What the Heck is an Ebook Anyway?....Author Margaret Lesh gives us a Primer

As much as we tout the digital age of publishing, there is still a huge faction of people that don't love or even own an ereader.  My own father falls in this category.  He wants to support his little girl (me), but hasn't the first idea where books have gone in the last decade.  When I read this post, I knew I had to share it.  It's so simple and straightforward.  This one's for my Daddy.

There’s This eBook I Want To Read. Now What..?

Friday, October 19, 2012      |     Margaret Lesh - Author At the House

or… StoryRhyme’s Relatively Painless and Slightly Boring Guide to Ebooks so You Can Download Fifty Shades of Grey...
Note: I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while now, but each time I try to write it, I fall asleep. Here is my post on ebooks. Now I’ll go take that nap.

With my debut novel’s recent publication as an ebook , I’ve received thousands of (umm, a few) questions from folks. For many, ebooks are newfangled, slightly scary, and a little mysterious. There are many misconceptions, and many of us are learning—especially those of us who aren’t, erm, techies.


What is an Ebook?

Technically, an ebook is nothing more than a file that you download to your computer, phone, tablet, etc., to read.

So, an ebook is not a physical book one can hold in their hands, but it is in every other sense a book with a delightful cover, an index, dedication, chapters, and an acknowledgements page at the end. It’s been professionally edited and published by a real publisher (there are also some great self-published ebooks).

So, it's just the "electronic version" of any book you'd find in your local bookstore and library.

The quality of any ebook, as with traditionally-published books, varies, but one can almost always read a sample of the book on Amazon.com to see if it piques their interest.

What are the Advantages of an Ebook?

Ebooks do have some advantages over paper books. Here are but a few: They’re usually far less-expensive than their paper book counterparts because they don’t cost as much to produce, ship and stock. They’re searchable, can contain hyperlinks to further information, imbed media (pictures, audio, movies). You can even easily change the type size and style! (Take that, tiny hard-to-read print.)

Depending on your ebook reader, they can even be read aloud by your device (phone, tablet, computer).

Oh, and there are thousands of free ebooks available; from classics to newly-released titles.

You can carry your entire book library around in your pocket!


What do I Need to Read an Ebook?

Very good question, if I do say so myself. You may read your shiny ebook on your computer (if you’re the iconoclastic type), or your iPad (if you’re very cool), iPod (yeah, we know you), your Kindle (if you’re a trendsetter), your Android phone (if you’re one of the hip ones), your Blackberry (if you still have one of those), or your netbook (if you’re like me). You can read your ebook on pretty much anything with a screen and a reader. Yes, people read ebooks on their mobile phones. I’ve seen this; I know it happens.

What are the most common ebook formats? (Another very good question. I give myself ten points.)

Epub—developed as an industry standard. Use if you have a Nook, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android phones and tablets.

PRC—Kindles

PDF—Most Windows-based and Mac computers.

Mobi—Blackberries.

A common misconception: I can’t buy an ebook on Amazon.com because I don’t own a Kindle.

Untrue! Anyone can purchase an ebook from Amazon.com (the behemoth of the ebook world). As long as you have a way to read the book on whatever device you choose, you may purchase from Amazon.com. Musa Publishing offers ebooks in all four main formats, so this is very handy, and everyone can join in the ereading fun. (Yes, I just wrote that.)

Okay, Really, I Just Want to Read an Ebook.

Here’s one super-fast and easy way: Just go here and download Amazon’s free Kindle app and start reading... 

It doesn’t matter what computery thingy you have. If you have an iPod, iPhone or iPad. If you have an Android phone or tablet. If you have any Macintosh. If you have a Windows PC or laptop. Even if you have a Blackberry or Windows phone. Everything works!

Once you have the free Kindle app, you can use it to find and read just about any ebook out there. It's really that simple.

I hope you’ve enjoyed StoryRhyme’s instructional guide. Questions? Feel free to post, and we’ll see if we can help you.

Why Borders Failed - IMO

First thing I want to state is that I was one of the legions that loved to go to Borders.  I remember sprawling in the aisles with my shoes off and a pile of books to my side, reading joyfully, with no concept of time, then taking my tower of treasures to the register and buying as many as my allowance would allow (hence the origin of the word 'allowance') and staggering home with them in the white plastic basket with the pink plastic flowers affixed to the front of my Schwinn.  And this was in my twenties.  I loved that bike.  Me and a roommate bought it for $20 at a yard sale and when we had no dough, would ride it to the shops.  And Borders was one of them.  But I digress.  Let me tell you, in my opinion, the one reason why Borders was doomed.

They never came up with an e-reader.

As an ebook publishing gal, that hurts the most.  When Amazon burst onto the scene with the Kindle, the publishing world lost its collective mind and formed its two camps almost immediately.  The righteous lined up quickly on the right, claiming that nothing would ever replace the touch and feel of good old paper and script, while "early adopters" like Stephen King got busy and immediately began publishing astonishing tomes only available to internet purchasers, angering his literati brethren.

Then Amazon began revealing that their kindle sales were demolishing their print sales and Barnes and Noble went "Pardon me? Can you repeat that?" and shortly announced their own e-reader, The Nook.  Determined to one-up Amazon, they then introduced the Nook Color.  While the e-publishing world continued exploding all over the place, Amazon kept introducing slicker, sleeker versions and reducing the price! 

And Borders introduced......nothing.

And then the Queen of all things literary, J.K. Rowling, went back on her own solemn vow and announced that the Harry Potter books would indeed become available in digital version later this year.  The epublishing world went bananas again and finally Borders said, "We give up."  They forgot a business golden rule.  No one will buy a company in the middle of a literary technological revolution that has refused to acknowledge that it is in the middle of one.

And so we say goodbye to what was once a literary powerhouse, a haven for all the glasses geeks we used to be, and I say it is a sad day, but one that a writer of e-books should rejoice in.  With death comes life.  With termination comes rejuvenation.  With surrender, rebirth.  No longer is the ebook the nasty stepsister or forgotten cousin of the revered and lofty printed version.  Now, the ebook can hold its head high.  Even Harry Potter is digital now, damn it.  Does my book come in print?  No, but you can get it at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and in eleven other digitized formats and they, my friend, they rule the world.

Just pray we don't have a power outage.