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Celeste Ng: Readerly Resolutions for 2010

2009-12-21T11:01:24Z

It's almost a new year, and in addition to my usual resolutions (i.e. eat healthier! exercise more!), I'm making some resolutions to become a better reader. Here they are:

1. I will become an omnivorous reader.

I don't read a lot of nonfiction—but I will try some this year. I don't read much genre—but I will try some this year. I don't usually read YA—but I will try some this year. You get the idea. It's like sampling new foods: stretching your boundaries is good for you. I never tried beets until last year, and I'm so glad I did—now they're one of my favorites. Plus, as my mom always says, "How do you know you don't like it until you try it?"

2. I will borrow a Kindle and read an ebook.

I still don't know what to think of ebooks and ebook readers. So I'm going to try one out. That way, whether I end up closer to the "eBooks and Their Ilk Are the Tools of the Devil" camp or "eBooks are the Salvation of Publishing" camp, at least I'll know whereof I speak.

3. I will read the shortlists for (at least) the National Book Awards and the Booker Prize, not just the winner.

If I can manage to see all the Oscar-nominated films, why not give nominated books the same respect? I might not finish before the winner is announced, but that's okay—unlike with movies, I don't have to hurry in to the theater.

4. I will go to more author readings.

Every single day, authors read at bookstores and libraries—and coffeeshops and bars—all over the country. And these readings are amazing: you get to hear the book in the author's own voice, ask questions, and meet the writer. For free. Why am I not taking advantage of this, again?

(And, as always, I will buy the book afterwards. I was once at a reading where a woman began her question thus: "Well, I'm sure your book is great—I haven't read it, but I'll probably get it out of the library... at some point..." Dear authors, I promise I will never do this.)

5. I will read one Big Classic Canonical Book that I keep putting off out of intimidation.

These books are Classic and Canonical for a reason. I still haven't decided which: Middlemarch? Ulysses? Gravity's Rainbow? Bleak House? If you've got suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

6. I will subscribe to a literary journal. (Not just the New Yorker.)

What's the best way to ensure a supply of good books in the future? Support up-and-coming writers now. Journals like One Story and Glimmertrain and Tin House find new writers and showcase their work, and subscribing is a great way to support those emerging writers.

Right now, I'm leaning towards one with a local affiliation, like AGNI (published by Boston University), Redivider (published by the grad students at Emerson College), or the New England Review (published by Middlebury College).

7. I will read more poems. (Not just in the New Yorker.)

I'm ashamed to admit that I very seldom read poetry, even though many of my friends are poets. A good poem is an amazing thing: a perfectly distilled, articulate moment. It opens you up—sometimes slowly, like the blooming of a flower, and sometimes with a quick knife-slice. Cross my heart: I'm going to read more poems in 2010. Resolution #6 will help with this.

8. I will read more short stories. (Not just in the New Yorker.)

What's the point of short stories, you ask? Aren't they inferior to novels? No no no no no. Novels often have a wider scope, but nothing—except maybe a poem—can match a short story for intensity of focus. Stories laser-beam a spotlight on the moment when everything shifts, whether that shift is a glimmer of understanding or a fundamental and irrevocable change. They are hard, bright little gems. Tobias Wolff, a master of the short form, put it elegantly in an interview with The Morning News:

Somebody once described the novel as a prose narrative of a certain length that has something wrong with it. I can think of a few novels that seem to have nothing wrong with them at all, but I can think of a lot more short stories that seem to me to be perfect. Carver's "Cathedral"; Joyce's "The Dead"; Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People"; any number, frankly, by Hemingway: "Hills Like White Elephants," "Another Country"; Chekhov's "Lady with Pet Dog" or his story "Gusef"; I mean I could go on and on. These are stories perfect as snowflakes, it seems to me, where you wouldn't want anything different.

And Nina Sankovitch—of Read All Day fame—points out:

Great writers can create fully rendered characters (often with just one perfect sentence), place them within acute cross-hatchings of landscape and time, and then allow a good shake-up of love, sorrow, fear, or death. There we are: the complete experience of suspense, catharsis, and release, all within ten or twenty or thirty pages.

Short stories are one of the few things I am evangelical about, and I'm always hungry to discover more that I love. This year, I'm going to. (Resolution #6 will help with this, too.)

9. I will re-read an old favorite.

Have you ever listened to an album on repeat, or watched a movie over and over? The first time through, your main concern is always what's going to happen? But the second time around, you notice the smaller things: an unusual riff, an artfully constructed shot, the tiny clues in the opening scenes that hint at the conclusion.

The same thing happens with books. On a rereading, you get to focus on language, little moments, an amazing passage or a single line that slipped by in the first-reading frenzy of omigodwhathappensnext. A second reading is more deliberate, more artful reading. It's sipping a fine wine and savoring the bouquet instead of throwing back a shot of tequila. And it's something I don't do often enough—but will do more in 2010.

10. I will write at least one book review.

It might be for publication, or it might be just an email to a friend. Why? Because a review, however informal, makes you articulate what the book made you feel and think—and why. Books are made to get you thinking, to get you to question your assumptions, to get you to imagine what it would be like to be someone else. They're meant to spark discussion. And odds are, that friend will write back with thoughts of her own—and there's your discussion.

That's my list. Now you tell me: what are your readerly resolutions for the upcoming year?

eBook Sales Skyrocket, Book Sales Up In General

2009-12-17T13:45:57Z

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) announced today in a press release that overall book sales were up in October. The increase is small -- 10.2% for the month and 4.1% for the year -- but mark an overall positive trend. Sales were also up in September, the AAP noted last month. The end of the year has been full of blockbusters, from Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" to Sarah Palin's memoir, and the hype over these books may have contributed to the rising sales.

The most significant area of gains, however, has been in eBooks. The AAP announced that year-to-date eBook sales for October were over $130 million -- a 180.7% increase from 2008. eBook sales now account for 3% of total trade sales, up from 1.13% last year. With the Kindle's rise in popularity and the increasing variety of options for eReaders, it's no surprise that the numbers have jumped so dramatically this year. And as we head into 2010, when eBook sales are sure to continue to rise exponentially, publishers will have to work out exactly how eBooks will fit into their current model.

Publishers have already started to take eBooks more seriously -- over the past week, a battle has been raging over whether publishers or authors should own eBook rights. There has also been much disagreement recently about when eBooks should be released (at the same time as hardcover or between the hardcover and paperback releases), as publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster announced late last month that they were planning on delaying eBook editions of new books.

How should publishers respond to the increase in eBook sales? Are they taking the right steps, or are they making some big mistakes? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Publishers, Authors Battle Over eBooks: Who Owns The Rights?

2009-12-15T11:49:57Z

On Friday, Random House started up a battle with authors when CEO Markus Dohle sent out a letter to literary agents regarding the rights to backlist books published by Random House. When the contracts for many older books were signed, e-books didn't exist, so while the e-book format was not specifically named, electronic rights were. Dohle cited language in the agreements that Random House has "the exclusive right to publish in electronic book publishing formats." This claim relies on the logic that the rights to publication "in book form" or "in any and all editions" covers eBooks as well as print.

Authors have far and wide rejected Random House's terms, arguing that it is not in their best interest to distribute eBooks through the publisher because of too-low royalty rates and paltry publicity.

On Tuesday, the Authors Guild responded to Dohle's letter. "The misunderstandings reside entirely with Random House," they say, recalling the change of language in Random House's contracts made in 1994 which gave them exclusive eBook rights. The Authors Guild argues that:

Random House felt the need to change its contract, quite plainly, because its authors did not grant those rights to it under Random House's standard contracts prior to 1994.

Authors are beginning to respond to the battle by moving away from publishers for eBook distribution. The New York Times reported Saturday that the classic "Catch-22" is a recent example of the publisher-author war. Amanda Urban, the agent responsible for author Joseph Heller's estate, is in talks with Open Road Integrated Media to produce an eBook edition of the book independent of the original book publisher publisher, Simon & Schuster. Urban stated that her agency "believes the e-book rights reside with the author, not the print publisher."

On Monday, the New York Times reported that Stephen Covey, bestselling author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", announced that he would grant Amazon the exclusive rights to his eBooks. This marks a move away from his publisher, Simon & Schuster, which joined publishers Hachette and HarperCollins recently in announcing a delay to the release of many eBook editions of new books. While Covey and his son, author Sean Covey, insisted that the move was not based on dissatisfaction with Simon & Schuster, Amazon representative Drew Herdener criticized the publisher's choice to delay eBook editions. "Simon & Schuster is backward-leaning," he said.

In the 1980s, agents began holding movie rights to books, cutting publisher profit potential for some books drastically, but at least if a movie got made and was successful, it was likely to boost sales of a book. Will eBooks have a similar impact?

Matt Stewart: Hey Publishers, Screwing Your Best Customers Is A Mistake

2009-12-14T02:58:50Z

It is an outrageous act of snobbery. Of short-sightedness. Of knee-jerk small-minded reactionary head-burying ignorance and, worst of all, not appreciating the fundamental tenets of today's marketplace.

In 2009, the customer is king. Unfortunately for the literary world, a few publishers have decided to treat their best customers like crap.

Last week, Simon & Schuster, Hatchette, and HarperCollins announced they will delay the release of leading e-books until several months after a hardcover version of said book is released. Essentially, this means that power-readers--who love books, and buy a lot of books, and tell their friends which books they should get, and influence purchasing decisions far and wide by spreading their opinions through Facebook and Twitter and blogs, and even shell out several hundred bucks for an e-reader so they can buy whatever they want impulsively whenever they want it, because they love books that much--cannot get the latest hot book releases on the device of their choosing.

That is a massive mistake.

Disclosures: my dad, David O. Stewart, is a happy S&S author. I'm a novelist, and, assuming they fix this--and I have to think they will--I'd be honored to sell a book to these publishers someday (my debut novel, The French Revolution, is coming out with Soft Skull Press in July 2010).

But they are defending the buggywhip here, and it's excruciating to watch.

Imagine if airlines gave their biggest frequent flier customers the worst seats on the plane. If iPhone owners had to wait six months to download the latest tunes. If owners of hybrid vehicles had to pay double for insurance. If loyal Starbucks customers had to pay more for bringing in their own reusable coffee cup. If people using electronic toll-paying had to pay a surplus and wait in a longer line.

These are all idiotic ideas, certain to ruin relationships with each industry's biggest advocates, devastate the bottom line, and get top-level executives axed. So why do these publishers think they're exceptional?

In short: fear, a dose of snobbery, and--the most discouraging component--a failure of imagination.

Right now, Amazon dominates the e-book marketplace. They're charging $9.99 per e-book, and selling them for a loss. Publishers rightfully fear that one day Amazon will force them to cut prices on e-books. Amazon has a reputation for driving a hard bargain with publishers, and these publishers would like to sidestep unfavorable terms where it can--an understandable position.

What's a lot less understandable is the publishers' guiding battle plan: that they'll avoid a reckoning with Amazon by making e-books less attractive and harder to get.

Anybody who has an iPhone can tell you about terrific apps and songs they've bought impulsively, with three clicks, which they never would've bought had they had to wait. By denying the value of e-books, S&S, Hatchette and HarperCollins will make it harder for their power-readers to buy from them, to champion their books, to spread literary joy quickly and easily.

That's right: they want to make it harder to buy their product.

Did nobody object when this idea was brought up? Seriously?

There's a serious snobbish tincture to this logic too--the assumption that when faced with no e-book, power-readers will buy the hardcover instead. That's a false choice. Sure, a few may write themselves a note to buy the book later, but the vast majority will just buy a different book that they can get easily, or download a movie or TV show on iTunes instead. There's more than enough terrific content out there to keep us busy without schlepping out to a bookstore or remembering to surf over to Amazon later.

In the meantime, it's common to see the publishing industry "hope" things will get better. That's not going to work. Don't deny the future--innovate to dominate it. Tap that imagination that makes you such good storytellers. Renegotiate with Amazon; work with Apple to make sure their impending digital store is fairer; launch the publishing equivalent of Orbitz, an industry-built platform to sell directly to consumers. Be proactive; use your tremendous brainpower to create rather than reject.

And, ultimately, create a viable business model that doesn't alienate your biggest fans.

Wednesday Martin: Short Stories for $3.99: the Atlantic/Kindle Deal is Not So New

2009-12-07T13:11:18Z

As of December 7, 2009, short stories by Christopher Buckley, Edna O'Brien (and by January Curtis Sittenfeld, and presumably many others) are available on Kindle, courtesy of a deal with the Atlantic Monthly. Links to the short stories will appear on the author's pages on Amazon.com, exhorting "Buy it now!"

The stories, selected by Atlantic staffers, will bear an Atlantic Monthly logo, the New York Times reports, and won't be available in the publication's print edition. That is, the magazine. They will only be available on your Kindle. Not your e-reader. The plan is that eventually the Atlantic's editors will offer two short stories per month.

The idea here is that everyone can make a little--or even a lot--more money this way. Say your short story is actually pretty long. But not long enough to be considered a novel or even a novella. No book contract or New Yorker placement for you. Now what? Or say you're the Atlantic and you stopped publishing any fiction at all, other than in your annual fiction issue, in 2005. Putting your fancy imprimatur on a piece of fiction written by a known quantity/brand (Buckley, O'Brien, Sitwell, or King, who started this whole thing) and then partnering with a powerhouse to sell it makes financial sense. Or is at least a risk worth taking.

And what's the downside, really, at least for the consumer I mean reader? In New York, at least, there isn't much you can get for less than four dollars, and now I'm thinking of how my doorman used to call Starbucks "four bucks--cause you can't get out of there for less no matter how damn hard you try." Through this iterative, associative process, I believe we have struck on the logic of the Amazon/Kindle pricing of short stories. If you will pay a certain amount for a mega-caloric concoction bearing little relation to actual coffee, the thinking probably goes, you will pay at least as much to have Edna O'Brien on demand.

There are plenty of unanswered questions, of course. Like the for-now prohibitive for many price of getting started with the whole business by plunking down the money for a Kindle or an e-reader in the first place. The participating writers themselves seem ambivalent and curious about the whole thing, with Christopher Buckley grumbling that naturally he'd rather his 15,000 word short story--too long to be published in a magazine, but not long enough for a book deal--be printed "on archival paper and bound in red morocco...gold embossed for a limited edition and signed by the author." O'Brien, who told the Times that she had never seen a Kindle, said she was game primarily because it would allow her to "acquaint myself with all that's modern out there" while Sittenfeld shrugged that while Kindle's rules would prevent her from reselling the work to another e-reader down the line, it wasn't any worse than selling it to a small academic journal with a limited readership, her other option.

The comparison to iTunes is inevitable--if we can download songs in the digital age, why not short stories?--but might miss the point. The Amazon/Kindle short story deal doesn't just hurtle us forward; it harkens back in time as well.

Before we start wringing out hands about the commodification of writing and the lowbrowing of the highbrow, we might consider that we've long loved our fiction serialized, short and sweet, relatively cheap, and hot off the presses. Charles Dickens didn't conceive of The Pickwick Papers or Oliver Twist as novels--like much popular fiction of the Victorian era, they were first published in periodicals, serialized over weeks and months. Eventually the works would be assembled into a three part set called triple deckers, and lent out, one third at a time, by lending libraries, which charged a modest fee.

It was a cunning strategy from many angles. By releasing them over time, publishers built a following of readers/fans who frequently literally clamored in the streets for the next installment: "I want my Wilkie Collins!" Meanwhile, proceeds from the first volumes paid for the printing of later ones. This is all separate from the "Penny Dreadfuls," cheap daily broadsides for the lower classes that titillated with their lurid tales of crimes and adventures real and fictionalized. Such are the "impure" origins of Victorian literary fiction, and today's.

Will we soon be able to get the latest short story of our favorite author, or installation of her next novel, on our phones for the modern day equivalent of a few shillings? Time will tell. Personally, I hope so. And now, as for those of us who blog, I have a modest proposal for Arianna and Kindle...

Alan Kaufman: Google Books And Kindles: A Concentration Camp Of Ideas

2009-12-04T14:20:10Z

When I hear the term Kindle I think not of imaginations fired but of crematoria lit. And when I hear the term "hi-tech" I think not of helpful androids efficiently performing household chores or light-speed rockets gliding seamlessly through space but of the fact that between 1933-45, modern technology was used to perform in ever more efficient ways the mass murder of six million of my people. The instruments of so-called progress, placed in the hands of the modern state, disappeared six million Jewish men, women and children, into a void from which they will never return and in which a majority of them remain forever unidentified. This was done in the name of progress by means of technology for the creation of a better world.

The Nazis often were, by their own lights, well-intentioned idealists working for a better tomorrow. And their instrument was modern technology, aspects of philosophical and aesthetic modernism and the old religious concept of supercession implicit in the Christian notion of progress. Jews were outmoded, useless, they said. Most high level Nazis, like Himmler or Heydrich or Eichmann, did not feel visceral hatred towards the Jew. Rather, they looked upon them coldly as something that simply needed to disappear so that the new life could get on its way. And the means by which they sought to do so was first through a propaganda campaign that portrayed Jews, in Wagnerian terms, as a drag on the visionary energies and bursting vigor of the new Aryan man, and then by the implementation of this decision to eliminate Jews through ever more sophisticated state corporate and scientific technological means. And yet, during the war crime trials at Nuremberg, while Nazi Jurisprudence was tried and hanged, Nazi technological attitudes were not put on trial.

The victorious Allies did not mandate that technology, which had been turned to such murderous ends, must pass an ethical standard review from an international body, like a UN of technology. No such body of decision came about. To the contrary, even while the war crime trials of Nazi chieftains were in session, American and Soviet governments were recruiting high-level Nazis to their intelligence services, military armaments industries, and space programs. So that, while in jurisprudence terms Nazi social and political values were delivered a blow, the Nazi fascination with technology merged seamlessly with that of their conquerors: us.

That is why today we drive Volkswagens, which were invented by Hitler, and use space heaters from companies that may once have manufactured crematoria and why Werner Von Braun, the Nazi father of the V-2 rocket became an American space pioneer hero studied in public schools. Nazi Technology and corporate methodology was folded handily into American feel-good Capitalist culture. That is the very point of the brilliant satire, "Dr. Strangelove".

So that now, sixty four years after the Holocaust, the Nazi disdain for the book has become the feel-good Hi-Tech campaign to rid the world of books in place of massive easily controlled centralized repositories of book texts downloadable on little hand-held devices and from which a text can be dissapeared with the click of a mouse: in Nazi terms, a dream come true.

How grave was Nazi contempt for books? As response to the book burnings in Germany, in the May 11, 1933 issue of Chicago's Daily Worker, (and years before the first fully operational death camps opened their furnace doors), a grim cartoon entitled "Altars of the Nazis" portrayed two smoking crematoria of equal size, placed side by side, one marked "Nazi Victims" and the other "Condemned Books". The link between contempt for books and mass murder could not be more clear.

President Roosevelt, recognizing the threat of Nazi attitudes to the book, launched a full-scale government campaign, and declaring it part of the national war effort, said: "...books...embody man's eternal fight against tyranny. In this war, we know, books are weapons."

In World War II, people died to produce and protect books. Anti-Fascist organizations, American Jewish Groups and writers, editors and journalists launched massive demonstrations in defense of the book, including, on March 10, 1933, the largest march, to that date, in the history of New York City: 100,000 people turned out to express outrage at the burning of books and other events in Germany. In its coverage of the Berlin book burnings, Newsweek used "Holocaust" as its headline.

Today's hi-tech propagandists tell us that the book is a tree-murdering, space-devouring, inferior form that society would be better off without. In its place, they want us to carry around the Uber-Kindle.

The hi-tech campaign to relocate books to Google and replace books with Kindles is, in its essence, a deportation of the literary culture to a kind of easily monitored concentration camp of ideas, where every examination of a text leaves behind a trail, a record, so that curiosity is also tinged with a sense of disquieting fear that some day someone in authority will know that one had read a particular book or essay. This death of intellectual privacy was also a dream of the Nazis. And when I hear the term Kindle, I think not of imaginations fired but of crematoria lit.

eBook Apps For Smartphones

2009-12-03T14:15:04Z

IF you're a book lover who has a smartphone and you're not ready to spend the $260 you might on an electronic book reader, try starting with an e-reader app. Best of all, they're free.

eReaders Through The Eyes Of Thriller Writers

2009-12-03T13:41:53Z

What do authors think of the new electronic replacements for bound paper? Some are traditionalists who want nothing to do with electronic readers -- one book editor said that most of his authors avoided the devices.

Thriller writers, however, see the potential, perhaps because their characters' lives often depend on technology.

Stephanie Vaughn Hapke: GeekGirl Reviews: E-Book Readers - Sony Reader Pocket Edition

2009-11-30T11:06:06Z

This is the second in a series of e-book reader reviews I am conducting here on the Huffington Post. Please see the list at the end of this review for links to my previously posted reviews. Check back regularly for future installments of this series.

In August of this year, Sony released two new e-book readers to the market -- the Pocket Edition and the Touch Edition. They also announced a third reader to round out their stable -- the Daily Edition -- which is expected to ship in December.

I was fortunate to receive a review unit of the Pocket Edition from Sony this month.

First Impressions

The Sony Reader Pocket Edition comes encased in a box that resembles a paperback book in a slipcase. While the packaging was typical of most consumer electronics, I was not given the impression of the reader as a high quality product. However, the reader itself is a typical Sony product -- solid construction (plastic and aluminum) and attractive design. Definitely a quality product.

Included with the reader were the USB cable, a nylon padded slipcase, and documentation. The cable is a standard A-to-Mini-B format, and is used to connect the reader to a computer and to charge it. I was slightly surprised to find that no wall charger was included, however the reader does have a jack for charging via an accessory charger (purchased separately).

The Details

The Pocket Edition sells for $199 at the Sony Style Store and several retail outlets (Sony lists Best Buy, Borders, Costco, Staples, Target and Wal-Mart in their literature). The Pocket Edition is designed as an entry level reader, aimed at cost conscious users.

The Pocket Edition is very lightweight, coming in at 7.76 oz. The construction is metal and plastic and feels very solid, and measures 6.2" x 4.2" x .2". The controls consist of 10 buttons along the right side of the unit for menu control, a 5-way controller for navigation and four function specific buttons along the bottom of the front panel, and a power switch on the top edge. It is available in Navy Blue, Rose Pink and Silver. The unit I reviewed was silver.

The battery is internal, and is not user replaceable. Expected battery life on a full charge is two weeks (an estimated 6,800 to 7,500 continuous page turns). The reader can be charged via your computer using the included USB cable, or via a separate wall charger (sold separately). Charge times were not available at the time of this review. The USB and wall charger jacks are located along the bottom edge of the reader.

Reader memory is 512Mb (440Mb accessible), is internal, and not user expandable. Sony estimates the Pocket Edition can hold up to 350 books (may vary depending on file format).

The screen is a Viziplex 5 inch E Ink® electronic paper display, offering 600 x 800 pixel resolution and an 8-level gray scale. There is no screen lighting nor color support, nor is there any kind of audio support.

The reader does not have any kind of wireless capability, so content is loaded onto the device via a computer. The Sony eBook Library software works with both PCs and Macs, and when you connect the reader to your computer for the first time, the appropriate version of the software is downloaded via your internet connection and installed on your computer. In addition, the reader can function with most modern computers in a manner similar to flash drives.

The Pocket Edition has a standard 90 day labor/1 year parts warranty, and additional warranty coverage is available from the retailer you purchase the reader from (sold separately). Additional accessories available from Sony include a car charger, soft cover, and a cover with light.

The Good

As with other E Ink based readers, the screen is very clear and easy to read. The high contrast display is viewable in a variety of lighting conditions, and utilizes three selectable font sizes. The contrast does not appear to be adjustable on the reader. You can change the orientation from Vertical to Horizontal, and you can switch the menu language between four options (English, French, German, and Dutch).

The process of connecting the reader to your computer is simple and painless. I tested the process with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, and the reader was instantly recognized and drivers loaded automatically. The AutoRun feature within Windows prompts you to run the software installer, which downloads and sets-up the eBook Library software. This program is similar in looks and function to iTunes, in that it serves not only to store and organize your content, but also as a front-end for The eBook Store from Sony. The software also serves as a reader for all supported formats, and can be authorized as a device on your eBook Store account for reading protected content purchased there.

The reader is compact and comfortable in the hand, even for people with relatively small hands. The nylon slip case is lightly padded, providing some protection for the reader when not in use. It fits easily in brief cases, backpacks, and even medium sized-purses.

The interface is simple and intuitive. Page turning and menu navigation is controlled via a five-way controller. In addition, menu options can be selected via 10 numeric keys along the right side of the screen. I found menu navigation quicker and easier via the number keys. A total of four function keys are situated on either side of the five-way controller, and provide quick access to the home menu, a previous menu or page, setting or clearing bookmarks, and font size.

The Pocket Edition supports a number of popular e-book and document formats, including:
DRM-free TextL BBeB Book (LRF), PDF, TXT, RTF, ePub, and DOC (Word)
DRM-protected Text: BBeB Book (LRX), Secure PDF, and ePub
Images: JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP

Because the Pocket Edition natively supports the ePub and PDF formats, content is available from a multitude of sources. The eBook Store from Sony is the official store for the Sony Readers. They provide a good selection of bestsellers and new releases, and easy access to over one million free public domain books from Google. Sony is also promoting their partnership with other booksellers and independent publishers for purchased content, as well as electronic lending via public libraries. They seem to have realized the fact that their readers are not just hardware, but the entire ecosystem of hardware, software and content.

The Bad

I was underwhelmed by the page refresh speed of the Pocket Edition reader. While slow page refresh is an inherent "feature" of the E Ink technology, this reader seems very sluggish when loading new pages.

While I love the AutoRun feature that allows for the almost automatic installation of the eBook Library software, it wants to install the software at each connection. I would like to see the AutoRun feature check to see if the software is already installed, and skip the prompt. A work-around for this would be to disable the AutoRun feature within Windows (which is not necessarily a bad thing to do).

These are both definitely minor concerns for an otherwise capable entry-level reader.

The Ugly

There are no significant deal-killers with the Pocket Edition reader.

The Verdict

A solid, affordable, basic reader for the masses. With a price point well below the competition, this reader is poised to easily capture the bottom end of the market. If you are looking for a no-frills e-book reader that supports all the common formats and do not need wireless access, this could be the reader for you. Sony has delivered a well-built, compact reader that you can easily take with you anywhere.

Personally, I am still holding out, as I have several other readers to review, and I am definitely looking for a reader with a few more bells and whistles.

Sony Timeline

September 2006 - Sony Releases the PRC-500 reader
September 2008 - Sony Releases the PRC-505 reader
October 2008 - Sony releases the PRC-700 reader
August 2009 - Sony releases the PRC-300 (Pocket Edition)
August 2009 - Sony releases the PRC-600 (Touch Edition)
August 2009 - Sony announces the PRC-900 (Daily Edition) - the first Sony Reader with wireless access
December 2009 - Expected availability for the Daily Edition reader

What's Next?

This is the second e-book reader review in a series for the Huffington Post. I have plans in the works to also review the Kindle for PC e-book reader, Kindle DX, Sony Reader - Touch Edition, the Nook e-book reader from Barnes & Noble, and several upcoming readers not yet available. Check back for these reviews over the next few months.

I also plan a comparative review of all these readers sometime early next year.

Other eBook Reader articles by Stephanie Vaughn Hapke:
Amazon Kindle 2 -- I Think I'll Wait
GeekGirl Reviews: E-Book Readers - Amazon Kindle 2

For more information on E-Book Readers, especially the Amazon Kindle, visit:
A Kindle World Blog

Disclosure: I received a Sony Reader - Pocket Edition (PRS-300) from Sony as a result of my request. I had 14 days to review the unit and have returned it to Sony. No content credit was requested or offered.

Jennifer Grayson: Eco Etiquette: 6 Tips For (More) Eco-Friendly Flying

2009-11-30T08:20:48Z

I generally try to be eco-conscious, but it always seems like all bets are off when I have to fly somewhere. Obviously, air travel itself is bad for the environment, but it also seems like there's so much waste involved in the whole process of going to the airport, etc. Is there anything I can do to make flying a little greener?

-Kelli

Until Branson perfects his bio jet fuel, "green flying" will forever be an oxymoron. My trip from Los Angeles to Chicago this Thanksgiving will emit 1,022 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere -- nearly as much as driving my car for three months. I'm not proud of this. But what am I supposed to do, never see my family? That's a choice that even the most ardent environmentalist would be loathe to make.

And green going out the window doesn't stop with the plane emissions: There's the giant bottles of Aquafina in the airport shops, the fast-food restaurants flipping factory-farmed burgers, airport toilets that automatically flush three times before you've even finished peeing, the plastic cups that come with every pass of beverage service in the cabin, piles of discarded tabloid glossies...it's enough to make you want to throw up your hands in despair. (Or just throw up.)

But while it may seem like you're at the mercy of the travel gods and their wasteful, polluting ways, there are still eco-friendly choices you can make on your journey that really do make a difference. And who knows? Maybe you'll inspire the fellow fliers you encounter along the way.

1. Take public transit to the airport. If you live in the country or the suburbs, this may not be realistic, but if you live in a city, nix the cab and take public transportation. You'll not only be going green (reducing carbon emissions), you'll also be saving green: It costs only $7 to take the subway/air train from Manhattan to JFK, compared to a $45 taxi fare.

2. Pack light. This reduces emissions by a) making it easier to take public transit to the airport and b) lightening the plane's load. (Less weight = less fuel = less CO2 emissions.) This is basically the concept behind the new "green" plane Southwest is currently testing, which utilizes innovative materials to reduce weight by up to five pounds per seat. Considering the amount of eating most of us will be doing over the holidays, I say pack extra light to make up for that pumpkin pie you'll be wearing on the return flight home.

3. Buy (reputable) carbon offsets. There's been a lot of debate as to whether carbon offsets actually work, but when it comes to reducing the emissions associated with air travel, you really only have two choices: buy carbon offsets, or don't fly at all. Look at it as a donation to a good cause rather than a way to excuse bad behavior. Make sure, however, that you buy them from a trusted seller.

4. Brown bag it. Actually, make that a reusable lunch tote. I've never understood why pre-made airport sandwiches have to come in such giant plastic containers. Avoid the extra packaging -- and the carbon-intensive processed food -- by packing your own healthy meal and snacks to take with you on your flight. Extra carbon credit: Pack a vegetarian lunch.

5. Say no to bottled water. I have this crazy idea that one day, eco-conscious airports will feature filtered water stations by the gates where passengers can fill up reusable bottles before their flights. Oh right, I think something like that used to exist -- they were called water fountains. Unfortunately, these relics have become scarce in most airports; those who don't want to contribute to the more than 60 million plastic water bottles Americans throw away every day are left to fill up their Kleen Kanteens in an airport bathroom (fine at O'Hare, with its top-ranked tap water; pretty gross at LAX). A safe bet is to bring a reusable bottle with a built-in filter, like EcoUsable's Ech20 stainless steel and BPA-free version.

6. Check out your reading material. From the library, that is. The book industry loves virgin paper -- it's estimated that 30 million trees are cut down annually for books sold in the US alone. (Kindle fans will be happy to know that e-readers are somewhat green, though not as guilt-free as a borrowed book.) Can't fathom flying without your fill of Brad and Angelina? Give that US Weekly a second life by sharing it with another passenger when you're done, or at least drop it in an airport recycling bin on the way out.

Stick to these tips, and you'll be on your way to joining the green mile-high club!

Send all your eco-inquiries to Jennifer Grayson at eco.etiquette@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for length and clarity.

Borders, Barnes & Noble Experience Major Losses

2009-11-25T15:46:41Z

Things aren't looking good for big booksellers Borders and Barnes & Noble. The AP reports that both chains have posted major losses for this quarter, their sales made worse by the online price wars between Amazon and Walmart that have driven prices on new bestsellers down so much as to make it nearly impossible for bookstores to compete.

Barnes & Noble hopes for some degree of profit in the future from its new eReader, the Nook, a new competitor for Amazon's Kindle. In launching into the digital book market is at least a step ahead of Borders, as analyst Michael Norris points out.

Stocks for the two companies have also fallen significantly. The Wall Street Journal reports a major fall for Barnes & Noble despite the early success of the Nook, which is currently unavailable until January.

Borders UK seems to be doing even worse than its American sibling. BBC News reports that Borders UK has been looking for a buyer recently, unsure if there will be enough cash to get through the Christmas season. The Guardian also notes that recent visitors to the Borders UK website have been unable to place orders, and that the chain has started to cancel author signings.

The future is looking bleak for these bookselling chains.

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Kindle: Amazon Improves Battery Life, Adds PDF Reader

2009-11-24T15:42:15Z

Just in time to remind holiday shoppers, Amazon has announced an 85% battery life increase as well as a native PDF reader application for the Kindle digital book reader. Whereas the previous battery life topped out at about four days with wireless access turned on, the updated Kindle will run for seven days without needing to be charged.

Free eBooks For Kindle: How To Find Them

2009-11-23T12:40:23Z

[F]ear not, Kindle owners: you too have access to many of the ... public domain titles, numbering in the thousands. The problem is finding them. While many of the freebies tend to pepper the Kindle top seller lists, Amazon doesn't make it easy to find a comprehensive list.

Gerald Sindell: iTablet Beta Tester Breaks Embargo

2009-11-20T12:27:46Z

Recently I was given just 24 hours to explore a first production build of the Apple iTablet -- and here are my first impressions and discoveries. First, it's more like an iPhone than a MacBook. The operating system depends on gestures, and expands the vocabulary. Your hand is going to be dancing.

Second big news: it's not just an application platform and full-color reader and media player. It's also a dual camera and, yes, read this twice, a phone. And therein lies a tale. For those whose habits have been formed around their iPhones, be very, very careful when your iTablet rings for the first time. That urge to whip the thing with its ginormous 10 inch screen up to your ear is going to play havoc with your eye. In the small group of folks I ran into who were returning their demo versions, most of us had nasty shiners.

Apple assures us that final production versions will come with training corners -- foam wedgies that will soften the blow until the user gets used to answering the giant device. And the second mod will be a catcher's mitt-like webbing on the back of the iTablet so you can one hand it.

Killer apps? Try this -- for those who will want to mount the iTablet high on their dashboard, this thing is going to block your view. So Apple has come up with the brilliant iDrive. The camera on the back side stays live and you basically can see right through your iTablet, like a virtual window. A second camera, imbedded invisibly in the screen, can provide help in backing up.

When you're not in your car, the embedded cameras creates iMirror, and one of the coolest apps we've seen so far is iTrim. Male or female, select your hairstyle from dozens of possibilities, and then iTrim gives you cut by cut directions so you can do it yourself. You might need a little help for the back and top, or you can sync up two iTablets and put them on the Infinite Barbershop Mirror setting.

Now with all that extra screen area to dance your hand on, Apple has greatly expanded the gestures it understands. First, there's the Full Palm Down. Just spread out your hand and plant it on the screen. Whatever program that's currently running will screech to a halt. Flip your hand over and give it the Brush Off, and the program will go away. Do it several times and the screen will clear. Then there's the Fist Bump. Closed fist means 'Yes.' Or Agree, or Continue, Install, or 'Can I have some more, please?'

Finally, all of publishing has been praying that the iTablet will be a Kindle killer and free the publishing world from the threat of world domination by Amazon. Success may depend on whether people will want the reading part of their life to be as easily interrupted as everything else in their world. When your book can hurl e-mails at you, ring your phone, cut your hair and even show you who's sneaking up behind you, some may not find that to be the ideal reading environment.

Then there's the concern about the infantilism that permeates Steve Job's attitude toward culture. "People don't read anymore," is one of his brilliant observations. On iTunes, all music has become a "song." Verdi's Requiem Mass is downloadable as a bunch of songs. For an entire generation, a Beethoven symphony is now four songs. This is surely a crime against humanity of some sort.

So take the same attitude and apply it to books. And guess what? You aren't going to be buying a 'book' on the iTunes store. You're going to be buying a 'story' one chapter at a time, whether it's Wind in the Willows or Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, everything is going to be just a chapter in a story.

The good news is the color is great. You can zoom in for spectacular detail. And when you check in to that "mirror" function you'll be able to track the progress of your shiner.

Ed Zitron: Road Wars: Arming for the Subway Commute

2009-11-19T11:00:16Z

My commute is far from gruesome. I've seen worse - hiking up hills in
Aberystwyth or cross-country marching at 8AM to an early-morning class in
University Park, PA were far worse.

However, short and sweet as the morning PATH journey is, it lacks the stability
of my own two feet, and commonly throws my fellow passengers and I to-and-fro,
making anything more than listening to music difficult. And, frankly, I grow
very tired of listening to music in the morning.

It's something individual to the NYC/NJ commute, too - the rough-and-tumble
ride isn't in effect in London, Paris,
Japan, or even riding in a
taxi along the winding turns of Sardinia's
hills. The controlled chaos that we deal with requires a certain steely will -
and a plethora of entertainment means that fit those hanging on for dear life.

Please keep all naughty jokes related to one-handed anything to a
minimum.

The Kindle
and iPhone/iPod Touch are the most
generic choices, mostly because they’re built to be held, navigated and used
with one hand. More importantly, you can also get a significant grip on them
if, for example, the train judders wildly from side-to-side at an unexpected
opportunity. This is where phones like the Droid lack in finesse - the
proud inclusion of the keyboard in a tight package makes for a hard-to-wield
device when supporting yourself on the morning rush.

Road warriors trying to eek out that last email on the train will prefer the
Droid's
physical keyboard which is far more reliable than shakily stabbing at the
iPhone's on-screen keyboard. I fail to mention other e-readers simply because,
at present, the Kindle is reliably better for anyone trying to read with one
hand. You can do everything with a firm grip with most of your fingers, deftly
clicking between the menus using your thumb. This may seem somewhat of a trite
point, but Sony's awkward clicky-wheels and touchscreens, or the oncoming glut
of Tablets don't seem like they'll be too useful for anyone standing.

Neither the Nintendo DS nor the PSP
are particularly friendly for a bumpy subway journey without a seat. Playing
the PSP with one arm wrapped around a bar will work briefly, but a wrong turn
will send it hurtling out of your hand. The DS is just too fiddly to be used by
anyone destabilized.

The iPhone features plenty of games that are totally and utterly
unsympathetic to the road warrior yet remains arguably the best gaming tool for
the job. However, Bookworm ($2.99), Crush the Castle ($1.99) and Civilization:
Revolution ($6.99) can all be played effectively either with a nimble thumb or
in small, controlled doses - between stops, calm moments on the journey, or
when the train decides to stop for no reason.

In fact, here's my little tip to the print industry for its next
technological leap; whatever you use to display the news on next, please make
it usable with one hand. The New York
metro will thank you for it.

If you have any great ideas for how to keep oneself entertained while being
flung about in a tube full of sweaty individuals, feel free to leave a comment.

Smartphones Challenge The Rise Of eReaders

2009-11-18T17:51:43Z

Many people who want to read electronic books are discovering that they can do so on the smartphones that are already in their pockets -- bringing a whole new meaning to "phone book." And they like that they can save the $250 to $350 that they would otherwise spend on yet another gadget.

eReader Gift Guide

2009-11-18T13:53:15Z

We've rounded up a few of our favorite devices, though be warned: with a market this much in its infancy, there's always going to be something just a bit more exciting right around the corner.

Bruce McCall: Bulletin from the Rechargable Electronic Reading Council

2009-11-13T08:26:03Z

Conceived, Executed and Distributed Without Paper

An untreated paper cut is widely blamed for the early demise of the sixteenth-century French doggerelist, Rollo de Plantain, who had he lived might well have one day seen his work published. Deliverance came too late for de Plantain, but this irksome scourge of librarians, stationers and paper handlers of every stripe down through the ages has been virtually eliminated by electronic reading.

Did you know that even the finer bookstores swarm with germs, bacteria and viruses spread by thousands of browsers. Escapees from quarantine? Just arrived from plague-infested regions of the world? Who knows? -- pulling books from shelves and pawing random pages, exposing the hapless buyer to swine flu, ebola, sleeping sickness or other terrors - and that none of these hotbeds of disease have contagion-control experts on the premises? Meanwhile, your e-book, since nobody else gets their hands on it and you can't infect yourself, is a portable disease-free zone.

Cases of what experts call "Dementia Gutenbergia," a terminal irritability caused by readers' futile efforts to keep treacherously loose book jackets from slowly sliding off while they hold it in their hands, or when they try using the jacket's front or back end flap as a bookmark only to have it wriggle around and get all sideways, forcing them to manually maneuver it back in place -- although it never fits quite the same afterward -- are reported to be on the rise. Dustjackets in any case cannot protect against hammer blows or drops from tenth-floor balconies, whereas an e-book snugly fits in its own sturdy case.

Inadvertent spillage of food, tobacco juice, cocktails or bodily fluids can turn the pages of a printed book into a disgusting and permanent telltale record of human loathsomeness. With an e-book, you can deface the reading area to your heart's content and then simply wipe the viewing screen clean with a damp cloth.

A paper-based book cannot be recharged when it suddenly stops in the middle or the type gets faint. You have to throw it away and get a new one. Your e-book can return to fresh readability whenever it begins to "run down." All it needs is a short, sharp jolt of electricity.

Tiny insects called silverfish breed and flourish deep in the bindings of old rare books, feasting on dried glue and working around the clock to destroy another literary treasure -- while giving unsuspecting page-flippers the creeps. Man is helpless to eradicate these miniscule menaces, as old as book-binding itself. No e-book has ever been discovered to harbor any living species -- delivering a happier, healthier reading experience, guaranteed!

Look for more helpful alerts from your friends at the
Rechargeable Electronic Reading Council.

Tom Alderman: All Hail, or Hurl -- The Hybrid Book is Here!

2009-11-13T08:00:38Z

Anthony Zuiker makes TV shows that breed. His original creation, "CSI Las Vegas", begat "CSI Miami," which begat "CSI New York," which mated with shows like "Cold Case," and "Without a Trace." Now, the reproducing Mr. Ziuker has given birth to a new breed of entertainment he calls 'the world's first Digi-Novel'. It's "Level 26: Dark Origins" and while it is the first of it's kind, it's just the beginning of a whole new species of hybrid books that may change the publishing landscape.

It works like this: whether you read, or listen, every 20 pages you're offered a 'cyber-bridge' where you can log onto the Level26.com Website, enter a code, and watch a three minute movie with high production-values and actors you will actually recognize. The film enhances, but does not advance, the story. For example, the sadistic killer watches 8 mm home movies of his many monstrous murders. If you log into the Website and enter 'SNUFF,' you get to watch what the sociopath is watching.

True to his CSI origins, Zuiker delivers graphic and grisly mayhem thruought the print and audio editions, co-written by Duane Swiercznski. If this were a TV show, the tag line would read: ELITE COVERT AGENCY HUNTS WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS KILLER. How dangerous? Law enforcement's supposed evil scale only goes up to level 25. This puppy's a 26! Get it?

"His perversity knew no bounds. Human bodies were nothing more than playthings to him," write the authors. And, of course, the only human alive who can take this beast down is the ex-cop, now covert government agent, known as Steve Dark, whose '...body is lean muscle stretched taught over a broad tall frame. His focus is borderline super-human.' Yep, it's that kind of writing. What elevates this digi-novel beyond its mixed-media format, over-ripe writing and vivid X-rated material is the high production qualities Zuiker and his collaborator bring to the AUDIOBOOK edition. Lots of electric-static sounds and ghostly wind-whooshes crank up the tension and underscore the masterful narration of John Glover. The actor manages to infuse the sociopath with a child-like glee that makes the guy the desk-top icon for evil.

Putting aside its creative hybrid format and John Glover, as entertainment, "Level 26" is basically a synthetic story juiced up with over-the-top savagery that accosts, but does not satisfy the senses.

As for the mixed-media angle, you do have to stop reading, or listening, go to your computer, log onto the Website, input yet another ID and password, give them your age and join the social network. All of which makes "Level 26"'s clever format an evolutionary Neanderthal compared to the breakthrough hybrid format, now available, called 'vooks.'

Vooks are electronic, or "e"-books, you read and watch on only one device - currently an iPhone, iPod Touch or your computer. No Website connection, no special software. Just you, text plus video. Vooks is the creation of publisher Simon & Shuster and video producer, Vook. There are four titles now available, a romance novella, "Promises," by Jude Deveraux, a mystery, "Embassy," by Richard Doetsch, and two how-to-books: "90 Second Fitness Solution," by Pete Cerqua with Alisa Bowman and "Return to Beauty: Old World Recipes For Great Radiant Skin," by Narine Nikogosian. The Web version costs $6.99, the iPhone app version is $4.99.

While you cannot 'vook' on Amazon's Kindle, Sony's Reader, Barnes & Noble's Nook, or any of the current e-book devices, anyone want to put odds on how soon e-Readers will have video capability?

There are perturbed folks who fear these hybrids adulterate the joy of reading as we know it. There was a time when author J.D. Salinger vigorously protested the simple use of Holden Caulfield's image on the dust cover of The Catcher in the Rye believing the writer's words and the reader's imagination, are enough to supply the imagery.

However, literature often features occasional page illustrations to enhance the story, particularly for kids. Think of "The Wizard of Oz" or "The Hardy Boys" books. Are hybrid books just a contemporary format extension of that?

Can you imagine what video supplements on a portable reading device will do for today's children's, How-To, and future fiction books like "Level 26"? Whether it's a book or book-video hybrid, literature is a text-based, story-telling medium. If you don't have the right words, compelling characters, and a captivating story - video supplements are just occasional page illustrations that move.

eBook-Only Publishers Cropping Up Everywhere

2009-11-12T15:00:49Z

A recent article from Publishers Weekly announced the launch of Carina Press, a new imprint of romance publisher Harlequin that will exclusively publish eBooks. This got us thinking about other eBook-only publishers, a group that's really growing in a publishing world where eReaders are getting more popular every day.

Like Carina, a lot of the eBook-only presses focus on genre titles -- romance, science fiction, fantasy -- which lend themselves naturally to the eBook format, as they're often quickly-consumed and addictive. Presses like Uncial and Atlantic Bridge don't specifically focus on one genre, but are clearly driven by fantasy and sci-fi to the extent that they specify general fiction titles as "Mainstream." Others, like Samhain Publishing, from which Carina is taking its new executive editor, have found that the romance genre is very successful in eBooks.

Other presses have taken a more general approach, defining themselves as independent publishers on the forefront of digital publishing. OR Books stands out as the major player in this category. They debuted this month with the much-talked-about "Going Rouge," and are focusing on publishing two high-quality titles per month, available as eBooks and print-on-demand paperback directly from the publisher.

There are plenty of other non-traditional publishers of eBooks available as well. Sites where people can self-publish and sell their own eBooks abound, the most notable Smashwords, iUniverse, Lulu, and Scribd.

Chances are, more of these types of publishers and services will crop up pretty quickly, especially as eReaders like the Nook and others make it even more popular to read your books digitally.

Schools Shun Kindle: eReader 'Discriminates' Against Blind, Colleges Say

2009-11-11T13:36:06Z

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon's Kindle can read books aloud, but if you're blind it can be difficult to turn that function on without help. Now two universities say they will shun the device until Amazon changes the setup.

The National Federation of the Blind announced Wednesday that the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University in New York won't consider big rollouts of the electronic reading device unless Amazon makes it more accessible to visually impaired students.

Amazon Sucks Up To Big Literary Agents

2009-11-09T15:42:31Z

Amazon.com has gone on a charm offensive.

The online retailing giant flew out a dozen of New York's top literary agents last week for a day of meetings at its Seattle headquarters. Steven Kessel, senior vice president of worldwide digital media, led the all-day presentations and discussions, which centered on Amazon's wildly successful Kindle e-reader and the future of the e-books business.

"Nookie" For The Nook And "Kindling" For The Kindle

2009-11-09T07:48:43Z

If The Joy of Sex is on the Nook, will it be called "Nookie"?

And if Sebastian Junger's Fire is on the Kindle, will it be called "Kindling"?

We couldn't resist. The puns were too obvious.

Think of the benefits. No one will have to call them "sex books" anymore, they can just be called "Nookie books." And you won't have to worry about being caught buying, reading or even unpacking them in public because now Nookie will go straight to your Nook.

And maybe publishers will include special e-book, e-sex, "Nookie" enhancements.

For Kindling, we couldn't think of any added benefits. We just had to come up with something so that Amazon and the Kindle wouldn't be left out.

Here are some possible examples of "Nookie" and "Kindling":

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Lulu Takes On Amazon In eBooks

2009-11-04T11:00:50Z

The Raleigh-based online book publisher is now selling electronic books by traditional authors, expanding beyond its lineup of self-published titles for the first time.

iPhone eBooks: Competition For Kindle And Nook?

2009-11-02T15:09:57Z

Just because a Flurry study found that more book apps than games were developed for the iPhone over the past four months does not mean the Kindle and Nook are in trouble.