Novelists On the E-Book Experience

An anonymous reader writes "How is reading different on a Kindle, a Nook, or an iPhone? The NY Times asked two writers what they thought. Joseph Finder, the author of thrillers, misses the indices compiled by humans and finds it annoying the way that all of the fonts are the same. Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels, actually likes the simplicity because he can concentrate on the words themselves. And then there's the issue of monopoly, which must give the authors the willies."

Comments

stupid

[Lord Ender]

Fonts the same? The Kindle can do multiple fonts. It can do bold and italic. It can even do illustrations. Why are we asking this guy's opinion if he obviously has never even used the device?

Re:stupid

[Lord Ender]

If you take time to read the stories on slashdot, by the time you post you will be so far down the page nobody will ever read, reply to, or moderate your comment. Reacting to the summary is all we can reasonably expect!

I foresee...

[srussia]

a revival of "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.

Index?

[rjstanford]

An index? In a thriller? How does that normally work?

killer, identity of - page 274
tension, sexual, relief of - page 102
gun, finding of - page 79

Re:Lee Childs? I don't think so

[Minwee]

I think I got through the first paragraph before skipping around the next few pages then finally giving up.

You read one whole paragraph before pronouncing it unreadable? I admire your dedication.

You misunderstand...

[Anonymous Coward]

You are considering monopoly from a *reader's* perspective, while they speak of monopoly from the *author's* perspective. The issue is whether an author will be able to "shop around" for the best publisher among legion or instead be relegated to one of a very few ebook providers.

As the author is concerned, your choices of bookstores are minimally relevant compared to their choices of publishers.

Re:No problem

[JohnBailey]

"This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our "solution" to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

Translation.. Sorry I shot your dog and ran over it five times in front of your kids. Here's the money for a new dog. Next time' I'll wait for the kids to be at school before I shoot it and run over it again.