Every once in a while I get my soapbox out.  Well, I actually have several, but today this soap box is in regards to e-Books.

For those of you who may happen by this post through a seek and find method via Google or another search engine, e-Books are simply, electronic books.  These are books you download into your computer or into a specific reading device.  They don’t use paper, and for the most part are not bought in traditional stores, at least not yet.

There are several reasons why electronic, e-Books, are worth paying some attention to.  Here are a few of them:

1. E-books don’t have to use paper.  Not using paper does a number of things including saving trees (you knew that one was coming) and saving the water it takes to create paper.  It’s been shown on several other blogs the only paper that really saves in water usage is recycled paper and that hasn’t been totally embraced by print publishers.  In fact, a large percentage of printed books are returned to the publisher and since that prospect is expensive, those books are stripped of their covers and only the covers are returned to the publisher in order to give the bookstore credit.  What a waste!
2. E-books save space.  Think about it.  You are a bibliophile.  You have books everywhere, and I do mean everywhere.  They reside on your nightstand, the basket in your bathroom, your desk, your overloaded bookcases, nearly every vertical, flat surface in your home.  E-books reside on your computer or in your reading device.  The space savings is incredible.
3. Ever take a book on vacation? More than one?  Gets heavy, doesn’t it?  There are a number of readers that can hold 25, 50 or more books.  Imagine not having to carry a separate bag just for reading material.
4. Lower overhead for e-Books usually translates into lower prices for the consumer.  E-books are cheaper.
5. E-books are available 24/7.  Feel like a good story, go to your favorite publisher, someone like, say, umm, Aspen Mountain Press and you will be able to buy a book.  No need to wait for a store to open, no need to wait for the postman to deliver.
6. Speaking of postmen who deliver, you do realize it costs money to just about everyone involved to physically deliver your reading material, don’t you?  Someone has to find and pack your order, then it has to be shipped in order to be delivered.  That costs time, energy, and fuel.
7. What happens to all those lovely books in the book store that don’t sell?  They are returned.  You know what that means?  It’s number six in reverse.  Now the cost of time, energy, and fuel has been doubled.  What’s worse, one of two things happens with those stripped books.  They are either burned (imagine what that puts into the air) or take up space in a landfill somewhere, or they are “sold” or given away without the cover meaning the book was reported as unsold or stolen and that the author or the publisher was not given compensation for the work.
8. An author can tell a story in as many words as are needed to tell the story.  There is no need to write for a specific word count, no need for “filler” that doesn’t enhance the story.
9. E-books are available on a wide variety of topics, just like what you can find at a brick and mortar bookstore.  Don’t believe me? Take a look at Fictionwise. 
10. E-books are of a similar, if not higher quality than print books.  Sure, there are stories of errors in e-Books.  Sure there are some companies that edit better than others.  Have you taken a look closely at some of the print books sold these days?  They have the same issues e-Books are reported to have, including questionable editing, typos, incorrect word usage, dropped words and plain old mistakes.  Just because a book is in “print” doesn’t necessarily make it “better” quality or the author better.  

People have been heard to say that an e-Book just doesn’t “feel” like a real book.  Nope, they sure don’t.  But, I have an e-Book reader of a similar weight and size that provides me with a similar tactile stimulus, including page turning.  And, my e-Book reader has a back light that allows me to read in bed without disturbing my partner.

My e-Book reader doesn’t smell like a print book either.  For that one, I am quite grateful.  Every time I smell my print book, when I do smell my print book, I sneeze.

These are just a few of the reasons why I’m committed to e-Books.  Will e-Books ever replace paper books?  Probably not for a good long time.  But the tide is turning.  More and more people are seeing the advantages to e-Books; the “younger” generation is already doing a great deal of their communication via electronic means (come on, can you really text as fast as your teen?) and that trend is growing.

Truthfully, there are only two reasons I read.  I read to learn and I read to be entertained.  I don’t care what method delivers the solution to those two needs.  If I can do so with less impact on the environments I interact with, then I’ve really gained. 

Will there be times I read a paperback?  Sure.  Just like there are times I listen to the old LPs I collected in high school.  

As technology changes, I too, find that I go back to the old way less and less often.  Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t think so.  I had no trouble replacing my newspaper with an online site, no trouble replacing my VHS videos with DVD’s, no trouble replacing my LP’s with CD’s, and then adapting once more to IPod technology.

So in the meantime I’m happy to save a tree, save money, save time, save space.  I guess that makes me a conservationist.

And it didn’t even hurt.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 11:49 pm and is filed under Book News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.