Paper, plastic or… eReader?

Paper, plastic or… eReader...?
With apologies to the immortal bard; “To Kindle or not to Kindle, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to go Green with a paperless e-Reader or suffer the back ache and library fines of lugging around or borrowing piles of paper and cloth bound books?”

Well, Will old boy, you’ve got me.  

On the one hand as an author of eight books to say that I’ve got a soft spot for the written word in all of its paper and ink charm, comfort and glory, is putting it mildly.

On the other hand… once again as an author, I’d have had to have locked myself in a cabin in the woods a la J.D. Salinger for the past few years not to have been impressed by both eBooks and eReaders. Not only is it coming gang - it’s already here.

It’s somewhat ironic that it’s now become only a matter of which device I’m considering to replace the printed word on paper as I have made my living in the publishing industry with magazines, newspapers and books for over four decades. But newspapers are folding left and right and the revenue from advertising that keeps magazines afloat is being challenged by those annoying but often effective pop-up’s and other ads that flood the internet, so even these venerable institutions are going to a paperless “e” format.

So what is a print lover to do?

Do you become part of the new wave and opt to start all of those venerable printed tomes on the same road as taken by the Dodo and Duck Bill Platypus toward extinction? Or should we become old ‘Book Curmudgeons’ clutching the dusty yellowed pages of our paper books as the paperless green technocrats come to cart us off to the home for old paper Luddites.

Not a pretty picture eh? But it really does present us with a dilemma. I’m sure those all of you devoted bibliophiles out there have, as I have, spent years building up a library of favorite books. And they look nice on that bookshelf don’t they? So what are you going to do as technologies’ inexorable march towards the virtual book threatens these old friends with obsolescence? On the other hand, now you’re going to have plenty of room on those bookshelves for that old college beer mug and the vacation photo of Aunt Martha and Uncle Fred.


But will a hunk of plastic and microchips really be able to provide the same satisfaction as a room filled with books of every size, shape, color and topic?

Hummmm…

The bottom line is that I need… HELP !!!!!!! - Both technically and ethically.

Technically, because I can’t decide between the traditional Kindle or the new touch screen big buzz Kindle. So if anyone out there has used one or both I would appreciate your opinion.

And ethically, because as an author and lover of books, the biggest question of all about going “paperless,” is not, “can I?”                                                                                                                         It is… “Should I?”!!!

 

Ric Wasley – Author – Speaker
Mystery Writers of America and the Cape Cod Writers Group  
 
http://www.ricwasley.com/
 
   
Author of The McCarthy Mystery Series: 
       •The Scrimshaw – A McCarthy Mystery - 2008
       •Shadow of Innocence - A McCarthy Mystery - 2007
       •Acid Test – A McCarthy Mystery – 2004
 
Midnight Blue - A Mystery/Vampire/Romance - 2010
 
Echoes Down a Dark Well – Due out in 2012
And…  Candle in the Wind – Due out in 2013
 
Novella’s
•           At my Window with a Broken Wing – Contemporary/Romance – 2009
  
Short Stories:
•           Embers – Historical - 2008
•           The Night – Vampire - 2008
•           Long Black Veil – (Weirdly 3 – Anthology) Historical/Paranormal – 2010