Which would you rather read, books or ebooks? Interesting question, isn't it?.
For the past month, Robert and I have been self-publishing. It's grueling, re-writing, editing, re-editing, researching P.O.D. (print on demand -- no upfront costs) companies, applying for and buying ISBN numbers (so the P.O.D. company isn't the "publisher" of your work, you are), working with bar codes and learning new programs to create pdf, and modify jpg image files, learning how to correctly paginate, designing and creating back and front covers, yada, yada, yada.
In Robert's case, he wrote the three stories in his first book nearly twenty years ago, so they first had to be brought into the light and dusted off before doing anything else.
In my case, I worked on the sequel for eleven years. The preschool book was actually an afterthought, because I felt some of the poems were too young for Barking Spiders 2.
Drawing my own illustrations was also an afterthought, but after making the decision to self-publish, it was something I wanted to do.
Once the books were ready to go, we uploaded them to the P.O.D. company and got in the queue, waiting our turn to have them printed. In the meantime, we decided to go ahead and publish them in ebook format while we waited ... holy crap ... no one tells you how crazy it is to do that.
Each ebookstore has their own requirements for uploading a book and covers to them -- oh, and each way you publish it, you need a separate ISBN number and bar code, too. Some require uploading in a pdf format, some, ePub, some in Microsoft Word.doc., and all have different royalties and ways they pay, direct deposit or paypal.
Okay, that brings me back to the original question ... which would you rather read, books or ebooks?
Robert and I were talking about it last night, cuddling on the couch with a cup of decaf. The ebooks on a PC, Kindle or Nook device are certainly the new rage ... but we both agree, nothing is better than reading a physical book.
I don't know, there's just something special and unique about a book ... the weight of it in your hands, the anticipation of what will happen in the story when you turn the next page, the smell of the paper and the ink, and the most important thing of all ... having a book in your hands creates a feeling, a real and caring relationship with the book, the words, the characters, and even the author ... and no batteries are required.
What's your opinion?
"Writers soon learn that easy to read is hard to write." ~CJ Heck
For the past month, Robert and I have been self-publishing. It's grueling, re-writing, editing, re-editing, researching P.O.D. (print on demand -- no upfront costs) companies, applying for and buying ISBN numbers (so the P.O.D. company isn't the "publisher" of your work, you are), working with bar codes and learning new programs to create pdf, and modify jpg image files, learning how to correctly paginate, designing and creating back and front covers, yada, yada, yada.
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| The Dream: Our Books Published |
In my case, I worked on the sequel for eleven years. The preschool book was actually an afterthought, because I felt some of the poems were too young for Barking Spiders 2.
Drawing my own illustrations was also an afterthought, but after making the decision to self-publish, it was something I wanted to do.
Once the books were ready to go, we uploaded them to the P.O.D. company and got in the queue, waiting our turn to have them printed. In the meantime, we decided to go ahead and publish them in ebook format while we waited ... holy crap ... no one tells you how crazy it is to do that.
Each ebookstore has their own requirements for uploading a book and covers to them -- oh, and each way you publish it, you need a separate ISBN number and bar code, too. Some require uploading in a pdf format, some, ePub, some in Microsoft Word.doc., and all have different royalties and ways they pay, direct deposit or paypal.
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| Readers are the Rage |
Robert and I were talking about it last night, cuddling on the couch with a cup of decaf. The ebooks on a PC, Kindle or Nook device are certainly the new rage ... but we both agree, nothing is better than reading a physical book.
I don't know, there's just something special and unique about a book ... the weight of it in your hands, the anticipation of what will happen in the story when you turn the next page, the smell of the paper and the ink, and the most important thing of all ... having a book in your hands creates a feeling, a real and caring relationship with the book, the words, the characters, and even the author ... and no batteries are required.
What's your opinion?
"Writers soon learn that easy to read is hard to write." ~CJ Heck
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