The
Beginner’s Guide
to Ebooks
By
Gary McLaren
Copyright
2011 Altavado Limited
Smashwords Edition
First edition July 2011
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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“A book is like a garden
carried in the pocket.”
- Chinese Proverb
Contents
Reading Ebooks on an Ebook Reader
Reading Ebooks on Your Computer
Reading Ebooks on Other Devices
What are the Main Ebook Formats?
What is Digital Rights Management?
How to Find Free Ebooks at Amazon
How to Find Free Ebooks at Other Stores
99 Cent Books & Offers at Amazon
Introduction
Welcome to this beginner's guide to ebooks.
There is so much buzz about ebooks right now. They are making the news on a daily basis.
Have you heard about the author who has sold a million ebooks already this year? Did you see the latest gadgets for reading ebooks in your local store? There is talk of an ebook revolution. Will the local bookstores be closing?
So much buzz. So many questions.
While I can certainly help you to understand more about ebooks, there are some answers I don't have. I cannot tell you whether your bookstore will still be open a few years from now. However I can tell you how and why ebooks have been sweeping through the publishing industry. And I am fairly certain that they are here to stay for quite a few years. Beyond that... it is hard to know exactly where technology will lead us.
So why all the recent interest in ebooks? After all, haven't ebooks been around for years already?
Although ebooks have been available for more than ten years the momentum wasn't really there. It was difficult to read ebooks on inadequate screens and only a small percentage of readers were purchasing ebooks on a regular basis. In general, readers were not convinced that reading an ebook was as good as reading a “real” print book.
There was a glimpse of what was possible, however, and research and development teams were hard at work coming up with new designs that would match what readers were looking for.
As new ebook readers were introduced and more suitable ebook formats emerged, reading ebooks started to become a more and more enjoyable experience.
Quarter by quarter ebook sales climbed. Even when the economy was sluggish and sales of print books were flat, ebooks continued their upward push. The recent flood of interest in ebooks has been driven by the general acceptance in 2010 that ebook sales were seriously competing with, and even threatening, sales of print books.
The tipping point came in early 2011 when, according to the Association of American Publishers, ebook sales overtook paperbacks for the first time.
As you can probably imagine publishers have been in a flurry. With the comparative ease of publishing an ebook online, a large number of authors have been bypassing agents and publishers and “going it alone”. The average price of ebooks has been lowered but the writers are still earning more because the agents and publishers are not taking a cut.
The way the ebook industry is evolving reflects this. In the major ebook stores you will find traditionally published books which have been converted to ebooks alongside the works of self-published emerging authors.
They are all trying to get YOUR attention. There is a bit of a mad scramble on right now as those involved try to find and establish their place in this dynamic new publishing world.
No doubt as readers we have been changing too. Twenty years ago very few people owned a computer so there was no need to have ebooks. Nowadays it’s unusual for someone NOT to own several different devices capable of reading ebooks - from PCs to laptops to mobile phones and more.