The length of a meter is... Amazon?

As a reader, I don't use Amazon. This is because I'm in Australia. Until  v e r y  recently, Amazon hasn't been terribly Oz-friendly. (They have created amazon.com.au, but that's a digital-only marketplace. If I want a hard copy of a 99c on-sale novel, I still have to pay $20 shipping. Ouch.)

Google Maps understands geographical isolation.

I don't buy physical stuff because shipping is too expensive. I don't buy digital stuff because their format is for the Kindle and I'm a Kobo girl. Amazon doesn't have much with which it can entice me as a customer.

But a significant part of the English-speaking world does use Amazon, and its rating system for novels tends to be the go-to standard because of sheer volume. Success often is measured by Amazon stars and sales rankings.

Want an accurate rating of a book? Go to Amazon. People post their reviews there left, right and centre center. Wanna know how well a book is selling? Check out the sales rank.

As an author I understand the value of Amazon ratings, especially when it comes to marketing. I've read several books by authors I would love to promote by Word-of-Mouth. The place I feel my opinion would have the most bang would be on Amazon. But I can't. I don't buy from Amazon. Amazon won't let me post any reviews because I haven't bought anything from them.

Oh, I'd love to buy my digital books from Amazon just so I could post an honest review. In theory, I could and read them on my laptop with a Kindle app. My only issue is the emissive nature of my laptop screen (ie it glows under its own power).

I love my Kobo ebook reader because of its e-ink display. It's reflective, not emissive. The light by which I view it is due to the ambient light of the room. I find an emissive display hard on the eyes after a few hours. When I read a book, I often find myself immersed for hours, if not days on end. I want to read books in a format that's easy on my eyes. A laptop can't do that. An ereader can.

(I did consider a Kindle once, but it was more expensive than my Kobo, didn't have quite the bells and whistles that my Kobo HD Aura has and, at the time, had poor customer support because I'm Aussie, oy, oy, oy.)

So where do I get my books? The KoboStore. Quick, easy, and new purchases are on my ereader ready to go in a matter of seconds.  The only thing I don't like about the KoboStore is that its users rarely use their star ranking system. I will, but I am only one of a very few handful. Because there are so few ratings, my opinion becomes mostly useless.

Now, I will go to GoodReads and post reviews. That has some clout.

Not as much as Amazon, which seems to have been adopted as the gold standard when it comes to overall opinions on what's good and what's bad. If I could get books in .epub format from Amazon, I'd certainly buy more books over there, especially books I intend on reviewing.

Until then, if you are interested in my opinion, I am on GoodReads from time to time.

Do an author a favour; go review someone's book.

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Her Grace will give her honest, supported opinion for a book. She will say what did and didn't work for her. She wishes more reviewers were the same. "This book sucks!" doesn't do her much good, nor does, "I love this book!"  At least explain why.

eBook readers

I've always loved sci-fi gadgets. They're so cool!

And now that we're in the 21st Century, many of the sci-fi gadgets I dreamed about as a child are a reality (except for lightsabres. I'm still waiting for one of those).

One of the nifty things I love is an eBook reader. I read on a Kobo Aura HD. It's got a touch screen and the most beautiful backlighting I've seen on an electronic device. 

I could read the thing for hours. (Waitaminnut. I do.) I've got nearly 900 books on my little cutie, and more are added every week.

While there is an old-school charm about print books, how they look so good on a shelf, how you can easily loan them to friends who never return them, how you can drop it in the tub and not worry about electrocution (or the mad, wet dash for a tub of dry rice), I must confess I prefer the convenience and ease of ebooks.

What I love about ebooks:

• Lightweight. A thousand books weighing about 200 grams? Awesome. Not to mention the ease of carrying an ebook reader around. Few single books weigh less than my ebook reader, even with its protective cover.
• Convenience. My ebook reader boots up as quickly as it would take for me to open to a bookmarked page in a traditional book.
• Night reading. My Kobo Aura HD has a lovely easy-on-the-eyes backlight with adjustable brightness. Perfect for reading in bed at night. And should I fall asleep, the ebook reader will turn itself off after bookmarking my page. If I had had an eBook reader as a child, I would never have gotten any sleep!
• Access. If I want to read the next Mary Robinette Kowal, I can. My Aura HD connects to the KoboBooks bookstore and I can have any book I want in their catalogue in less than a minute. As for library books, it's a little bit more of a song-and-dance, but even so, in under five minutes, I can check out eBooks from my local library.
• Go-go-gadget coolness! Those readers who are nostalgic for the old-world charm of a print book can be nostalgic for that. However, as a child of sci-fi, my skiffy soul is thrilled with the sheer gadgetryness of an eBook reader. You can be nostalgic for the past. I long for the future.

Currently AS GOOD AS GOLD and FOR RICHER, FOR POORER are available on KoboBooks, and other good eBook retailers. So if you're a Kindle fan, a Kobo lover (like me) or a Nook addict, you can read my books.

My next three novels will also be available as eBooks.

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Her Grace is looking forward to the day when books can be uploaded directly to one's brain.

"A book did put me in hospital once..."

Had an interesting chat with the phlebotomy nurse who interviewed me for my blood draw last week.

When she learned I was an author, naturally, she was interested in my books, especially as she loved historical romance. Yay!

Alas, when she learned my latest book was ebook only, she winced.  "I prefer real [dead tree] books. There's just something about a real book."

I don't blame her. There will always be something romantic about the print format that ruled a half-millennium.

Young Elspeth in Bed with a Book
by Robert Sivell

"That said, A book did put me in hospital once."

Normally when books put people into hospitals, it's because they've dropped a Biology textbook on their toes, or someone whacked them across the back of the head with a Literary Classic (those litrachoor books can make for some very violent readers). Also, authors are committed by the handful, as they work on One Too Many Edits.  Sends one round the bend, it does.

This lovely bibliophile had come across a beautiful old copy of "Wuthering Heights", so old that the pages cracked apart as she read it.

Alas, this moldy old tome was, well, moldy. As she devoured this Bronte, she also inhaled mold spores that made her very sick--thus, the trip to the hospital.

We had a chat about eReaders (especially how much I love mine) and how convenient they were.  Their convenience makes up for the lost romance of  "romans".  I told her about eInk and how an eReader could hold hundreds and hundreds of books.

By the end of the conversation, she was leaning towards giving it a try, especially if it meant she could take several books with her when she travelled.

Next time I shall have to show her this ebook cover:

This one Run For Cover is available from Red5.

Or this one:

Strawberry Roan made her own. Clever!  Must try.
She's got step-by-step instructions.

Naturally, I pointed her in the direction of my book, which, coincidentally was free last week.  I hope she picked it up and enjoyed it.

That's why I write books; I want to make readers happy.

And not to infect them with mold spores.

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Her Grace confesses she would like to infect readers with an insatiable thirst for her novels.  She's had that disease in the past before and highly recommends it.

eBook Readers

You're looking at a thousand books, in theory.

I love my ebook reader!  What a beautiful little technology.  For bibliophiles such as myself, it's perfect.

In the States the dominant brands are Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).  In Australia, the dominant brand is Kobo.

I have a Kobo Aura HD (see illustration).  Love the sucker.

Why I love my ebook reader:

1.  It's technology, baby!  Technology thrills me.  Always has.  Ever since I got a calculator as a wee sproglet, I've been fascinated by gadgets.  No, I don't run out and buy the latest willy-nilly (so, no iPhone 5 for me). My acquisition is a thoughtful choice, guaranteeing that I will use whatever it is I've bought.

2.  So... Many... Books...  An ereader holds a thousand books (or more).   I own over a thousand dead-tree books, and they take up a lot of space.  (Not that I mind.)  Being able to take an ebook reader with me anywhere and have a thousand books at my beck and call is pretty heady.

3. E-ink Technology.  I've used a computer for over thirty years. I've got a laptop.  Got a smart phone, and I often play with a daughter's tablet.  But my poor eyes can only stand so much staring at those bright screens.

E-ink technology is different.  It doesn't glow like a computer screen, it reflects natural light.  I've had no problems looking at its display for hours and hours on end.  It's like looking at a piece of paper.  As soon as they master technicolor and quick refresh, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw more computer/notebook/tablet monitors with e-ink technology.

Also, e-ink technology doesn't consume as much energy as, say, a tablet screen.  My ebook reader lasts for weeks on a single charge.

4. Reading in the dark.  Yes, e-ink technology is a reflective technology.  So my Kobo has a light source built in. But instead of shining straight forward, they've got the lights in the bevel of the ereader, so the light reflects off the e-ink surface in a most pleasant manner.  And I can adjust the brightness to suit my needs..

5. Library books.  I can check ebooks out from my local library anytime, anywhere.  Even better, I don't have to worry about damaging the book, or having its spine crack, or losing the book.  At the end of the borrow period, the book checks itself back in.  No late fees!

6. Lightweight.  Doesn't weigh much, so it's easy to carry.  It's thin, and doesn't take up as much space in my bag as a book does.

7. Bells & Whistles.  I can zoom the text to a comfortable size. I turn a page with a touch of my finger (or toe).  I can look up a word in the dictionary. I can dog-ear the page corners.  I can make notes. I can do all sorts of things I can't or shouldn't do to a library book.  That's awesome.

An ebook reader does exactly what I want it to do: let me read books for hours.

Ain't technology grand?
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Her Grace has a copy of As Good As Gold on her ebook reader.  She has yet to read it in its finished form, though.