ECTACO's JetBook eBook Reader. I do believe this is the lightest model on the market to date. Here's what it says on ECTACO's website: "Lightweight and super-portable, ECTACO jetBook is the ultimate pocket library. Capable of storing thousands of books in the world’s most popular languages, plus music and picture files, it is a universal mobile library for professional, business and leisure reading. With an easy to scan high-resolution 5-inch display and a viewing angle close to 180°, it is fully customizable. Even readers who have difficulty seeing print books will benefit from its adjustable text size and font face. And weighing in at only 7,5 ounces, this handy device fits perfectly into the palm of your hand." It also plays MP3 files and is capable of holding "thousands of books," which beats the Kindle which holds only 200 titles. It has a built in dictionary and translator (Russian, Spanish, and Polish). Its USB cord and adapter come standard in the package. The JetBook sells for $349.95 at http://www.jetbook.net/ .


Here's Amazon's Kindle reader. It seems to be selling like hotcakes because I never see any in stock when I check the Amazon website. It weighs in at a healthy 10.3 ounces, and holds over 200 titles. Foreign newspapers are available for instant download. From the website: "The real Kindle is just 1/4 inch bigger than shown on the cover of Newsweek." The Kindle sells for $399.00.

And check out this cool article covers a subject close to my heart. For the last 2 semesters, I have been buying my college textbooks in digital format whenever possible. It saves wear and tear on my back and arms by saving me the need to drag a heavy backpack or from having to lug around my rolling backpack (which weighs over 20 pounds empty). Check out this article, and join the eBook revolution!
http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20080324/AQM05124032008-1.html

Also, some noteworthy eBook news: The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) is holding it's annual conference. Here's the announcement from its website (http://www.idpf.org/digitalbook08/):

"The emerging global eBook market and the adoption of the EPUB digital publication standard will top the agenda at Digital Book 2008. This one-day conference is part of the IDPF’s acclaimed spring educational series. In prior years this event has been consistently sold-out as it presents the year’s best opportunities to network with global publishing and online technology leaders in the digital book world."

I'll be back soon with more news and information from the world of writing and epublishing.

Happy writing and eBook Reading!
Rosie

Save a Tree, Discover a Great Author

Just click on the title of this post and read an excellent article about "open publishing." I agree with the author that reading an ebook is not as comforting an experience as reading a "dead tree book." I've curled up in bed with my laptop to read an ebook and it is awkward to say the least. It helped that the ebook I was reading happened to be excellent (Amanda Stevens' The Dollmaker). I can't justify making the expense for an ebook reader when I have perfectly good desktop and laptop PC's. Still, the ebook revolution has a long way to go in swaying the public to choose ebooks over tree books.

The most important result of the ebook revolution (evolution?) is the birth of the small epublisher. I believe that the small epublisher is the people's press. How many aspiring authors (of which I am one) would love a million dollar book deal with Simon and Schuster or Putnam? It's the stuff literary dreams are made of. Reality is that for every successful author that hits the bigtime there are thousands more whose books will never see the light of the New York Times Bestseller List.

Recently a professional acquaintance gave me honest criticism on a manuscript I am working on. His suggestions helped me immensely in further honing my draft. His critique was the best I have received thus far. It was honest, open, and logical, and I was very appreciative. He did not mince words in telling me where I needed to improve, what I needed to remove, and what tone seemed to work best. He gave me hope by telling me that my manuscript has promise, but he also gave me a realistic view into the traditional publishing world, in particular into the Catholic publishing world. My manuscript is about my personal experience with Evangelical Protestantism and Catholicism. His advice to me went something like this (not verbatim):

"Do you already have a publisher for this? Because if you don't, you may not want to bother continuing. I have a few friends who have received rejection after rejection from publishers and agents, and they continue to hone, rewrite, and resubmit their manuscript with no success in getting it publish. Most of those manuscripts end up in the trash. Catholic publishers won't publish an unknown and tend to go with only well-known writers. A Catholic writer I know ended up giving his book away for free on his website as a series of downloadable lessons."

It is this last sentence that intrigued me. It sounded like he was sounding a literary death knell. My response to my honest critic was that I have no intention of seeking to publish with a traditional publisher. I gave him the rundown on the current state of the ebook publishing world, quoted statistics and my own forecast for the future of epublishing. He wrote back impressed with the information I had given him, and wished me luck in my endeavor.

The ebook revolution began in the 1990's with the emergence of many ebook reader gadgets. Companies sunk so much money into ebook readers and later pulled out of epublishing when the sales didn't match their expectations. Many epublishers went out of business and traditional booksellers and publishers who had dabbled in the ebook realm decided to discontinue selling ebooks. Case in point. Barnes and Noble's website states: "Our eBook store is closed . . .B&N.com no longer sells or provides support for eBooks. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

On the flipside, Amazon is now marketing their new Kindle ebook reader, and boasts over a million eDocuments, and over 100,000 Kindle books available for download from their ebookstore. EPIC (the Electronically Published Internet Connection) describes itself as "a professional organization for published and contracted e-book and print authors. It was established to provide a strong voice for electronic publishing." Every year at their convention they give out their EPPIE awards to recognize outstanding achievement in epublishing. Their membership roster boasts authors and epublishers of every genre of eliterature. On perusing their list of epublisher members, I even discovered some literary niches that I didn't know existed.

While ebook publishing may not have hit the heights that were originally forecasted, there remain a handful of epublishers who are standing the test of time. I have to boast of my friendship with Deb Staples, owner and executive editor of SynergEbooks, now going into its 11th year of operation. I first met Deb some time during 1996 or 1997 in an AOL chat room. This was before she ever started SynergE. We became fast friends. Sometimes we have lost touch over the years, but we always end up back on each other's radar. We both love books, reading, and writing, and it is our love of these things that fuels our friendship. I remember those early days when she told me of her plans to start SynergE. It all seemed so ambitious to me. I had no idea what epublishing was all about. Now, all these years later, Deb and SynergEbooks are still going strong. I so admire Deb's tenacity and longevity in the epublishing world. She remains committed to her vision of epublishing and continues to this day to create that special "SynergE" with her authors.

Recently, USA Today ran a story on Amazon's Kindle ereader. (you can read it at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-03-11-kindle_N.htm ) The first paragraph of the USA Today article mentioned author Julie Ann Shapiro and her debut novel Zen-Jen and the One Shoe Diaries, which is available as an Amazon Kindle book. What's so special about Julie Ann Shapiro and her debut novel? Her book is published by Deb Staples' own SynergEbooks. This is an awesome feat. Deb, you are an inspiration to me. Keep doing your fantastic work with SynergE!!

Just check out Deb's titles at www.synergebooks.com . I have read a few of SynergE's titles and a few titles from other small epublishers as well. My experience has been excellent, and so I have made a decision and a personal commitment to start paying my book dollars to the small epublisher rather than to megamillion traditional publishers whenever possible.

I am a believer in this not-so-new venue of digital publishing, and I encourage everyone out there to: 1) Save a tree, buy an ebook; and 2) Choose an ebook over a "dead tree book."

In doing so, not only will you be helping to save the environment, you will also discover new and excellent authors who have written wonderful books, authors whose works might never have seen the light of the publishing sun were it not for the small epublisher.

I hope to see the day when epublishing really does become what Stephen King said would be "big publishing's worst nightmare."

Power to the ePress!

When You Can't Write, Write Anyway

I received the following email from Raul, a writer, who graciously gave me permission to share our communication:

Raul: ". . . I've been working on a novel, but I need help in developing it. Can you please give me tips? I'm working on a novel and have no prior experience, and I have this story already written in my mind. How can I get it on paper? Can you help me develop my story?"

My answer to Raul: Wow, I can so identify with your dilemma. I went through this recently. I always thought I'd be a prize-winning author if I could just get people to read my thoughts. Alas, those thoughts must make it to paper in a clear, concise, and vivid way in order to become a novel/book.

You don't need prior experience to write a novel. All authors started out like you, with no previous experience. In fact, inexperience is a prerequisite.

Raul, sit down and write. Even if your writing feels awkward and has no rhythm. Write. Stop thinking about your story and start writing it down. My recent experience in starting out on my book leads me to tell you that for the most part, every writer writes for him/herself. We writers tend to be very self involved, but for a very good reason. The voices within us must come out. My writing flows more easily when I forget that I am writing for others. Write for yourself.

Tell yourself your story. More importantly, be disciplined. Dedicate a portion of your day to writing. Even if it's just to writing BADLY. You must write. Set a time, buy yourself an egg timer, and use that designated time to write, whether it be bad writing or prolific prose. Write until the egg timer goes off. Then do it again the following day. Because you are starting out, it's important that you write daily without fail. Even if you have a busy day and can give only 15 minutes. It is important that you get those creative juices flowing by regularly scheduled writing time.

And Raul, that writing doesn't have to be just work on your novel. Use that time to write ANYTHING. Blog. Journal. Write a letter to your high school sweetheart (mail it or not). Write a letter to the writer you plan to become. This last exercise is the most jarring of all. Picture Raul 10 years from now with a few successful novels under his belt. Write future Raul a letter and remind him what it's like to be a beginning novelist struggling to get his first novel down on paper. Remind future Raul not to take his success for granted.

The point is to write. The novel will come. And something funny might happen. The novel you have in your head may not even be the first thing you write. That novel may take a while, even years, because when you start the writing task, there may be something else buried beneath the surface that is just fighting to make itself heard. This buried topic may take precedence over the novel you are planning to write.

I say this also from experience. I conceived my first novel in the mid 1990's, and I wrote a synopsis that was accepted for publication. After that, the words would not come. I beat myself up over it. I punished myself severely because I could not get that novel to come to life. And that punishment caused me to have a writer's block that lasted years. Finally now, I have a book that I am currently working on and this work is proving to be quite fruitful. No more writer's block. This current book is not that first novel born in my head in the mid 1990's. It is an entirely different book, a work of nonfiction about a very personal spiritual journey. That first novel is probably still hiding in the deep crevices of my brain, but this other book is the creation that was clamoring to make itself known. I didn't even know this book existed 10 years ago. The only way I was able to discover it was to begin the discipline of regular writing. When I did this, I was surprised at what came out.

You should consider the writing process as a spiritual and emotional archeological dig. You start digging with a specific treasure in mind, but in the meantime, you unearth other things that are equally important, and sometimes are even more important.

So Raul, just write and write and write and write. Write bad pieces, write boring pieces, write exciting pieces, write mediocre pieces. Get into the habit of writing daily.

Once you have a first draft completed, find a handful of people whom you trust and ask them to give you constructive criticism. It helps to have another person's perspective. In writing my current book, I have about 7 people that I send drafts to regularly, and they give me excellent feedback with regard to clarity and readbility. Some of the feedback I take immediately to heart and I revise my draft accordingly. Other feedback I file away for future reference. I got this tip from Stephen King's book, "On Writing." This book was a Christmas present from my sister, and I am eternally grateful to her for bringing this book into my life.

Mr. King's book gave me the inspiration and the "animo" to take my writing seriously at a time when I was ready to give up any idea of ever becoming a writer. I appreciate Mr. King's description of the work ethic that is necessary to become a successful writer.

Raul, I hope my words help you. I am excited to see your work come to fruition. Let me know how it goes.

Rose Contreras,
Owner/Executive Editor
Rose Contreras Communications
http://www.rosecontreras.com/