Hello my Freaky Darlings,

We all know how much I love ebooks. I love that they’re environmentally friendly and their immediacy. I love being able to simply log onto a website, find the book I want and download it within a matter of seconds. I love the slick, sexy feel of my ebook reader, a Bebook Neo. I love that I can have over 400 books on it and that I can take it with me wherever I go. I don’t have to pick just one or two books to take on a trip and worry about the books getting damaged in my luggage. The ebook reader fits perfectly in my handbag.

But there is something to be said for the permanence of print. As an Author, there is just something about having your work in print. With ebooks, once the book is no longer available on-line, it’s gone. It may be on someone’s computer, but once they delete it from their reader or computer it’s as though I was never there, as though my book never existed.  But with my books that were bought in paperback, they’ll probably end up in a second hand book store for someone else to enjoy or if a reader enjoyed it enough it’ll stay on their bookcase or on a shelf somewhere and collect some dust and be handed down to another generation. Tree books give Authors a type of immortality that we don’t get from ebooks.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love ebooks! I especially love that I can find new authors that I would never even have heard of or thought of reading on places like SmashWords.

But what does piss me off is when publishers charge more for an ebook than they do for a paperback. It’s ridiculous! Then there are those bloody territory restrictions that some publishers put on ebooks. Because I’m in South Africa I can’t download some of the bestsellers and books I really want. Hello! That’s one of the most important things about ebooks, they aren’t limited by geography. They’re global. There are no shipping costs. It shouldn’t matter where I live with ebooks.

A lot of publishers are completely missing the point of ebooks and need to step out of the dark ages and into a brand new world with endless possibilities.

What do you love about ebooks or Tree books?