Suspend Your Disbelief

Posts Tagged ‘ebooks’

Shop Talk |

Crazyhorse Literary Journal launches ebook format

by Celeste Ng

Lit journal Crazyhorse now offers its readers two options: print and ebook. But unlike many ebooks, in which font and typesetting may be very different on-screen and on paper, the editors describe the ebook version as “a digital book version of the same Crazyhorse paper-and-print page.” Indeed, the pages are nicely laid out and there’s even a turning-page animation for that printed-page feel. You can see a sample from the current ebook issue here. What’s more, ebook-only subscriptions are half the price of print subcriptions ($8 for one year of ebooks; $16 for one year of print, with free ebook […]


Shop Talk |

If you were reading this on paper, you'd be finished by now.

by Celeste Ng

Perhaps our recent posts on e-books have you jonesing for an iPad or a Kindle. Or maybe they’ve made you nostalgic for a good old print hardback. Either way, here’s something else to consider: reading on paper is faster than reading on a screen. The Nielsen Norman group (no, that Nielsen) found that reading in electronic format was up to 10.7% slower than reading a paper book. Reports Macworld: Nielsen’s findings were based on the performance of 24 users who “like reading and frequently read books.” The subjects each read different short stories by Ernest Hemingway on all four platforms, […]


Shop Talk |

Why Buy the Cow: Part II

by Celeste Ng

Last week, FWR’s own Lee Thomas examined the economics of giving away e-books for free, pointing out: Free buys word of mouth, which may create the buzz needed to sustain a book long enough to find its audience. […] Many authors and publishing houses now regularly post a story from a new collection or a free first chapter as a way to entice while still protecting both profit and the value of the art. Author Jim Hanas is taking this model a step further by giving away copies of his e-book until Labor Day—directly. The One Story blog reports: In […]


Shop Talk |

Why buy the cow?

by Lee Thomas

The Los Angeles Times Book Section reported back in May that the top 10 e-books on Kindle are all free. Not surprisingly, Steig Larsson now holds the top three slots with his Millennium Trilogy, which range between $7.15 and $9.99. That still leaves plenty of free books in the top tier. The current top of the free e-book list is a debut novel, The Heir by Paul Robertson (Bethany House). It’s a page-turner, the kind of book I’ve torn through at the beach or on cold winter evenings, when it’s pitch black outside by 4 p.m. Robertson has come out […]


Shop Talk |

Book Covers in the eBook Era

by Celeste Ng

Imagine you’ve walked into a bookstore, browsing for something new. Besides an explicit recommendation, how do you decide what to read? If you’re like most people, you reach for a book that looks interesting… based on the cover. Mokoto Rich of the New York Times discusses how the e-book era may prevent us from judging a book by its cover and the ramifications that has for authors: Among other changes heralded by the e-book era, digital editions are bumping book covers off the subway, the coffee table and the beach. That is a loss for publishers and authors, who enjoy […]




Literary Partners