My friend Yvonne asked me in a comment to the previous post, what an ebook is. Not a stupid question at all. I must admit that until about three months ago, I didn’t really know what an ebook was either.
In the old days (and believe it or not, that is only about ten years ago…), people read newspapers, magazines and books by buying a copy in a shop and holding it in their hands, turning the pages. Nowadays, with fast internet connections and wireless technology, people read updates on the news, or magazine articles on their computer, or even mobile phone.
Books these days come in two varieties – as an actual printed copy (real book), or as a digital copy (also called an ebook). To read a real book, you just have to go to the shop and buy one, or order one from Amazon and wait until the postman drops it into your letterbox (or go the public library and borrow one). To read an ebook you have to download it from the internet onto your computer, mobile phone or other gadget from where you can read it. An ebook doesn’t literally exist, as a real book does.
Many people don’t like reading from a computer screen, at least not a whole book. They much prefer to curl up on the sofa to read a book – and who can blame them, I do too. The gadgets industry has found a solution for this. It is a gadget called an e-reader, which is basically a little flat computer screen. It has a large memory and can be connected to the internet to upload ebooks. These ebooks can then be read almost like reading a real book on the sofa, in the train or in bed.
So Yvonne, to answer your question. Do you buy my new book as an ebook? If you have an e-reader, you could. If you don’t have an e-reader, it’s probably better to order a so-called print-on-demand (POD) copy, which means a real book will be printed especially for you and send to your house.
I hope this explains what and ebook is. If you have any further questions, please ask. :-)
6 Responses to “An Ebook? What is that…?”
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It does explain it, Maria. So it is what I thought it was, I only wondered if I could also get a real printed one. And I can, I’m very glad.
This E-book reader are still quite expensive, although I do think that I’ll be having one in the future.
Thank you for your clear explanation.
You’re welcome. :)
E-readers have gone down in price a lot in the last year. I think the best known e-reader, the Kindle, is now about 150 euros. I read in a recent article somewhere that if you read a lot of books (like 4-5 a week) that an e-reader is a good investment. If you just read one book a month, it not worth buying an e-reader. Ebooks are often only slightly cheaper than real books, so with reading one a month it would take too long to get your money back.
I will probably buy an e-reader in the future, but I also just like to have shelves full of books
Arg! I should have read this post first – now I see I can still get a hard copy book.
I agree with your assessment – e-readers are nice, but still pricey, although they can be great for travelers since a kindle (or iPad) weighs far less than most books. But I just like the feel of a book in my hands, call me old-school. :-)
Trisha´s last [type] ..Why We Travel
I totally understand, Trisha. I’m old school too. Besides the feel of a book, I love the smell of it as well. Especially older books have such a distictive book-ish smell. Just smelling it makes me feel all warm and cozy and wanting to read for hours.
That is not a way a kindle can ever make me feel. Although taking it on a trip instead of a whole pile of heavy books is obviously a big pro of the kindle.
Hi Maria,
ebooks could be useful for readers with sight difficulties- much larger text sizes are available. That is why I bought one for Betty. Will your ebook version be epub friendly?
Bill
Hey Bill, thanks for visting my site!
Yes, you’re right. Ebooks are handy for people with sight difficulties and I hope that Betty enjoys using her e-reader.
I think my ebook will be a pdf, suitable to be read via acrobat reader. I don’t know if it will be epub friendly, but I will make some enquiries and let you know.