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Punk Reaper
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
62 Posts |
 Posted - 13 February 2009 : 5:07:34 PM
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I was just wondering if Alex's books with be available for the Sony e-reader? Simon's books are available for download through Waterstones and I am just reading and enjoying Fire and Sword. Lets get Alex into the digital era.
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scarrow
Forum Admin
587 Posts |
Posted - 14 February 2009 : 6:02:31 PM
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| Hi Punk, I'm not aware that any of my books are available as ebooks. However, October Skies has just come out as an unabridged audio book. I just recieved my complimentary copies and boy is it weird hearing someone else reading out my words. |
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AndyCanty
Homosapien
United Kingdom
6782 Posts |
Posted - 14 February 2009 : 6:08:31 PM
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Well done Al, whose doing the reading??
_____________________________________
If all the worlds a stage?
Where's my script???
http://andycanty.blogspot.com/ |
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Parmenion
Homosapien
United Kingdom
14670 Posts |
Posted - 14 February 2009 : 6:37:16 PM
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John Chancer (Reader), Glen McCready (Reader)
£54 on amazon
Centurion Parmenion
LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE
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Punk Reaper
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
62 Posts |
Posted - 14 February 2009 : 11:54:32 PM
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| Thanks for the reply Alex. Are there any plans to release your novels as e-books or should I just bin this piece of techo and go back to old fashioned paper? |
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scarrow
Forum Admin
587 Posts |
Posted - 15 February 2009 : 11:01:52 AM
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Lol. I'd be surprised if mine and Simon's books don't end up in ebook format...it's the way thiings are heading. I'd hang on to your tech, 'tis the future.
btw, what've you got? The Sony one? The kindle? |
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Simon Scarrow
Ape
Uruguay
1048 Posts |
Posted - 15 February 2009 : 1:59:39 PM
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Headline already have the books in ebook format. Can't say that I am terribly pleased that they are out there in digital form. The music industry has been slaughtered by copyright infringement and I see the same thing happening with ebooks if the technology is taken up with gusto. With the best will in the world I fear that most people would be only too happy to take the food out of my mouth if they could get away without paying for a book. It's not through maliciousness as such, just that people are getting too used to having digital products for free. Once the product base shifted from printed pages to an electronic file then the publishing industry would be finished and the vast majority of authors reduced to penury. Ultimately, the readers would lose out as well since there would be very little incentive to write from those who have the talent, and readers would be awash with material from those who think they can write and plaster their stuff all over the internet. By the way, that is NOT to say that this stuff isn't any good, just that the good stuff would be overwhelmed by the not so good and the casual reader would have little steer on finding quality products.
However, it may well be that the ebooks will be either a fad, or simply an alternative delivery mechanism, and real books will continue to be the main players. I have some sympathy with the argument that the pleasure of books is implicit in the material format. And books are resilient. I'd be so worried about getting sand or water in an ebook if I took one away on holiday. So I think the jury is out for the moment.
One other thought. Given the economies being forced on people in the present crisis, I can't help wondering if ebooks might well become a casualty of the recession as they are hardly a must buy item. |
Edited by - Simon Scarrow on 15 February 2009 2:01:29 PM |
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Parmenion
Homosapien
United Kingdom
14670 Posts |
Posted - 15 February 2009 : 5:42:22 PM
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i dont think they will ever kill real books, in fact, they should give the e book away with the real book so thepeople who purchase a copy can use either format, load it with a unique code and it would help trace back to a pirate?
Centurion Parmenion
LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE
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Punk Reaper
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
62 Posts |
Posted - 15 February 2009 : 8:27:13 PM
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I have the Sony e-reader and I really like it. I bought it for storage reasons. I cram my bookshelves with reference books but I have little space left to store novels. Every so often we clear them out only to almost always regret it later.
Now I can keep hundreds of ebooks on my electronic shelf and when I want to read Fire and Sword again wherever I am I can.
There are disadvantages though. You lose that feeling you get when you open a new book for the first time. Also I don't know what the maps were like in the paper version of Fire and Sword but on my little electronic screen they were pretty poor. Perhaps there is a way to delay the electronic age, put plenty of drawings in your books.
Seriously though I dont know how as a writer you can stop the electronic age taking books into digital format. My sympathies are with you. I am one of the "suckers" who always pay full price for my books games and DVDs. When a DVD costs £4 to hire giving approx 2 hours of entertainment and games close to £40 for 5-6 hours I have always thought that books have a good cost/time ratio. Having read Centurion I thought it would be nice to start re-reading the series again. At Waterstones the ebooks are about £6 but my local shop has them for between £2-£3. Difficult decision. Thanks for writing great bppks. I for one will keep buying them to put a little bit of bread in your kids mouths.
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Ankhsy
Homosapien
United Kingdom
7849 Posts |
Posted - 16 February 2009 : 12:40:59 PM
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I can't read properly without holding the book/pages in my hand. Maybe its just my generation, used to books. But I just love the feel and look of them. You can't put an ebook on a shelf.
"To be clear-headed rather than confused; lucid rather than obscure; rational rather than otherwise; and to be neither more, nor less, sure of things than is justifiable by argument or evidence. That is worth trying for."
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Simon Scarrow
Ape
Uruguay
1048 Posts |
Posted - 16 February 2009 : 1:21:34 PM
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| The Sony device I looked at seemed nifty enough, until I tried to read from it. I had to have the text magnified to a comfortable level, so that each page could be read in 15-20 seconds. However, whenever I 'turned' the page the screen took the best part of two seconds to refresh. Quite irritating. Punk, do I understand your right, you can buy ebooks AT your waterstones store? And there is a local shop selling ebooks as well? |
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Punk Reaper
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
62 Posts |
Posted - 16 February 2009 : 1:52:44 PM
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Now this is why you are a writer and I'm not. Re-read my post and the meaning was slightly lost in translation. I can buy your books from Waterstones online in digital format but the local non waterstones shop has the paperback versions much cheaper. Hope this is clearer.
And Ankhsy I agree with you in a bigger house with more bookshelves I would prefer to read paper books, caress them, talk to them and display them, but I can get hundreds if not thousands on books stored on the ereader (if they were available) with no storage problems. And it is great when you have a really large book to read. I am reading Churchill's History of WW2 at the moment in paperback which is hugh. My muscle tone will be mush improved by the time I'm finished.
Martin |
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Simon Scarrow
Ape
Uruguay
1048 Posts |
Posted - 16 February 2009 : 1:59:40 PM
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| Sorry Punk, I was just a bit concerned there, since the e-book editions of my books are not licensed to be sold on the high street and I was a little concerned that the system had already started to run away from the publishers! You have put my mind at rest. Cheers. |
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E books
