E-books, say, for Christmas

I asked in March, but I’ll ask again, seeing as some good (and bad) girls and boys will be getting electronics in a December holiday —  like tomorrow’s Zamenhofa Tago — and the market has changed somewhat.

Who uses a book reader? Who hopes to get or buy a book reader? Who uses a computer or phone like a book reader?

I’m gauging if I should start producing ebooks from Universalist and Unitarian files I have.

By Scott Wells

Scott Wells, 46, is a Universalist Christian minister doing Universalist theology and church administration hacks in Washington, D.C.

7 comments

  1. I have a Kindle & love it. Used Kindle app on my iPhone before I got the kindle. Read other materials (web-published fiction, including novel-length, etc) on computer.

  2. I have the unfortunately closed, but incredibly easy to use Kindle. The formats are still a mess, although my bet is that with google entering in the fray ePub is getting a big bump up, and it will be a battle between Kindle format and ePub.

    What I’d *really* like is an android-based eInk reader that could have an Amazon, Nook, and other reader software installed.

  3. I have and enjoy a Kindle (I even upgraded to the second version when it came out). I also have use of an iPad, and if I didn’t have the Kindle I’d use it for reading, although the fact that it emits light rather than being reflective is a downside for me. I wouldn’t dream of reading on a phone or an ipod-sized screen.

    I do not read on the computer for pleasure, nor for work if I can possibly avoid it (see above comment about screens that emit light at my eyes). I’m on the computer far more than enough hours in the day already.

    A couple of points about ebooks (of whatever file format): make sure someone else hasn’t already done it; consider whether creating text files, as for the Gutenberg project, is the most flexible of models for low-demand titles; and most importantly, consider that “publishing” is more than just the technical (or physical) production of a text in transferable form.

  4. I have a Sony Reader. I won’t get Kindle or Nook because of the proprietary file formats they use.

    The Sony is a fine reader, but I think that all of the readers are probably still pretty early-stage at this point. I expect the technology (and competition) to continue developing these products.

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