I bought my eReader a year ago, a Barnes & Noble Nook WiFi + 3G. The Kindle 3 was a few weeks from being released, and I was both impatient and had a soft spot for the Nook's design. I was in love from the beginning; I had been a voracious reader my entire life, a bookworm, and I found myself reading more than usual since college projects took up most of my time.
But lately, I've had my doubts.
The other day I found myself at Barnes & Noble for a book signing. A friend had asked me to attend with him, and while he waited in line, I browsed the store to look for titles I might be interested in. It hit me then that this was something I did not do with my eReader, and that it frustrated me.
It is true that sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble will list their most popular books, and even then you can search for ones you enjoy and find similar titles, but it lacked the same experience of wandering the aisles of a bookstore and letting something catch your eye by title or cover design alone. The experience was altered, somehow, and for the first time since purchasing my eReader, I regretted it. I had kept my books, even ones that I repurchased digitally, and I relished the fact that I no longer needed to carry physical copies in my bag anymore.
But the experience of picking up a book, of reading the dust jacket or the back cover and wondering if this would be something I would enjoy, was gone.
So I ask this: How do you, reader, find new eBooks?
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Not to mention, how on earth does one conduct a book signing on an ebook?
don't the newer Nooks allow you to browse by covers and then read more info about them? Or you can go to your computer and check out bn.com (which is still probably less effort than going to the bookstore).
I am like you, I still love to browse, but once I know which book I want, I like that I can order (or borrow from my library) the ebook version.
You could still go to the bookstore to browse and just purchase on your Nook...
What's stopping you from still browsing the store and then after getting the tactile experience you long for buying and reading on your e-reader? I realize in the long-run this strategy will put brick-and-mortar stores out of business, ruining the option, but for now it seems like the best option.
... and I realized that you can't go to a cd signing if I buy all my music on iTunes. I regret it!
... and I realized that the vinyl smell was gone from my cds. I regret it!
... and I realized cassete tapes didn't have the same satisfying weight and art from 8 tracks. I regret it!
... and I realized vinyl records kept me from listening to live-bands and socializing with people. I regret it!
... and I realized live-bands stopped me from enjoying entire opera and theater productions, by only listening to musical selections. I regret it!
... and I realized that this thing called "opera" distracted me from my own life. I regret it!
I think everyone will always bitch and moan about something; Brick and mortar stores won't disappear, if anything they'll go back to indie-shops, the way "everyone" originally intended it, making it even more of a special experience, not a public-library rapped by a Starbucks, like Barnes and Noble
i resist the notion that getting an ereader means that we abandon conventional books and all the experiences that come with. i still frequent bookstores and libraries and find myself no less connected because of my wired device.
I am a huge reader as well and have way to many books (I can't fit them on my two bookcases anymore) but I have been thinking about going to the e-reader due to the fact I have no more room to put all of my books. But I have a feeling it's not going to be the same as a physical book. I one of those weird people that like the smell of old and new books. Weird I know but it trigers something for me and makes me fall in love with reading all over again. I think that finding books is a pleasure. just walking up and down the isles for a new book is relaxing for me. Now that I am writing this I think I will stick to my physical book for a little while longer and get more creative storing them until I want to read them again.
I go to the bookstore, browse the books, and when i find one I'm interested in, i scan the bar code with he Amazon app and download a sample to my kindle. If its good I buy it. this also works at the library.
I bought a nook when it first came out, and have now upgraded to an iPad, but I still go into bookstores on a regular basis to browse titles. But instead of buying them outright, I put them in my goodreads wishlist, and then buy them when I'm actually ready to read them. I can't even begin to explain how much money I have saved this way.
But you can still go browse for books in a shop and then download them on your device. I admit this might make one feel a bit guility if it's an Amazon kindle and you're browsing in a different shop, but with a nook in hand you should feel no guilt browsing a B&N store for a good read!
That said, I have a kindle and I don't think one needs to be all or nothing. I still buy nice second hand books and the next time I read a book I ADORE I will buy a nice copy of that too.
@Jorlando I was wondering if the book signing I went to would allow me to partake if I bought the ebook, but amusingly enough, B&N's WiFi wouldn't load.
@Djluckyonline Bitching and moaning is a little harsh than what I intended for this article. XD
@gavman42 I never thought about the barcode scanner. Thank you!
@AnnabelVita You would think this with the Nook, but I swear that supposedly free WiFi is a complete pain to get working.
Anyway, I really appreciate all of these comments! Thanks everyone!
Something that I like to do is to go to a bookstore and wander among the aisles looking for interesting books, and then when I find one, I scan the ISBN barcode with my phone, and then I can check when I get home if I want to purchase it.
Sometimes, though, I will purchase the actual book, if it's something that I want to see lining my bookshelves. The e-reader is much more convenient, but I still love having a shelf full of my favorite books that I can look at.
@Willard: "The e-reader is much more convenient, but I still love having a shelf full of my favorite books that I can look at."
The e-reader is for those guilty pleasure books you don't want others to look at! :)
It's too bad the idea of buying a physical copy of a book and instantly getting a digital copy of it will probably never happen - that seems like an ideal way to deal with the competing urges to buy physical, and yet also to have the convenience of digital.
Occasionally I browse the brick-and-mortar bookstores, making note of the books that look interesting to me. Then I get them on my ereader. Too complicated?
I've had my Kindle (then 2nd gen) for about a year and a half and I love it.
I still select books the same way I did before - a combination of browsing for books online, looking in bookstores and asking friends for recs.
Even before I had the e-reader, I would buy books online at Amazon and select them without going to a brick and morter store.
agree with aneelee. I'm a librarian and I love my nook. And I still love my local bookstore and the library. One does not negate the other. I'll soon be going to New Orleans for the American Library Association's annual meeting and I plan on bringing lots of reading on my nook which will leave room for all of the books I'll be buying! Yes, I have a list of bookstores to visit! :)
Had both the kindle and the nook (non color) and have to say I like the kindle better, gave the nook away.
As for how do I find books, there is no one way. Searching topics and reading reviews on amazon, browsing physical books, seeing reccomendations/reviews in mags/web. So, basically no different than before I had an ereader, only difference is now I download either the book or the sample to my ereader.
I find new books the way I've always found them - through word of mouth of friends with similar tastes, by looking through genres that I enjoy and finally the best way I've found is through amazon's 'people who brought this liked this to' section and reading reader's lists. I often find new authors, books and series I like without ever going to a bookstore.
And now, we'll have a new way that marries an old way - the public library. Many libraries are getting machines that will allow you to 'check out' an e-book that will not open after two or three weeks from the time you download it. You can 'renew' it but you don't keep it. You'll be able to do what you've always done, ask the librarian for new books and old ones that might interest you. So, you'll be right back at the library without worrying about fees. Nice!
I still browse at my local independent bookstore. In return for all the great employee recommendations for the fiction that I read on my Kindle, I make sure to purchase all the books that I want in print from them (e.g. cookbooks, reference and academic texts, and other books that I prefer to have on hand for sporadic browsing).
I like to think that it's a decent compromise between saving paper and supporting local brick-and-mortar businesses.
I am an avid reader (about a book a day, more or less). I even budget about $250/month in book purchases. I've had a Kindle for 3 or 4 years now, and I love it, periodically. I use it heavily for a while, and then go back to the library for a while. I love that I can check out ebooks at my local public library, and that I can reserve books online to pick up at the library desk.
How do I find books to read? Several ways. I use Amazon.com's recommendation feature. I read many blogs (including this one), and check out the books that they recommend. I read lots of sci-fi and fantasy, and love the Fiction Affliction series from Tor.com, because I can add books that I will like to my Amazon.com wish list, which I can then reserve through my local public library. I visit my local Barnes & Noble once a week for my daughter's Story Time, and see what's new there. When all else fails, I ask my Facebook buddies. I'm currently reading the back Hugo awardees through Jo Walton's Tor.com series (also, usually free at the local public library!!)
@Kaete - we buy vinyl records that come with digital download codes all the time. gives us our analog love at home and we can still cart our digital tunes around on the go. It would be lovely to apply that model to books!
I read a lot as well and prefer buying my books IRL instead of ebooks. In fact, I read ebooks when the physical book are unavailable. Ebooks are pretty useful for classbooks, textbooks, and research books as well. I'll have to buy an iPad bc of that.
While I do browing, I usually have authors that I follow, so no matter what the format, I'll be able to get their new books. I do like to rummage through books at the book stores I go to and buy stuff that interests me.
@range: I buy my ebooks in real life!
@Zilla-Mama: we can actually download our ebooks online from our local library, or get on the wait list to download. one thing they do not let us do is renew. Once our time is up, we have to check out again (which could involve getting back at the end of the "line").
As someone who moved eight hours with twelve boxes of books, I completely adore my nook. I'm going to have to move a lot in the next several years, and while I'm not going to get rid of any of my physical books, it is easier to move them when they are digital. I still love bookstores and will buy used when it's cheaper, though. However, I have to admit that it's fantastic when a new book is released and I can simply download it, rather than have it shipped to my house or go to the store.
Zilla-Mama, I love my nook and love to get free books from the library (the reason I got a nook and not a kindle) BUT it makes me crazy that every book I want has a waiting list, I only have 14 days to read it, and I cannot renew. Basically, it means I am not in charge of my reading schedule anymore.
I read somewhere on the 'net (the Globe & Mail, maybe - might have been for Indigo/Chapters in Canada) that booksellers had recognized that part of the joy of books is the shopping for them. They, the mythical bookseller, was thinking of experimenting with having cards for e-books on the shelf alongside the hard copies. Then, when you found a book you wanted, you headed up to the till with the e-card and pay for it. Then when you got home you would log on to your account, enter the code and bingo - downloadable book.
All of which would make me happy because I do miss the serendipity of wandering the bookstores looking for likely books.
Followup to above - I was correct - May 27 Globe & Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/coming-soon-to-a-store-near-you-a-physical-virtual-book/article2037441/