I love my Kindle, but . . .
In an article in the August 3rd New Yorker, Nicholson Baker was generally critical of the Kindle, citing among its many deficiencies, its keyboard; the sickly green/gray color of its screen; its sole font (which happens to be one he doesn't much like); the count by "location" rather than page; the absence of a back light for night reading; a too-low pixel count as well as the lack of color and a zoom function (which makes viewing maps, charts, illustrations, etc. virtually impossible). For him, reading on an iPhone (or as one friend of mine asserts, a netbook) seemed a much better option.
Well, no…
For me, there's nothing as tempting as print on paper, the feel of a book in the hand, the smell of it. And when I'm at home, I'm a Luddite. But the Kindle approximates the experience of reading a book as a netbook couldn't, as an iPhone doesn't. And as just about everyone says in its praise, the Kindle produces no eye strain.
Not every book you'd like to read is available, and there are certainly some that shouldn't be read on a Kindle no matter what, anything with illustrations for a start. Color would be wonderful, as would a zoom capability, a choice of fonts, a back light. In truth, everything Nicholson Baker wants, I would like. And if I were redesigning it, I'd narrow the border surrounding the screen to allow as much reading area as possible.
Still, I love my Kindle. I love knowing I have ten, fifteen, the possibility of fifteen HUNDRED books in my purse, all contained within a device about the size of a trade paperback, but a fraction of its depth and weighing about as much as one hard cover book. I love being able to sit on a train, in a restaurant, in an airport lounge, and on impulse buy yet another book, and have it delivered to me wirelessly, by what is felicitously called WhisperNet, in less than a minute. It was this capability more than anything else that led me to the Kindle rather than the Sony Reader, or any other device that requires downloading the book to a computer and then transferring it via USB cable. I love not having to panic when I'm almost at the last page, and I'm traveling, and nowhere near a bookstore.
But this wireless capability doesn't exist everywhere, one Kindle drawback that Mr. Baker doesn't mention. Because of import/export and various other laws, the Kindle is not (yet) for sale outside the United States. A U.S. address and charge card are required to buy a Kindle edition. And even those qualified can't have it delivered wirelessly while traveling abroad, or, in fact, anywhere outside a WhisperNet service area. So, while on vacation in Europe this past summer, had I been in a frenzy to replace my dwindling stock of books, I would have had to download any I bought to my computer and then transfer it by USB cable to the Kindle, just as with the Sony Reader.
Another drawback I hadn't anticipated (though I should have) I discovered on the plane as I was leaving JFK. The Kindle, not just its wireless capability, but the Kindle itself, like any other electronic device, has to be turned off during takeoff and landing, which is when I most want to read. (Not that I worry a lot about crashing; still, I find it's good to keep the mind off the subject at those moments.)
Despite all that, (so far) nothing has dented my pleasure in the Kindle. But on the question of the cost of its editions and what you get for what you pay, Nicholson Baker did start me thinking. Yes, it's magically easy to have the book that you want the minute you want it (provided it exists in a Kindle format, of course, and you happen to be in a service area). And it certainly feels good to ante up only $9.99 for the latest best seller; or $5.49, or sometimes even nothing at all, for something you've always longed to read but never got around to. But then what? It's there on your Kindle, and backed up on Amazon, but you can't resell the book, or give it to a friend, read it on your computer, or transfer it to any other device, and if Amazon decides to (as it did recently with pirated editions of 1984 and Animal Farm) it can delete it from your list. Is this really "buying" a book? After reading Mr. Nicholson's article, I started to think it wasn't. To me, rather than an outright sale, it began to seem much more like a lease agreement, where Kindle owners are permitted keep a book they've ordered indefinitely but on limited terms and conditions. And if that's the case, isn't the average price of $9.99 way too much, even for a long-term rental fee?
As an author, I don't usually go looking for ways to cut royalties; but I'm a consumer, too, with a vested interest in keeping the market place fair.
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About Camille
Born in Brooklyn, Camille Marchetta received her BA in English Literature from the College of New Rochelle, in Westchester County, New York, and later studied fiction with noted writer Anatole Broyard at The New School in New York City. Shortly afterward, on...
Causes Camille Marchetta Supports
EDpowerment
The Alzheimer's Association
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
Doctors Without Borders
Save the Children
...
Camille’s Favorite Books
Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, War and Peace, The Idiot, Age of Innocence, The Great Gatsby, After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, Lord of the Rings, Catch 22.
Will Kindle eventually alter the publishing industry?
By now you probably know that Kindle is expanding. Available now for a while on iPhone and iPod Touch it is now available on PC and is coming soon to Mac and Blackberry. This means that e-books will be accessible to pretty much everyone. I think this could be a very important change. It's so difficult for most people to make time for reading. Since most people have some sort of device in their pockets and on their desks, they might fit literature into those lost moments waiting for someone or something. Surely people would rather read then play videos games.... well maybe not.... that's one thing about contemporary culture I do not get. Video games are so boring! How can people stand them!
But anyway, I need to admit that I own a Kindle, but hardly ever use it. I like writing in the margins of my books. I like to make wavy lines under well-written passages (whose form I might steal for my own work later). I like putting a star next to a profound point. And I like to circle words and draw lines connecting them to other words whose relationships might not be apparent otherwise. I'm an interactive reader. But Kindle does have a note option and a highlighting option and I suppose I can learn to make do. I don't care about the physical feeling of a book--or it's smell, which can be musty--I'm no Luddite in that regard.
As an author I like the fact that the book owner can't resell his/her copy or give it away. That's huge for authors. Very important. I like the fact that the shipping industry isn't getting a cut off my hard work, and neither is the printing industry. ( I don't mind sharing with Amazon because they're good at what they do and they provide a great service recommending books that are tailored to your reading habits.) Also as an environmentalist, I like the fact that there is less embodied energy in a Kindle book.
The Kindle might even make the publisher superfluous at some point. What we authors need instead of the traditional publishing system, which is dying as I write, is a strong community that does its own reviewing for our own audiences. Authors need to recommend other authors whose writing is similar. Redroom might be a good place to start, but if so we need to have better ways of defining our niches. For instance, "literary fiction" is just too broad. Will Kindle eventually alter the publishing industry, even replace it? I think most people say "probably not." And people still say they like the feel of a book. I remember my father used to insist on using his old manual typewriter. The next generation may not grow up "feeling" books and they may not miss them. I'm excited about the e-book, so long in coming. I may not use my Kindle much now, but little by little I will start replacing my library--which I hate to have to dust.