Kindle
Can ya feel it?
Thu/Feb/2009 05:00 PM Filed in: Work
A funny thing has been happening lately. Despite making my living online. Despite having a Kindle, which I really do dig. I've been finding myself turning to hard copies of books, magazines, and newspapers more than ever before. I've been getting up in the morning, doing my writing, then heading downstairs to drink coffee and read the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I go back to work for a few hours, then take a break and head over to the gym, where I either listen to music, or more often crack open a magazine (Men's Health, Wired, Fast Company, Sunset, Architectural Digest, or Seattle Metropolitan) while I exercise. I don't know what's causing this, but I'm curious to know if other folks are having the same experience. There's just something nice about not having to worry about technical details or gizmo operation. My Kindle had to be replaced in December after it suddenly stopped, working, that may be part of it, but I think more than anything I just prefer to hold something that both tells a story, and has it own unique weight, texture, and even smell. Anyway, no really useful tidbits in this update, just a personal observation. One last comment. The paper used for the hardcover edition of The Audacity of Hope has a sort of honeycomb texture that is just incredible. Go grab a copy, you'll see!
How to Kindle for Fun and Profit.
Sun/Nov/2008 01:00 PM Filed in: Work
I recently took the plunge and purchased a Kindle. The reasons were two-fold, first, my novel was coming out as a Kindle title, and I needed to be sure the formatting was just right before I'd feel comfortable selling copies online. The other reason is that despite my initial reservations regarding this little gadget (I was a brick and mortar bookstore employee for 8 years), I was starting to get the feeling that the Kindle would never replace books, but it just might carve out a new category for readers, authors, and publishers. I think that's exactly what's happening, and now that Oprah has taken down her sword and knighted Jeff Bezos' "folly," the little-gadget-that-could-but-didn't-for-it's-first-year, is making some serious inroads (the wait time is 11 - 13 weeks as I write this).
I've read a number of titles already, some surprisingly fascinating (including Life's a Campaign and Hardball), some promising, but dull as dishwater (Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life), some inspiring, but dripping with snake oil (The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich), and some delivered in a supremely satisfying 30 seconds, despite being sold out at bookstores across the country (Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope). The experience has been book-like and not at the same time. I also have a number of thoughts on the physical design of the reader itself, all of which I'll be covering in a new Cryptic Bindings web magazine in the coming weeks, but at the moment, I just want to point out two ways in which the Kindle can be an invaluable tool for people who work in publishing.
First is the ability to publish your own books without risking any of your own money. Cryptic Bindings (the publisher of this site) just put out my first novel in November. Doing so cost the publisher many hundreds of dollars, including costs for editing, formatting, cover design, database registration, publishing expenses, distribution, and press releases. The Kindle edition of the book didn't cost Cryptic one penny. Sure, there were the expenses accrued in preparing the manuscript for publication, but this second avenue of release was as simple as preparing the digital files and submitting them through Amazon's digital text platform, where the price of the Kindle edition was set, and within days, the book was available as an electronic edition through the world's biggest online retailer. Depending on the subject of your book, and the the timeliness of its release, the inherent possibilities of such accessible and speedy distribution are mind-boggling.
Coming at the publishing world from another angle, the Kindle also makes for an interesting, and as yet little publicized tool for working your way through manuscripts and the slush-pile. Every Kindle comes with its own email address. By sending a Word or html manuscript file to your_email@kindle.com, you can convert this manuscript to a digital file which is then wirelessly transmitted to your reader, all for the cost of ten cents. Now young Joe Editor can enjoy his trip on the Long Island railroad while carrying only his MacBook Air and his Kindle, loaded up with a dozen manuscripts, rather than lugging roughly, say 3600 sheets of double-spaced paper back and forth from Manhattan to the North Shore. Pretty handy. Good for Joe. Good for his back. And doggone it, good for the environment.
As I said, my thoughts on the Kindle, as well as my reviews of the latest and hottest titles, will soon be available regularly at Digital Dust Jacket, but I've definitely found the Kindle to be an invaluable tool for someone working in writing and publishing. If you haven't done so yet, take the leap and give it a try!
I've read a number of titles already, some surprisingly fascinating (including Life's a Campaign and Hardball), some promising, but dull as dishwater (Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life), some inspiring, but dripping with snake oil (The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich), and some delivered in a supremely satisfying 30 seconds, despite being sold out at bookstores across the country (Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope). The experience has been book-like and not at the same time. I also have a number of thoughts on the physical design of the reader itself, all of which I'll be covering in a new Cryptic Bindings web magazine in the coming weeks, but at the moment, I just want to point out two ways in which the Kindle can be an invaluable tool for people who work in publishing.
First is the ability to publish your own books without risking any of your own money. Cryptic Bindings (the publisher of this site) just put out my first novel in November. Doing so cost the publisher many hundreds of dollars, including costs for editing, formatting, cover design, database registration, publishing expenses, distribution, and press releases. The Kindle edition of the book didn't cost Cryptic one penny. Sure, there were the expenses accrued in preparing the manuscript for publication, but this second avenue of release was as simple as preparing the digital files and submitting them through Amazon's digital text platform, where the price of the Kindle edition was set, and within days, the book was available as an electronic edition through the world's biggest online retailer. Depending on the subject of your book, and the the timeliness of its release, the inherent possibilities of such accessible and speedy distribution are mind-boggling.
Coming at the publishing world from another angle, the Kindle also makes for an interesting, and as yet little publicized tool for working your way through manuscripts and the slush-pile. Every Kindle comes with its own email address. By sending a Word or html manuscript file to your_email@kindle.com, you can convert this manuscript to a digital file which is then wirelessly transmitted to your reader, all for the cost of ten cents. Now young Joe Editor can enjoy his trip on the Long Island railroad while carrying only his MacBook Air and his Kindle, loaded up with a dozen manuscripts, rather than lugging roughly, say 3600 sheets of double-spaced paper back and forth from Manhattan to the North Shore. Pretty handy. Good for Joe. Good for his back. And doggone it, good for the environment.
As I said, my thoughts on the Kindle, as well as my reviews of the latest and hottest titles, will soon be available regularly at Digital Dust Jacket, but I've definitely found the Kindle to be an invaluable tool for someone working in writing and publishing. If you haven't done so yet, take the leap and give it a try!