The single thing that I don't like about ebooks is not having the covers on the books. I can better recall a book if I can picture its cover image when I'm thinking about it. (It's also why I'm so picky about the covers for the books I log in Goodreads; I want the cover to match what I think I'm reading!) My Sony uses the cover of my current/last book for the sleep screen, but it's not as vibrant as a "real" cover. (It's also pretty tiny, since it's only a 6" screen.)
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Originally Posted by BookHoarder
Anyway, a little while back I posted about an experiment I was conducting to solve the tactile memory problem that comes from reading Ebooks. My theory was to google search an image of the cover of the book I was reading, size it and print it out, laminate, and secure it to my Ereader cover with Velcro tabs. Total crafting cost about 1.00-1.25 USD.
I am pleased to report that for the most part I am happy with this method. I have done this with 4 books, and the results are most promising. The first is that I am better focusing, and retaining what I've read on my current book, and the second is more of a happy side-effect. The custom cover on the ereader is actually announcing to those pesky chatterers that I'm reading a book. They are tending to leave me be rather than attempt the dreaded 'social interaction'. Even the most anti-book, pro-social media tech enthusiast, knows a book cover when they see one.
Back in the day I was one of those readers who judged a book by its cover. Any book art by Michael Whelan convinced me that the book had to be amazing. It was not always the case, but one should not argue with Whelan.
So every two to three weeks my ereader cover gets a change. Pros are the visually appealing aspect of book covers, the convenience of a ereader, and the focus that comes from the almost tricking your brain into believing you are reading from a dead tree format. Cons I can't go back to paper, no matter how good those dead trees smelled, because of the amount of money I've spent into ebooks. People know what I'm reading, and I won't lie about it with a false cover. Another is I find myself unwilling to abandon a boring book if I've invested the time to craft a cover for it. That might actually be a pro since I kind of have a completion complex.
If anyone else has attempted this please post up about it, share your thoughts about how it goes for you. I'm not advocating going back to paper, but sometimes the old ways are still good ways.  |
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I still love the idea of making a cover for the book while I'm reading it, but I know it isn't something I'll follow through with on my own. (I seem to have turned into one of those people who spend all day at work on the computer and don't even look at my own when I'm home.) My plan is to stick a clear pocket to the front cover and then swap out the cover sheet for each book, but I haven't gone beyond thinking about how to create that.