Thursday, May 10, 2012

This week I had possibly my first ever overdue library book

This week i had possibly my first ever overdue library book. 

Its not that I don't respect books or the public library system, it's just that over the last few years I have almost completely stopped reading physical books, magazines and newspapers. I read ebooks, ezines, blogs, web pages and PDFs all of the time.

When I recently discovered that a book I really wanted to read was not available as an ebook, I was left with no choice but to borrow the actual physical book. It was cumbersome. I didn't finish it. I lost it, then found it and returned it late.

I now read ebooks almost exclusively. Amazon's Kindle store seems to be the best place to purchase content, and they support authors by not taking too much from their earnings, unlike traditional publishing houses which consider you indebted to them until your work turns a profit. This means you get a lot more independent and first time authors on Kindle, Barnes & Noble and some of the independent sellers.

This also means you can have a hit and miss experience if you're a little adventurous.

Having said that, it is important to look at reviews. 

If you pay 99 cents for a book with poor reviews, you've really only wasted your time, but at least you were willing to try something new. If you try a 99 cent book and it changes your life, what a bargain!

I have a goal this year to publish an ebook via the Kindle store. I will go the long way, using an independent publisher first, but I am determined to get published.

It won't be my first work of fiction, but it will be the first one I have been brave enough to air in such a far reaching forum.

I'm currently writing a serialised piece on a blog (3000days.blogspot.com), just to keep myself writing regularly. Once I think it's done, if it is any good, I may re edit and refine it into something else, but for now my main efforts are being directed into something a bit more ambitious.

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