TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

On reading my hundredth e-book: My best finds

By Ficbot

Moderator’s note: A Study in Scarlet, shown below, introduced Sherlock Homes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective—beloved by Ficbot and millons of others. Meanwhile thanks to Ficbot for sharing her favorites in a very personal way! Notice the association of books with memories? And her eagerness to own e-books for real? Publishers, please listen! – D.R.

If I had known that my most recent read was to be my hundredth e-book, I might have picked something a little more edifying than a mystery novel about a girl who lives in a van. But this read is reflective of the general trend I’ve noticed since I first got into e-books several years ago: I read what I can find, and some of it is not material I would have read otherwise.

That can be for the bad as well as for the good: I’ve read many more classics than I ever used to because they are plentiful and inexpensive (i.e. free) to get. And I have read some Internet-only authors whose work you can’t find at your local Borders or Indigo.

When all is said and done, there is a fair share of pulpy trash, but also some gems, some real finds which have enriched my imaginative landscape. And in terms of sheer quantity, this is far more reading than I ever used to do when I had to reply on having the physical book with me.

My best finds—starting with the Sherlock Holmes series

So, what are my best finds? What have I learned after one hundred books?

1) There is value in the classics. 49 of those hundred books fell in this category. Thus far, most of them have been nostalgia reads: kiddie lit from my childhood, or revisits of books I read in university. I would like to expand my repertoire and read some new to me authors. Some favorites:

–The Sherlock Holmes series. I have fond memories of reading this as a child on my father’s knee.

–The Lewis Carroll books. I have even more fond memories, of Grandma this time.

–Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (right image). This was the first classic I ever got swept away in after years of hating the classics.

–The short stories of Mark Twain. He is more known for his nov

els; the short stories were a real treat!

2) You’d be amazed at what is free these days. It is not just Shakespeare and the Bible! Pulp fiction from the glory days, Creative Commons licensed titles from contemporary authors, the mystery and sci-fi novels that defined the genre…the list goes on and on. Some of my best finds:

–The works of Cory Doctorow. Little Brother is his most "important" I suppose, but I like his short stories, and the creepy Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town.

–The works of Norbert Davis. I had never, ever heard of this guy, but he was known as a pulp author in his day, and his Doan and Carstairs series is hilarious.

- Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi. One of the first "author giveaway" books I read, and it is hilarious. It’s about a Hollywood agent who has to help an ugly alien make first contact.

3) There are good deals to be had if you take a chance on a less-known author. Of the 41 Fictionwise books I have read so far, 25 of them are "multiformat"which, in addition to being a more flexible purchase (you can read it in any of several formats on any device you choose) also generally means it’s not from a major publisher. I recommend:

–Lora Roberts. Her Liz Sullivan series (one of these was my hundredth book) has well-written mysteries with an engaging lead character.

–Jeff Strand. His inept private eye Andrew Mayhem is a snarky but likeable protagonist who just keeps getting into trouble.

–Karen Leabo. She is apparently a well-known romance author under another name, but I enjoyed her stand-alone paranoraml romance novels on Fictionwise.

–Amy Eastlake. Her mysteries, all of them set in a trailer park, were refreshingly different.

4) There is always a sale, if you wait long enough. I have done my share of griping about inflated e-book prices (I am currently eyeing a trade paperback which goes for $6.99 at the used bookstore and is listing on Fictionwise for four times that!) but I have learned to be patient; everything can be had for a fair price if you wait long enough. Publishers. take note: these are books I would have got from the library, pre-iPod Touch! A fair price can convert a borrower to a buyer! Some high-ticket titles I got for a song, on sale:

–Damage Control by J.A. Jance

–Devil May Ride by Wendy Roberts

–Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb

–Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

5) Keeping an eye out for special giveaways can pay off. There is at least one author whose words I was inspired to check out after reading a freebie giveaway! 11 of the books in my hundred were special promotion giveaways from Tor, Harlequin, Baen and other publishers.

6) E-book reading really is a bargain, comparatively. I have a spreadsheet I use to track my e-book spending. It adds up the total I have spent on both books and devices, divides by the number of titles I’ve read, and gives me an approximate cost per book. I am currently at around $7 per title, and this would go down to about $2 if I finish everything that’s on my iPod before I buy anything more. This will go up to $10 per book if I am not able to fix my malfunctioning eBookwise and have to buy a new reader. Even $10 per book is still cheaper than buying them in paper! And if I buy in paper, I don’t get to keep them all. I lack the space to store so many paper books, so have to purge at regular intervals and take them back to the used bookstore. E-books, I can keep indefinitely!

So, in conclusion, some stats on my hundred books:

49 of the books were freebies from Manybooks.net

11 were freebies from other sources

41 were bought books from Fictionwise

25 of those were multiformat and 16 were secure eReader

Genre breakdown: 23 mystery, 12 sci-fi, 12 kid-lit

Current per-book cost of $7.37. At 147 reads, I’ll be down to $5 a book; at 246, I’ll be down to $3 each

I have 108 items in my Fictionwise bookshelf. That’s 67 left to read before I’ve read them all. My cost per book will be $4.41 at that point.