I remember a conversation with a local author who held a signing with us. Good thing Boss Lady wasn’t present; her eyelids would have flipped inside out if she’d heard him say that the ebook version of his novel was #13 on Amazon’s top Kindle downloads for that month. If she had her way, all our local authors would be required to sell their books through us and only us. But business is business, and if an author can make a quicker buck selling a book out of her own purse or online–and keep most or all of the funds–she’ll do just that. (Very few authors are strictly loyal to one selling outlet. Fine knowledge to possess.)

I admit it. I’ve been eyeing the Nook ever since it came out. Not only is it less expensive than other eReaders, it’s cute. *girly cooing* But I’ve noticed that a lot of books I want or need for research aren’t in digital format, and if they’re not popular enough to warrant a digital version, they probably never will be. I rarely buy fiction books; those I check out from the library, and then I decide if they’re worth owning. Research books… well, I have no choice but to buy them. Aside from the nonexistent digital versions, libraries in my area lack a lot of the books I need for my projects. (But if I wanted to write a novel set in the Great Dismal Swamp, I’ll never want for resources.)

Being a geek and a book lover, I’ll eventually give in and buy an eReader, but I have a feeling it’ll be used for only leisure reading.

I am not expecting electronic books to completely replace physical books–new media rarely completely replaces old media–but I do expect electronic books to make the physical book industry smaller. (Already, Amazon sells more electronic books than hardcover books.) Television, in spite of what many once predicted (or feared), did not replace radio, movie theaters and newspapers, but it is the reason why they are less important than they used to be. I see no reason why the same won’t apply to electronic books and physical books.

Embrace electronic book publishing, or limit yourself to the decreasing base of physical book customers. J.K. Rowling can afford to do that, but she’s probably one of the few with a big enough, loyal enough fanbase to be able to get away with it, and as electronic books further hurt physical book sales, I question if she will be able to forever shun electronic books.

It’s about more than having more space. It’s also about portability. I can only carry so much in my hands at one time. I can comfortably walk and carry one physical book in my hands at a time, but with my Nook, I can have literally thousands of books in my hands all at once, easily switch between multiple books and get new books anywhere where my Nook can pick up a 3G or Wi-Fi signal, and those added books don’t make my Nook any more difficult to carry.

If I carry a physical book and finish it, I may be bored because I have nothing to do. (Sure, I’ll probably have my phone, Walkman X and PSP go in my pockets, but sometimes only reading can relieve me of boredom.) If I carry my Nook and finish the book that I’m reading on it, I can immediately start reading another book.

That’s the biggest reason why I prefer electronic books and ebook readers to physical books.

Thanks for the links!

Some of the many that I like best:
PT Sans – http://www.paratype.com/public/
Gentium – http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=gentium
Nobile – http://www.newtypography.co.uk/
Cantarell – http://code.google.com/webfonts/family?family=Cantarell
Droid Serif, Sans and Mono superfamily – http://www.fontsquirrel.com/foundry/Google-Android
DejaVu Serif, Sans and Mono superfamily – http://dejavu-fonts.org/

The last link, along with The League of Movable Type (http://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/) and Open Font Library (http://openfontlibrary.org/) are good places to start.

Have fun!