|
I first started reading "ebooks" in the 80s when I could get some classics, public domain novels, and reference books as text files on CD-ROMs. But even then, I had to read them on the computer screen -- I had no way to carry them around with me. I've been doing much, much more reading since I got a JetBook Lite, my first ereader.
The first reason is portability. When I go to get some work done on my car, accompany a relative to a doctor's appointment, etc., I can bring an ereader and choose from hundreds of ebooks. I especially like short (and very short) stories in these cases, and in the ebook world it's much easier to get short stories -- you can buy them (lots of them!) individually -- as opposed to the paper world, where you have to buy magazines or anthologies. Of course, I do also buy ebook magazines and anthologies.
And cost is very different for much (but not all) of the ebook world. It's not unusual for the first book in a series to be offered free or at a steep discount, so I'm much more likely to take a chance on a new series that I might like. I think that I go on to buy additional books in these series about half the time, so this strategy is paying off for quite a few authors.
I do still haunt a local used book store, mostly for old paperbacks and science fiction magazines that aren't available as ebooks, yet. But not as often as I used to.
|