Friday, April 9, 2021

Why Print Books? And Other Fun.

My proofs for Blink of an I and Unequal are supposed to arrive today.  Umm... I'm not really sure what's going on with UPS here...


I looked up Monee and Hodgkins.  They're both suburbs of Chicago.  Earth City is a suburb of St. Louis.  So, according to this, my proofs went from Chicago to Chicago to St. Louis, back to Chicago, over to Bloomington (in the middle of IL) to St. Louis again and then spent the day there.  Seeing the sights, I assume.  (Note: Checked again after this posted and the package arrived at the closest UPS location at 4:19am.  They'd better get cracking and get it on a truck because our driver leaves out of there pretty damn early.)

As soon as they get here, I'll check them out and if everything is kosher, I'll approve them for sale.  Not that I expect sales, but it's nice to have them available.  It'll be nice to finally hold these books in my hot little hands.  Hopefully, decreasing the font from 11pt to 10pt doesn't make them hard to read.  (All my other paperbacks are 11pt.)  I want them to be legible but I also want them to be cost effective... ya know?

Meanwhile, the author copies of RHI that I ordered back on the 30th of March haven't even shipped yet.  Not sure what the hold up is there.  Those are supposed to be here by the 16th, so they'd better get a move on, eh?

Why print books?  You know, I was thinking about this the other day.  Other than giving readers another way to access my books, print books are physical proof those books actually exist.  Files get corrupted, the grid goes down, all electronics suddenly are kaput... those printed books remain.  Even if Fahrenheit 451 becomes reality, they can't burn every copy.  Especially if more people buy them.  

So, yeah, soon I hope to have all my books in print as well as ebook versions.  I should've done this a long time ago, but you know things go.  

How about you?  If you're a writer, are your books in print and ebook?  If you're a reader, which do you prefer to read?  Personally, I read both.  

Additional note:  It's entirely possible the books shipped in two separate packages under one tracking number which could be why it looks like the package was bouncing back and forth.  If so, that's profoundly stupid.

2 comments:

  1. Obviously, the books wanted to take in Opening Day at Busch Stadium and watch the Cards beat the Brewers. 🤣 Also, go home, UPS. You're drunk!

    Some of my books are in print. And some of those print books are in actual libraries! There are several that I need to format and get into print. But as you know...

    As for reading, I'm almost exlusively resigned to audio books at the moment. I can only read print or digital for maybe 10 minutes at a time before my eyes burn and tear up and I can't see a thing. Also, I need new glasses so I've resigned to using a magnifying glass to see print. Digital, I can make the font larger. Print, what's there is what I get. Still, there is something...comforting about holding a "real" book and reading it.

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  2. Mail. Can't stand it, can't live without it. Sigh.

    I create both ebooks and paperbacks. My fantasy usually sold in e-form (when it (rarely) sold), but dressmaking book-buyers love paperback.

    I strongly prefer paperback, myself. Reading on the computer is a PITA -- I go straight into editing mode! Someday I'll break down and get an ereader.

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