-fi only for under $120.00. I believe the least expensive Nook is around $140.00.

I would love to know what the rest of you are reading on or why you simply won’t give eBooks a chance. And there is no right or wrong answer, I am just curious. And before you go defending print books and how wonderful they smell. Yeah yeah yeah. I love print books, too. Still publish them, and still read them. The smell? Not as much of a hook for me with my allergies. But I get it.

10 Comments

Posted in Blatherings

Borders: You Break My Heart (Publisher Rant)

Posted on June 13, 2011 | 27 comments

By now the entire world knows of the struggles and woes of Borders Corp. The bankruptcy, the closed stores, the dishonor. Yes, there is a crapload of dishonor.

Let’s talk about the bankruptcy first. The result of the latter mentioned issues have put the superstore company in grave danger of total destruction. Please keep in mind that this is only my take on the situation, but observations I have been establishing for many years. Borders claims to have run out of money, unable to pay their rent, or their vendors. They continue to order books from authors and publishers when they have no money to pay for them. Of course it has been my experience that they stopped paying their bills long before the bankruptcy. There have been plenty of complaints and actions against them for just this. This lack of money has fueled the fire under their big skillet.

Buy at Kindle Now!

Quite some time ago, readers were fortunate to have the option of going to Waldenbooks within their local malls to browse and buy books. Then everything at Borders changed and they began to kill off the Waldenbooks, first slowly, then whoosh, they were gone. These little gems of comfort and the only good service you could get from a Borders corp store were eliminated. Employees who had been in these stores for years and built relationships were uprooted and given the heave-ho. Readers lost their havens and publishers and authors lost many valuable places to actually sell books. These Waldenbooks either disappeared or were replaced by the little fart stores called Borders Express. We all know Borders stores as big superstores with lots of employees who have no idea what they sell or where to find most of it. Borders followed their misguided instincts and filled many of these locations with employees who neither understood or cared about the book business. How sad. Now, they have closed hundreds of their express and superstores.

Finally, there is the dishonor. Having built a reputation for bad customer service in their stores, they have gone on to excel at even worse service and tactics on their website, including Kobo. With the rise of eBook sales, it is only natural that Kobo use this venue to help finance its floundering company. Everyone knows that the distributor/reseller makes the bulk of the money with regard to eBook sales. Yet, Kobo has felt it necessary to stick a red-hot poker into the eye of the very people who feed its coffers. The publishers and authors. Many other online sellers of eBooks have very strict rules about competitive pricing. If you price an item with them it cannot be priced any lower elsewhere. If it is, they will reduce their price to meet the competitor. Not that big of a deal, unless said discount affects the income potential from the other venues. Say you have a base retail price you must pay: $2.99 to receive a 70% royalty (this is part of a pricing agreement with the vendor that is not Kobo), which a publisher then shares with the author in the form of royalties. Kobo comes along (knowing full well what will happen when they price the $2.99 book at $2.69) and discounts the book, hoping to gain the support of the reader by charging less. What they have actually done, is they have forced the other venue to discount the retail price to meet the lower and knocked the item down from a 70% royalty to a 35% royalty for the publisher. It is not easy to split 35% of $2.69 with an author and keep them happy.

What Kobo doesn’t understand that when they back a publisher into a corner like this is that they force certain actions. One thing that could happen is that a publisher could remove ALL of its titles from the Kobo venue, thereby giving Kobo and Borders what they deserve: ZERO!

Another thing that could happen is that a publisher could write a scathing Blog post asking readers and eBook buyers NOT to make purchases from Kobo because it would kinda make them an accessory to premeditated robbery. That publisher could also ask readers to tell their reader friends who may not read said Blog about the unethical tactics of Kobo.

One would have to ask though, why Borders execs are not smart enough to know that if they want to save their sinking company they should be making friends and not bending publishers, authors, and readers over the proverbial cash counter without giving them flowers first.

27 Comments

Posted in Blatherings, Business, Just for Fun

A Brand New Day

Posted on June 11, 2011 | 3 comments

Buy Now!

No, I’m not talking about the best album/disc Sting ever did. I’m talking about getting up one morning and realizing that everything you did the day before is in the past. I have been trying to figure out where togo with my life for quite some time.

I have a good life. I have a wonderful husband, I am building new bonds with my family, and I have a company that is moving toward success. What else could I want? That’s just it. I feel like something is missing and I am not at all sure where to look for it.

I spend a lot of time watching people and listening to how others have acheived success. I have found a tremendous amount of inspiration from the top people in their fields: John C. Maxwell, Zig Ziglar, the late Mary Kay, and even Donald Trump. We study the stories and instructions of Robert Kiyosaki.

Buy Now!

Twenty years ago I would never have imagined that I would be living a good life as the owner of a publishing company. What I discovered today was that I want more. I want people to hate me because I am so wildly successful and have cornered the market on books. I want Echelon and our authors to be the most well-known, sought-after people in the universe. Stop laughing, I’m not kidding.

I long to see my author’s names at the top of every best seller list known to man. There books lining the shelves in bookstores, grocery stores, convenience stores, truck stops, airports…did I miss any? Why am I posting all of this on my Blog? Simple. The most important people claim that when you want something bad enough, it isn’t enough to work hard. You have to work smart, and you have to write it down. That’s right. WRITE IT DOWN.

I will find new and exciting ways to draw readers to our books, because our books are damn good and they deserve to be read. I am tired of letting bad reviews get me down. I am tired of feeling pitiful because someone said there are 6 errors in our last book. Shit happens. Get over it, people. We are not perfect and if you ever find a perfect book out there, then good for you!

Buy eBook Now!

Echelon Press has published some of the best books in the industry in the last decade. We have put authors into the mainstream who probably would not have made it without us. How? Determination. Pure and simple. We wanted it, so we did it.

I am not going to sit back and watch the rest of the world have all the fun and make all the money. I’ve got books lined up that are really freaking good and you should not take my word for it, you should buy them, read them, and then tell all your friends about them. Why? because that’s what you do. You find a good shampoo that smells good and makes your hair soft and shiny and you tell your friends. Hello, read a good book, tell everyone you know.

We don’t claim to have published the great American novel, but we do have damn good books. Want to laugh? Cry? Be shocked? Be scared? Then we have an entire catalog of books for you to try.

So, what the hell does all this have to do with a brand new day? I don’t really know, but the song was in my head and I couldn’t come up with a better title for this Blog. Obviously my ambition is running a little deeper than my creativity today.