Before you run away fearing this is some apologetic about how eBooks are better than print books, let me say the following. I recognize book signings don’t work very well with eBooks (working on that, though). I admit that eBooks make terrible flower drying devices, and they don’t hold baby’s locks of hair very well. When my neighbors come over, they aren’t nearly as impressed as they would be if I had a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling library. Not even close. And yeah, that smell of paper, especially as it ages, gone. Totally. So yeah, print books rock it there. With major pyrotechnics.

In light of all these demerits, why do I still love eBooks? It turns out, that as much as they struggle to make their case, they do hang in there with some pluses.

Portability, a.k.a., the obvious one

Somewhere between the institution of the TSA, my bags getting lost twice, and all the airline luggage fees, I decided I needed to travel lighter so I could carry on. That pretty much cut me off from reading those massive Tom Clancy hardbacks, and even the softcover ones. Now, with eBooks, I can carry Tom Clancy’s entire collection, along with Cervantez, Dumas, Dostoevsky, and Solzhenitsyn, and it all weighs the same and fits in the same small package, whether I carry the full pile of books or none at all.

Searchability

All those big words that stump me in the middle of a critical scene? No longer a problem. Click, search, boom, I’m instantly educated.

Availability

Just ran out of story and you’re hankering for the next book? What? Don’t want to drive to the book store or wait a week for your book to ship? Find WiFi, click on book store, search, read reviews, buy, snaps. Chapter 1 is here, and life is good again.

Ease of publication and distribution

All that fun aside, as a writer who’s struggled mightily to get his stuff published the old fashioned way, eBooks have opened a wonderful avenue. It’s a dangerous one, too, the ease of publication fraught with the dangers of releasing work before it is ready. Yet, the barriers that once barred many “substandard” authors like yours truly vanish with eBooks. I suppose given the state of technology, one can say the same about printed self-published books, even though the time lag (see Availability) and inherent higher costs still remain, giving the edge to the eBook. Whatever the marginal disadvantages an eBook poses, as an author I am excited at the benefits this format brings and the transformational ramifications — many of which I’m sure I have yet to conceive — for the future of authorship and publication.

Length agnostic

I suppose I should precede “length agnostic” with “somewhat.” What do I mean here? Related to portability, writers are not as bound by length when they write a story for the eBook format. A thick 300,000 word book won’t intimidate a reader, and neither will he look askew at a thin 60,000 word volume. Sure, she might check out the estimated page count or file size to see what he’s getting for his money, but the absence of a physical container (the print book) gives the writer more latitude to use the length that the story requires, no more no less. How many 25,000 word stories do you see in print by themselves? How many agents have turned down work from first-time authors due to a violation of some magical maximum word count?

All that goes away with eBooks. So long as I price them accordingly (longer costing more), I can publish any length I want. For example, though most of the stories in my “Our Cyber World” series run at the “magical” full novel length of 90-100,000 words, I am exploring the possibility of adding a couple of shorter stories in the 20-25,000 word length range to add depth and breadth to the overall series. Another author I know is designing his novels to have episodic sections that he can release in smaller installments. I love that! And eBooks open up that possibility.

Are you an eBook author or reader? What are some reasons you love (or, OK, dislike) eBooks? Feel free to share your perspective!

For samples of my work, visit my Amazon author page.