This was cool: http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

Words:

ebooks format and perception

Hi there:

A couple of problems I wanted you to be aware of. I was enjoying reading The Girl Who Played with Fire on my iphone with the kobo app. Then I upgraded to the 4.0 kobo app and you lost my bookmark. A bit of a pain with an ebook for sure but I forgive you.

Then I was reading along when I came to a passage that is supposed to be an icq exchange with Plague and Salander and the text in tags ran off the screen. I changed the font size to the smallest possible but it still didn't fit. I would have loved looking at the epub to see what was what but I didn't. Not sure who is at fault here - your conversion or publishers but I can say I blamed your app. Also, wondered how I get a new ebook if there is a fix for this? (As an aside I did go to the source! the pbook to see what I was missing)

Anyway I know there is a lot of crap that goes on in ebooks but because this is such a high profile ebook I thought I would write.

Oh yeah, you lost my bookmark again when I went back in the book to find where the passage was so I could take a photo of it (attached)!

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If you want loyalty don't piss me off ...

I recently read a tweet from @NicholasHoareTO and there was something about it that bugged me.

The tweet went like this:

"Dear customer, please don't use our store and staff to put together your online shopping list. :("

First of all how do you know dear store and staff that that is the reason a list is being made? I use my iphone and write notes about books I see all the time and I never or at least rarely order them online - and so what if I did? Don't you sell books online? Well you have a website but I can't order anything from it so perhaps I will just "steal" "your" catalogue and order them from somewhere else? Is that what you want?

Secondly, yes I am your customer - I might even be following you on twitter and you might even be pissing me off with your snotty tweets therefore I may not buy those books from you after all.

I know you have a reputation to keep up Nick Hoare but if you are going to use social media and your website presumably for the good of your business - don't complain when others use you to benefit their consuming. Be gracious, be helpful and all that other stuff that good retailers do who want to gain customer loyalty and then perhaps you will get customer loyalty.

 

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The real story behind Stieg Larsson and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Times Online

It has gone on rising. On a French beach last summer Mark Lawson, the critic, noted that “almost every sunbather of every nationality was reading one of Larsson’s novels in the numerous translations”. His three books, the Millennium trilogy, have been filmed in Sweden, and Hollywood is planning its own versions.

via entertainment.timesonline.co.uk

This is the kind of reporting that will no longer be available when people are reading on their iphones, ereaders and such - like the way I read Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and am now reading The Girl Who Played with Fire.

That aside - pretty good article on the author Steig Larsson who died at the age of 50.

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What a view.

Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.

Yesterday was a big fail on the part of Amazon and all of the other ebook providers, but mainly I suppose the fail was on the part of the publishers. I only think of the Kindle as the fail because this is what I had at my disposal as an ereader other than my iphone and computer. I have had the Kindle since christmas and I have yet to use it for anything other than a conversation piece.

Well as I said below, yesterday my daughter was home "sick" from school and slightly bored. (In actual fact the Kindle is hers - she was given it by one of early early early adopter friends and when she got it I thought cool, I can use that.)

So back to the story. She was home "sick" and we decided we should get the next installments in the series we were reading - Anne Mazer's Sister Magic. A fun read, lightly illustrated with line drawings and not something you need to have hanging out taking up shelf space. Perfect, I thought, finally a use case for the Kindle. In my oh so confident fatherly voice I told her we could get the series and start reading right away. Here I was willing to invest in about 5-6 books at one stop! Talk about impulse shopping.

Well the Kindle disappointed, Amazon disappointed, did publishers ever disappoint? No, not unless I pursued the reason why the ebooks weren't available. And this has to be a concern for any ebook vendor out there - perception! Who gets blamed when a book is not available?

Now I happen to know the behind the scenes story with agency pricing and publisher preparedness for the digital age but my impulse was still to think the Kindle sucks! Not only could I not get these books I wanted, but I also couldn't find about 4 other titles I wanted to read in digital. I am on an apocalyptic bent of late. I saw a table display at an Indigo store filled with fascinating titles like Slynx, and Battle Royale - and decided I would read these books in their digital format. Somehow it seemed appropriate to think the apocalypse would be brought to me on my iphone. I did decide to check Kobo first, Stanza's catalogues next and finally Amazon (don't like Amazon drm and that is that). Nowhere to be found -(note - I did not blame the iphone for not having the books).

The apocalypse would have to be provided by trees if at all. I may just forget this latest trend in my reading and if I do too bad authors, too bad publishers and too bad bookstores - my money is going to go toward investing in a good concrete bunker and a subscription to popular mechanics.

ebooks wherefore art thou ebooks?

Old age is something that crawls up on you. It can appear as hair loss, muscle mass decline, lung capacity limited, chronic back ache or underserved demographic in the ebook market.

With all the talk of dedicated ereaders being targeted at older people I find it odd that I am unable to find the books I want to read. Maybe this has absolutely nothing to do with my age but just my reading habits and the reading habits of my children.

It was not long ago that I over-enthusiastically commented in a tweet that I thought it was interesting how the conversations around the digitization of publishing were no longer about content but about price etc. Well I admit here that I was naive. It is still about not having content. I have avoided using the kindle because I don't like the drm. I don't like being tied to their device, even though I can synch up with the Kindle app on the iphone and my laptop and apparently on the ipad as well. But still come on Amazon what is it with this silly propriatary format? You really should know better. And that aside where are the books I want to read!

In the digital world I find I am mostly being sold romance books or business books or classics. But when you step outside of the digital mainstream you are in a wasteland. I just recently was influenced by a display in a bookstore that showed a lovely theme of reading that I was willing to delve into, but for practical reasons -including the aforementioned old age and a recent back problem, I wanted ebooks. I have been able to be a more focused reader on my digital devices than ever before. Don't know why I just am. So I could see myself ripping through these titles -but alas not to be. I just can't find the books anywhere. And who do I ask to special order them for me?

Another disappointment came when my daughter was home sick from school and we wanted to continue reading a new series we had discovered. We have avoided the ebook world for kid's books thus far because the books we were reading were richly illustrated but this series would have worked perfectly on the kindle. Yes I was even willing to buy the books from Amazon in the infamous "60" second download to get going - but once again not to be had. And again who the heck to ask to get a special order around here? No one!

So ebooks - publishers, I beseech you and wonder at your dismal failure to reach the masses with your so called vaunted content. Get your content out there so we can read it when want where we want how we want!

More about me and my reading:

I am struggling with my reading right now. At the side of my bed I have the last in the Harry Potter series - you know that book about those wizards and muggles and things? I bought this trade paper copy of the book at Hanukkah to give to my nephew but he already had read it so I kept it. Mind you I had bought a hard cover of the book when it first came out and my wife read it then we gave it away to my mom - who is a voracious reader.

I finally picked up Harry after just having read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the iphone and I have to say I was torn and maybe even disappointed. Here I thought -ok back to the format I love -pbooks. But what I am experiencing is how crappy pbooks can be. I am finding the type dim, the margins crowded, the feel of the paper inadequate and the binding threateningly flimsy, not to mention I don't always have this book with me.

So what I am finding is that I want to read on the iphone again! I tried to prevent this, god knows I tried -but really the reading on the iphone is so much better than especially this trade paper version. I feel ripped off that I bought this piece of crap that probably won't make it through one reading. Sure I can loan it out but there won't be anything to loan out. And in that spirit of loaning without expectation of getting the thing back - I would just have to buy another copy of this book again anyway.

So what is my point? ebooks ebooks ebooks. Get me the content - I am ready to pay. Get me the ipad - I am ready for a slightly bigger screen. Get me out of Kindle drm prison! Let me read anywhere on any device and get me away from these smelly lousy paper things!

There is an occupational hazard in my role as the retail liaison for BookNet Canada - this hazard is that I have to go to a lot of bookstores. This is a hazard because inevitably I end up buying far too many books. There is something seductive about seeing all of these beautifully designed objects placed in seductive positions on lovely shelves.

This past week I went to the University of Waterloo bookstore and since I was in Waterloo I later dropped in on Words Worth Books - a general trade bookstore. Although I was tempted to buy something at the University I did escape wallet intact. But I was blown away by the aggressive position that the bookstore is taking toward ebooks. The university is in an enviable ,or unenviable depending on how you look at it, position of being embedded in a highly sophisticated technology environment. This means they need to stay up on technology and to this end they have been running an espresso machine (for books not coffee) as well as selling mobile phones (they are a rogers dealer and licensed to sell!) Soon the university will be selling ipads and ereaders alongside their laptops and iphones -and oh yeah blackberries too. If the ipad had been in Canada I surely would have been hooked and bought one here.

We all know that the road is not that smooth for this kind of mix of products - books and ebooks. However early signs indicate to the managers of the store that students want bundles and that ebooks do not cannibalize pbooks but actually enhance the reading experience by making those books available at all times in all places. Who wouldn't want to be dancing up a alcohol enhanced storm at ....... and suddenly when the conversation has room to happen and the arguements begin to fly being able to whip out your medical reference text and supporting your position?

My next stop was the general trade bookstore. The difference between visiting an academic bookstore and a trade bookstore cannot be too finely stated.  I sat leisurly in an office discussing a wide range of issues at the university and then left two hours later while at the general bookstore I inserted comments in between customer transactions at the bookstore till. Comments about ebooks, or software, the digital catalogue project and more. Occasionally I just had to back away from the till to let the late lunch rush load up on books, which was quite impressive to see. I would wander the store, load up on books of my own, then back to add another point - harried bookseller saying hmmm, ok hmmm, edespair, hmmm, ok - more edespair.

But at the end of it all, and the point of this blog post, was that I left the store with four books and three of them would be highly unlikely to see any life as an ebook. In the hopes of spreading a veneer of hope for the booksellers I said as I bought the Andy Goldsworthy and the humungous kid's books that these are books that will never be ebooks. Hmmm, said the bookseller -edespair!

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Top 10 Viral Stop Motion Videos

via socialtimes.com

I do love stop motion! Need stop motion aggregation.

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A great way to look at how movements grow.

Loved this video on how to replace the lcd screen on the MacBook. I am going to try it on my machine but not until I get a new laptop from work!

Clay Shirky

The most watched minute of video made in the last five years shows baby Charlie biting his brother’s finger. (Twice!) That minute has been watched by more people than the viewership of American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, and the Superbowl combined. (174 million views and counting.)

via shirky.com

It is phenomenon like this that blows me away. And apparently according to Clay Shirky is blowing complex business models away. Interesting article comparing the collapse of complex business models to the fall of complex societies.

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What I Learned on my Trip out West:

I just got back from Vancouver and decided it might be interesting to look at my book purchasing behaviour while I was away.

Two things have to be mentioned first off. The first reason for my trip was to talk to the MPub class at SFU about BookNet Canada. The second reason was to pay some visits to some book retailers. So, God forbid I had to go to bookstores.

Let me start off by saying that I love buying books for gifts. I can always grab something and I know if I can't get to read it mayself, there is surely a present to be given away soon enough. But when I was packing I was torn. Should I buy some ebooks to read on my iphone? Or should I pack some books? I usually pack at least 3 books when I am travelling. One thing I noticed just now is that I didn't even consider loading up the Kindle. I don't use the Kindle. I like reading books on the iphone or on paper. Mind you if I could buy the book from anywhere and read it on anything who knows how that might play out.

Well a certain retailer was having a huge party. People were going 2party like it was $9.99. I absolutely loved that campaign. Who ever came up with it, committee or otherwise, is pure genius. So much is captured in those simple numbers. I bit. I bought 3 books from Kobo - three current books: Nikolski, and then the Steig Larsson books. And here is the funny thing about that - I have already bought both those in hardcopy as gifts and have had Nikolski out of the library - so is that ebooks cannibalizing pbooks? I don't know.

Once I got out west to all of those great bookstores I had to go to, believe me I was tempted in every one to drop a bundle. But I only had one suitcase after all. In a fit of home sickness and nostalgia I did buy the beautiful Family Fare cookbook by Gordon Ramsey. One look through those rich photos of food and the approach of Easter around the corner I had to have it. I had to have that book in that format from that store. No ebook could fill that need.

My next purchases were made after a performance of sublime handselling at the Vancouver Kidsbooks in Kitsilano. First off what a gorgeous store, well situated with great buyers. My hat is off to you, as well as my credit. I bought 8 kids books that I had never heard of, never seen and if I had ever seen them there was no one to tell me why I should buy them for my kids. It was art. When I went to buy the whole series I was told no don't do that give it a try first. When I said I didn't think my local store back home would have them, I was asked didn't I want them to have them, don't I want to tell them about this great series and get them to stock it and share them with my community? I thought -wow, yes I do.

Here is one last point and then I will stop. What did I read while I was away? I read the Steig Larsson book on the iphone. I read it in the plane, I read it at 1 in the morning when I couldn't sleep, I read it sitting in the park looking out over the bay, I read it in the cafes where I was eating my lunches, on the Sky train, in the many cabs I took, I read it everywhere. I had my phone on me where ever I went and so I had my books with me too, as well as the entire twittersphere, all the news I could ever want, a calculator, my gps, my local tour guides - I had it all.

No here is a funny part even though I said I wouldn't write anymore about this. Coming home I dutifully put my phone on airplane mode, and started to read my book. The woman beside me was reading a huge trade paper by Dianne Gabaldon. I looked at that book and smugly thought I am so glad I don't need to pull out a book like that and lug that thing around. The next second the stewardess came by and told me to turn my iphone off? I looked puzzled at her -what could she mean? It is on airplane mode. Does she really want me to turn it off -off? Never. But I realized she saw me reading a screen full of text and assumed I was online reading email or a blog or something. So I closed kobo because I am polite and I was confused - turned to the guy who had his iphone "on" and we both shrugged. I never thought a day would come on a plane when I would be asked to turn off my book

http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2010/03/talking-comics-with-scott-mccloud.html

Check out this website I found at ow.ly

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