Tech Toys

When I was a highschool yearbook advisor, I usually shot somewhere between forty and fifty rolls of film each school year, especially action sports. Really, it was easier to shoot those pictures than to teach photography to teenagers. After the first couple of years, I learned to do a one or two day seminar on how to take candids and groups, and I just did the rest myself. For almost a decade, I used a Canon Elan camera, with a 35-135 zoom lens and a honking big Canon Speedlight, which would illuminate at least forty feet of the football field or all the way to center court for basketball.

The Elan is dead now, the victim of a problem with the shutter, but I recently replaced my aging Fuji digital camera, with a Canon A630. I liked the Fuji quite a lot, but daughter was a bit too vigorous trying to plug in a USB cable and bent the prongs in the receptor, so I decided to buy a camera for me and me alone. This Canon is a compact camera with a nifty swing out and swivel display, a real viewfinder, and a 4x zoom, which isn’t much different from the one I used for so many years. Even with 8 mega pixels and a large screen, it weighs less than the zoom lens of my old outfit, and it has controls which are not that different from my old Elan. Ironically, this device cost less than a third of what I paid for my Elan with a zoom lens and flash.

In an earlier entry I mentioned my Palm PDA, which I still use for eBooks and other tasks. I hear that the eBookwise marketed by Fictionwise is great, but I like having a multipurpose device. Being able to read at night, without turning on a light, is one of the best reasons to use the Palm; however, having a calendar, an address book, an alarm, and notepad are helpful extras.

Also in a previous entry I mentioned buying an HP printer, a Photosmart 3210, which scans, copies, and prints with speed and style. Unlike my previous Epson all in one, the HP cartridges have the print head built in, so you get a new head with every new cartridge. Color laser is becoming affordable for the home market, but low volume users will get quite a bit of bang for their bucks with a good quality HP inkjet. This machine is handling my printing and scanning chores, and it does have card slots for printing pix from the Canon. Some folks have reported paper handling problems with this unit, but I haven’t had many of those. To be fair, I did like the Epson’s software better.

Rounding out the list is TiVo, which is an amazing device. Trying to explain it to hubby was difficult. “Honey, we can pause the ball game when your mother calls and go right back to it when she finally hangs up!” Once he got the picture, we got the device, and now television is catching up to the digital age, and in-laws can still be a pain, but we get to see all of our favorite shows. My kids love this thing, too, so despite having four tv sets, hubby and I have to fight to see the one hooked to the TiVo.

I'm an eBook fan!

I have numerous bookshelves in my home, and I use spots (such as the ample space atop my kitchen cabinets) to store books as well. My children’s friends call our house “the library” which is a better label for it than “a messy house,” which is how hubby views it.

However, I do tend to let the paperbacks and hardcovers stack up, while I read all of the eBooks I can get onto my PDA. That is in part due to having it with me— I usually tuck my Palm into my purse, so wherever I am, I have those eBooks. Last week, I was at my doctor’s office for my annual physical, and they were just a bit behind, so the visit took up over two hours, and I spent quite a bit of that time reading. (Regs, by Nina Osier, a science fiction book which really made me say, “Wow!” and I don’t do that often.) The Palm had seventy seven titles on it the last time I looked, and most of those are novels, rather than short fiction. Try putting seventy paperbacks in your purse....

Yes, I have Marjorie Liu’s new paranormal romance in my TBR stack, but it was Osier’s book which got the nod, and that was due to it being in electronic format. I have a borrowed novelization of the life of Mary Magdalene which I do want to read as well, but it is large and heavy, so it is gathering dust. Instead, I just began reading a new Angela Verdenius eBook, which I had with me while I was waiting for my kids to emerge from school.

Some of my friends and relatives look at me as if I have lost my mind when I tell them that I prefer eBooks, but the truth is the number of unread titles on my Palm is fewer than five, and the number in my TBR stack on the shelves at my house is a tall stack (and it is growing). Actually, there are too many to put in one spot, but let’s just say that I have quite a few.

My friend, Malcolm Campbell, recently commented on eBooks as well, and he makes a case for them, but in a different way. Do take a look at his entry posted as Trick Falls.

Why would any one be interested in ebooks?

I’ve already written about eBooks, but I’m hosting a panel on the subject for SciFi Summer in Atlanta in a couple of weeks, so I’ve been brushing up a few remarks regarding this new form of publishing. While both of my books have both eBook and trade paperback editions, I have sold far more print copies. Yet, as a book buying customer, I have gradually increased the number of eBooks I am buying. For me, three things matter most: a title I would want to read (regardless of format), a good price, and, a format that works on my Palm Tungsten E. Until I got that handy little device, I only read a few eBooks, b/c toting a laptop is worse than toting a book. However, the last time I counted, I had about 50 titles on my Palm, with room for a few more, and it takes up less space in my purse than my wallet.

As I’ve cruised around the net, I have found several articles touting ePublishing. Based on that research, here are some reasons to consider eBook purchases or having your book ePublished:

•eBooks don’t require paper or ink, so they are less costly to produce
•due to this cost-effectiveness, eBooks can be cost-effective for niche books that wouldn’t interest traditional publishing
•eBooks are more compact (hundreds can be held in a single PDA, dedicated eBook reader, or laptop)
•eBooks are more environmentally sound, with no physical product to throw away
•eBooks do provide accessibility via flexible font size
•eBooks can be updated and/or corrected more easily
•eBooks can be electronically searched
•eBooks provide instant gratification, which is just a download away. The next book in a series can be purchased instantly without the need for a trip to the bookstore or a wait for physical delivery of a paper product.

My website’s “links” page includes a link to the bestselling eBooks from 2005, and you’re going to find some familiar titles there. I’ve heard a few nay-sayers who proclaim that no one is reading, buying, or selling eBooks. Nope, these books, authors, and publishers are the only segment of the publishing industry growing in double digits, and while print books certainly still sell better, this technology will eventually change publishing.