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

No problem

[Dyinobal]

I love the -idea- of Ebook readers, nothing is more awesome than being able -in theory- to carry around all my college text books and all my favorite novels on a thin little device that has a huge battery life. But in general all the systems that I've thought about buying I've turned down for being to locked down, or to expensive. DRM and Price is really a deal breaker, and the idea of rebuying books I already own so I can read them on my ebook reader is a little obnoxious. I love the Idea just hate the execution thus far, but I'm still hopeful for the tech to catch on.

Re:No problem

[FrankSchwab]

I agree; why the hell would I pay $300 for a device just so I have the right to pay $10 for each book I want to read?

A device with an unprotected screen that I don't expect to last a year?
A device that, should Amazon or Sony decide to get out of the market, will become a paperweight that I can't read my purchased content on anymore, and can't transfer my purchased content anywhere (see Yahoo Music Store, MSN Music, Walmart online music, etc ).
A device that can, at any time, decide that some of my content is no longer "acceptable", and delete it (see Amazon and "1984"/"Animal Farm")?

The concept is great; the current implementations just suck. /frank

Re:No problem

[Bigjeff5]

A device with an unprotected screen that I don't expect to last a year?

Ever heard of a cover? Jeeze, it's not that hard man. I assume you don't buy laptops either because they'll break in less than a year, that screen is so unprotected!

A device that, should Amazon or Sony decide to get out of the market, will become a paperweight that I can't read my purchased content on anymore, and can't transfer my purchased content anywhere (see Yahoo Music Store, MSN Music, Walmart online music, etc ).

While you are absolutely correct about Amazon (which is why I don't recommend the Kindle), you are completely wrong about Sony and everybody else. Sony now only sells e-books in the ePub format, and has offered to update all of their old readers' firmware, which don't support the format, so that they will. EPub is ubiquitous, there are dozens of e-book stores that sell in that format, the two major online public-domain book sources (Google Books and Project Gutenberg) all use ePub, nearly any device but the Kindle can read it, and anybody can create books in this format. If Sony goes away (which, by the way, will never happen, it's fucking Sony for christ's sake), the ePub books remain, and can still be purchased on your device and moved to another device even if Sony were dust. You can easily move them from one device to another - the DRM simply attempts to ensure that you do not copy it to more than one device at a time (note that this also makes lending possible). This is a function of ePub, not Sony, and like I said it is becoming ubiquitous.

A device that can, at any time, decide that some of my content is no longer "acceptable", and delete it (see Amazon and "1984"/"Animal Farm")?

Again, that's pretty much Amazon and the Kindle that can do that - except for library books (which are possible thanks to ePub's DRM, btw), you download a copy to your hard drive (or directly to the reader, if the device supports it) and the book is yours. All the readers except the Kindle allow you to access the reader as a mass storage device and move the files off it.

In other words, your complaints are entirely against Amazon and the Kindle, and have nothing to do with e-book readers in general.

The concept is great; the current implementations just suck.

You know this from experience right? Oh wait, you don't, since everything you said was incorrect. I do speak from experience, and frankly I won't go back to hard copies (except for technical books until till I get my Que) even though I have a crappy, old e-book reader which has none of the nice features the newer devices have. I've had that reader for about two years now, by the way, and I bought it refurbished.

Even the old implimentations (which have had their problems) were overall far supperior to paper books - the fact that I cary about 150 books in my bag now is proof positive of that, as is the fact that I now have access to millions of public domain books on a device that reads as well as having the paper versions.

Re:No problem

[NotBornYesterday]

When the only viable solution to a legitimate problem is to become a criminal, there is something wrong with both the law and the original problem.

Re:No problem

[Bigjeff5]

To be clear, and this FUD has been going around since the thing came out, you can use non-DRM formats on the Kindle. TXT and MOBI/PRC files can be read no problem -- the device mounts as a flash drive, you copy them over and they appear readable on the home screen.

Text has been available for everything, and mobi pocket is going the way of the dinosaur. I appologize for not including them, but it's a non-issue as everything else does it too, and text ebooks suck monkey balls. However, anything other than those (like .doc or .pdf, the most common document formats in the world) must be sent to Adobe and, at their grace, sent to your Kindle. Also, books purchased from Amazon for the Kindle are non-transferable, even to another Kindle, and you cannot buy books from another store for use on a kindle (unless they, for some reason, give it to you as a txt file). That's a huge deal-breaker for me.

The lack of ePub could be a frustration if a good DRM-free ePub store appears...

You mean like the Sony Store and Google Books who, combined, are far larger than Amazon's store? Yeah, ePub is already more available, and more transferrable than Kindle books.

...but given that the spec leaves room for any DRM scheme to I expect that it will be just as fractured as anything else.

So far, the exact opposite has happened, and I'll tell you why: who the hell wants to be the publisher of an ebook that nobody else can buy? What sense does that make? Also, you can now check out library books on any e-reader that suports ePub DRM, and like I said there are more ePub books available than there are Kindle books. If you include public domain books available in ePub (which number in the millions, thanks to Google Books and Project Gutenberg), Amazon's kindle is left in the dust.

There is no source that I know of for new, legal novels without DRM.

By the same token, there is no source that I know of for new, legal DVDs without copy protection, and no source of new, legal Blue Ray movies without DRM. What's your point? It's a stupid argument because it will never happen (except on a select, book by book basis), and if we have a ubiquitous technology for managing legal copies, like ePub is fast becoming, it will only be a problem for people who wish to copy the material illegaly.

Frankly, there are already half a dozen ePub stores, and there are more opening up all the time, like the Barnes & Nobel store, which was formerly all proprietary .pdb books, but now offers ePub books as well. I don't know if you know this, but B&N is one of the largest book sellers in the world.

Your information is out of date, just like mine was. Unfortunately, correcting me doesn't make the Kindle look any better, while correcting you just makes it look worse.

The one thing I'll praise the Kindle for is the Wireless-G access - this was a huge boon and a number of ebook readers - including the latest Sony - are emulating it. However, in the long run the Kindle was the wrong horse to bet on, as they are the ones that are going to have all the troubles you describe.

Lastly, it's not FUD if it's true, damnit!

Re:No problem

[supermank17]

Just to chime in here, you have a few facts wrong about the Kindle (which I do own).
You can mount it as a USB mass storage device, and archive your books or add books that you acquired separately from the Amazon store. Only the encrypted books you purchased from Amazon will be unreadable on any other device you may have (although theoretically you can crack the encryption on the DRM'd books). I believe you can even reload books that Amazon may have "revoked" from your backup and still be able to read them.
You can also load any book onto the Kindle that is in the .mobi format (the kindle format is just a drm'd mobi file with a different file extension). Mobi is about as common as ePub, and most major ebook publishers offer books in this format. In fact, most of the books on my Kindle were purchased / downloaded from baen.com.
I'm not exactly thrilled with the power that Amazon has over books you buy through them, but the device is not as tied to the Amazon service as many people think, and you can use it to read other books (even if Amazon were to die).

Re:No problem

[mcgrew]

The ePub DRM allows libraries to lend books now, and libraries are starting to pick it up.

Once it becomes common enough that most books are available from the library in ebook form, I may get one.

there are over a million public domain books available for free from both Google Books and Project Gutenberg

I've not found any free on Google Book; in fact, they seem to discourage your reading books that are in the public domain. Project Gutenberg is a good source, though. There are also writers like Doctorow and Lessig that publish under the GPL and host their books in many formats on their websites. I wish someone would set up a list of these writers with links.

Re:No problem

[NotBornYesterday]

IANAL, so I can't say how fair use factors into the DMCA. Plus, the concept of fair use is under constant attack here in the US by the same people who are lacing content with DRM. I also don't think that the legitimacy of fair use would stop them from trying to intimidate me into not removing their DRM.

All of that is beside the point for most people, however. Average mom & pop don't know how to remove DRM, or if doing so is legal. The result is that regardless of what is morally right and/or legally permissible, restricted content hurts consumers.

Re:No problem

[genghisjahn]

Good points all, but Amazon did send an email apologizing for the Animal Farm hubub AND offered a return of the book OR a $30 Amazon credit. And promised not to do it again.

Here is the email they sent in full -

Hello,

On July 23, 2009, Jeff Bezos, our Founder and CEO, made the following apology to our customers:

“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.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com”

As you were one of the customers impacted by the removal of "Works of George Orwell" from your Kindle device in July of this year, we would like to offer you the option to have us re-deliver this book to your Kindle along with any annotations you made. You will not be charged for the book. If you do not wish to have us re-deliver the book to your Kindle, you can instead choose to receive an Amazon.com electronic gift certificate or check for $30. Please email Kindle customer support at kindle-response@amazon.com to indicate your preference. If you prefer to receive a check, please also provide your mailing address. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, The Kindle Team Please note: this e-mail was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. Please do not reply to this message.

Re:No problem

[WalkingBear]

"There is no source that I know of for new, legal novels without DRM."

Wrong. Baen publishing has been selling their entire catalog for almost 10 years with NO DRM. RTF, HTML, Mobi, epub, sony, and rocket formats. Direct support from their store for e-mailing to your kindle and relatively simple support for the iphone/ipod touch.

They're also selling several other publisher's books through their store now too. Including a direct competitor, Tor.

Scott

Re:No problem

[cmiller173]

Go to books.google.com and browse any genre. On the left select "Public domain only". Not all of the books are in ePub only, some can be in pdf.

However I like manybooks.net. Most every book the have (25,439) is available in 20+ formats including the original Sony(.lrf) format, ePub(.epub), Kindle(.azw), mobipocket(.prc and .mobi), palm DOC(.pdb) heck even Newton(.pkg) format is supported.

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.

Re:No problem

[NotBornYesterday]

The fundamental lie I was refuting was this:

There is not, and has never been, any concept of 'fair use' in US copyright law.

Citation proves otherwise. End of story.

I have already admitted that I am not a legal expert. I am not about to go earn a law degree in order to debate on Slashdot, and I am not trying to argue what entails fair use, or how it is implemented. I am simply attacking the erroneous claim that fair use does not exist in law. Misinformation like that is just what overzealous copyright and IP proponents would like the public to think, and it fits well with their long-established pattern of revising history to suit their own interests.

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.

Wait for interoperability

[Animats]

There are now four or five e-book readers, each with their own incompatible "ecosystem". Until that settles down, don't get one. Most of them are going to fail, and you'll lose your content. Just like the people who signed up for WalMart Music or Microsoft PlaysForSure.

Re:Wait for interoperability

[gyrogeerloose]

I consider the probability of Amazon going bankrupt to be very small

Of course, go back a few years and you'd hear people saying the same thing about General Motors. Up until the Eighties, GM was considered a huge industrial powerhouse that couldn't possibly fail. Not so much any more. But if you never re-read your books, you definitely have a point--it really doesn't matter if Amazon or whoever goes under.

The thing that worries me is this: if all publishing goes electronic, with DRM, what happens to public libraries? There are a lot of new books that I'd like to read but don't care to buy; I go to my local library for those. I don't know how they could continue to exist beyond repositories of old books in a world of electronic publishing.

Lee Childs? I don't think so

[smooth wombat]

Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels, actually likes the simplicity because he can concentrate on the words themselves.

Someone at work suggested I might like his books. I found one at a used book stand and started reading. The words to describe his writing style are stilted and simplistic. I felt like I was running into a wall at the end of every sentence. (get the hint?)

I think I got through the first paragraph before skipping around the next few pages then finally giving up. There might be an interesting story somewhere in those pages, but I couldn't stay around long enough to find it.

Re:Fonts

[stagg]

What it NEEDS is screen fonts that are analogous to the original print font.

Comfort and Freedom are their Best Aspects

[ideonexus]

The greatest benefit of these e-readers is the fact that I can download tons of free books like Lawrence Lessig’s, Richard Stallman’s, the entire collection of Project Gutenberg, and the works of Creative Commons authors everywhere, and read them in the comfort of reflected light in bed rather than emitted light through a hot laptop or tiny cell phone. So long as Amazon doesn't try to erase the library of texts I got from independent sources, I'll continue to be very happy with my Kindle.

Re:Comfort and Freedom are their Best Aspects

[AmiMoJo]

If only they could get the screen refresh rate up so you could read textbooks and PDFs properly... There are huge amounts of free books, magazines and scanned books (Google Books etc) but at the moment you can't access them on an e-reader because they are designed for a page larger than the screen and scrolling/zooming takes 2 seconds per screen update.

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:Index?

[somersault]

Actually, the summary makes him sound like an ass, while his statements in TFA are pretty reasonable:

Joseph Finder, the author of high-tech thrillers like “Vanished” and “High Crimes,” praises the ability to pack an entire bookshelf into his carry-on luggage. “I read a lot of nonfiction, particularly for research,” he said, “and since I read a lot when I travel, I like the convenience of being able to lug a huge pile of books in one slim device.”

But e-readers don’t always make research easy. Mr. Finder said that many books he has read on the Kindle lacked a real index compiled by a human, adding that the ability to search for keywords was hardly an adequate replacement.

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.

Monopoly

[Aladrin]

" And then there's the issue of monopoly, which must give the authors the willies."

WHAT monopoly? They already sign to a single publisher for a book as it is. That publisher has always gotten to make all the publishing decisions. It's business as usual!

And if the answer is 'DRM', then they are doubly fools.

Consider the source

[Alerius]

Why ask an author about reading? A successful author may be a good source of information about writing, but that doesn't necessarily make him a good reader. [Obligatory car analogy] A mechanic may be able to drive, but I'd probably get better answers about driving from...well...a driver!

Now an author's complaint about limited control of fonts may have merit if he is saying that as part of the presentation of his art, he would prefer to set the font type and size. Judging from the novels I've read, font selection rarely enters into the equation.

I travel for work so the ability to carry half a dozen novels and a bunch of reference books in my pocket is rather handy. To me the limitations of electronic reading technology are things like battery life, availability and selection, and DRM (which I've had no personal experience with yet because I don't have a Kindle). What's kept me from jumping on the Kindle bandwagon now that they're apparently available in Canada are some of the horror stories I've read of people losing books they've legitimately paid for. I don't want to pay full retail cost of a book to license it and be at the mercy of a nameless faceless entity that can revoke my license at any time.

Re:A question for someone in the know

[Lord Ender]

You can set bookmarks. However, navigating the bookmark screen is slower than flipping to the page you have a post-it hanging off of. So if you go digital with your reference books, you will gain the ability for text search, but it will come at the cost of slower access to existing bookmarks.

Actually, there is...

[Dragoness Eclectic]

http://www.webscription.net/ for Baen Books and several other related imprints.