Tags
Amazon Bestsellers, Book review, Books, e-publishing, Fiction, Kindle, Literature, reading in bed, Sebastian Faulks, self-publishing
No-one can deny it. E-books have changed the world of publishing and have also made it possible for anyone, absolutely anyone who can string a story together, to become a ‘published author’. E-publishing is a double-edged sword in my opinion.
On the one hand, I love my Kindle and how I can preview a book I’ve read a review on before buying. Ditto, I can peruse old ‘classics’, often for free, and check out my favourite authors, new authors, authors I know. I can see immediately how their work has been received by others via the Amazon reviewing system. It’s great – like having a library on my bedside cabinet.
So what’s the trade-off? Well, unfortunately, quality can suffer. Too many writers rush to e-publishing long before they are actually ready to get their book out there. I recently scanned the Amazon Bestsellers List for free books and downloaded the number one rated book. Okay, a crime thriller is not really my chosen genre, but I’m the kind of reader who can appreciate a good story and a good writer in any genre (although I know both these terms are highly subjective). So, I started to read and well … let’s just say, the writing style, narrative voice, choice of vocabulary, lack of originality, left me fairly disappointed. What do you expect for free, I hear you ask – you get what you pay for? True, but other readers have rated this work highly. Is it just the best of a bad bunch? Are all the freebies on Kindle a bit amateurish? If readers are enjoying second-rate writing, aren’t they settling for less and lowering overall standards in publishing?
There are always exceptions which prove the rule of course, but in this instance, I deleted the book after about three pages. So, I padded off to my old-fashioned, pine bookshelves, packed with those novels I’ve read since circa 1989 which I haven’t given away to charity. And I have given lots of books to charity (or my mum) since 1989.
I let my fingers run along the spines – ah, real books – paper and wrinkly covers, yellowing pages and a few dark specks which suddenly started to move when I flicked them with my fingernail. Bookworms are worm-shaped, right? These were more like mites. Anyway, I made my choice – Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, first published in 1993 and respectfully hefty at 503 pages. How I loved that book when I first read it, despite being underwhelmed by Faulks’s later works. Would I get the same enjoyment from it 20 years later? Would the process of ‘becoming’ a writer myself affect my response to it?
I read it in a matter of days and I stick by my original view of this beautifully evocative novel dealing with The Great War, also known as The First World War. It’s moving, insightful, lyrical in parts, but most importantly, a highly convincing portrayal of humans pushed to their limits, physically, psychologically, and emotionally. I will try to find the time to write a complete review and post it here, but in the meantime, here is Faulks’s chosen epigraph for Birdsong which is taken from the Indian writer, philosopher and poet, Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali:
When I go from hence, let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable.
I like all kinds of books. I hope that we can have ebooks and hard backs as well in the future. Thanks for blogging what you think. http://www.segmation.com
Agreed. There’s room for both on my bedside. Thank you for your comment.
I resisted getting an eReader for a long time. I called e-books evil books. E for evil, right? 😉 I want to be a published author one day and I want my book to be a proper book, smell and feel like a book! However, a few weeks ago I was offered a mini job as a book reviewer. The problem was that it got tiring to read the books on my computer. So I thought: “Well, the job can pay for one of those eReaders.” So I got a Kindle. I’m not too unhappy with it – and it makes reading the books a lot easier.
The problem is that there are indeed many free books. A page called the “Kindle Buffet” daily puts out a list of books that are free for 24 hours (or more or less) and often famous authors put out their books for free for promotion. So not all free books are rubbish. Some are really good but I guess you simply have to be careful about what you download for free – I would never download cheesy romance books even if they were free. Now I already have over 50 books waiting to be read (also many non-fiction books that seemed very interesting) but actually the books I have to review take up all my reading time.
One thing is sure: I’ll never run out of books to read and I don’t even have to pay for them. However, when it comes to really relaxing in the evenings, I need a real book, the smell and the feel of it. And they also look better in a book-shelf!
Yes, the Kindle is very easy on the eye and you’re right – there are some good reads available for free or for next to nothing. You just have to do a lot of searching sometimes to sort out the sheep from the goats, but if you love browsing in libraries, as I do, then no problem. Happy reading!
A nice piece and have inspired in me a future blog piece. Thanks
Oh, that’s nice to know. I’ll be looking out for it. 🙂