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Let me preface this blog by saying this: I'm not here to advertise or sell a product. Rather I'm commenting on new technology that has interesting consequences for the writing/publishing industry and readers everywhere.

Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't. If not, I'll catch you up to speed: The Kindle is Amazon.com's new electronic digital reader that uses a special digital "ink"technology to display text. The Kindle has a wireless connection which allows the user to download books, magazines, newspapers, and blogs for relatively cheap. The Kindle itself costs $400.

Quick story on why I now own a Kindle: I was really interested in the Kindle when it first came out. I wondered about the implications for the publishing industry and whether it was really "like reading a book." I found it interesting, but at $400, it's not something I'd buy for myself. Instead, my wife got me one for my birthday, partly in response to me playing nurse for two weeks after her tonsillectomy surgery. I was interested to see what the Kindle was really all about.

I'll break my thoughts into sections in order that my ramblings have a semblance of coherence.

Size and Weight - The Kindle is relatively small, about 7" by 4" and is lightweight. It comes with a leather cover that protects the device and holds it like a book.

The Screen - In my opinion, the Kindle is easy to read. No matter whether you're in direct sunlight, there is never a glare on the screen. The page turns with a click of the button. Some people have complained that the Kindle takes to long to load a new page. Truth told, it takes about one second, which is about the same time it takes to turn a page in a book. If you can't wait one or two seconds to see a new page, then you probably don't have the patience to read an entire book and understand its contents.

I haven't read an entire book on the Kindle yet, but I have read a few short stories, and reading them was as effortless as reading in a book.

The text looks like the typeface from a newspaper or book. Instead of flat digital text that you normally see on a computer, the type looks raised like you would see in a newspaper.

Memory - From what I understand, a straight-from-Amazon Kindle can hold about 40-50 books. You can purchase more memory. Still, saving the space on your bookshelf for 40-50 books means saving a lot of room.

User Interaction - The Kindle is very user friendly. Everything is pretty logical. You navigate through the Kindle with a small wheel that turns. It is placed by your right thumb, so it is never awkward to reach. I would recommend skimming the user guide to learn about all the cool features. 

Various Cool Features - You can do about everything you would do in a book...and a little more. Want to highlight a cool passage? Kindle lets you do it. You can even save whole pages in a spot called "My Clippings" if you want to go back and read just that page. Want to put bookmark where you left off? You can. Want to look up a word in the dictionary? Just highlight the line it appears in, go to "Lookup", and a dictionary pops up with all the words in that line defined. I love this feature because when reading, I often come upon a word I'm not familiar with. Sometimes I'll take the time to lug the five pound dictionary from the top shelf, flip the pages, and look the word up. But all too often I pass up the learning opportunity for the sake of laziness. But Kindle makes it easy.

Another cool Kindle feature is that you can send your own documents to Kindle. I haven't tried this yet, but I know that it does include a small fee to do so. I don't know what the fee is. Still, if you want to read through your manuscript via the Kindle, you can do so.

Downloading - You can purchase books from the Amazon website or from the Kindle itself. Downloading is instantaneous.

Charging - Comes with a wall charger and USB plug-in. Only takes 2 hours to charge. Stays charged for a week if you read with the wireless connection turned off. I've had mine for two weeks, and though I haven't read extensively in it, the charge is still full.  

Price - Obviously, the Kindle is expensive. It's something I wouldn't have bought for myself, but now that I have it, I enjoy it.

The price of books is very reasonable. Most books cost anywhere from $5-$10. Classic literature is usually available for $1-$2. I recently bought a Jack London novel for 99 cents. There are many short stories from new authors available for 49 cents or less. Many people balk at the price for a product that has a seemingly cheap method of distribution. They also argue that you don't actually own the books you buy since you can't upload the book onto your computer or any other format. I'll address these qualms below.

Why would I buy a new book on Kindle when I can't even sell it back when I'm done?  

Valid question. However, if you look at the numbers, you'll see it comes out the same either way. Let's say you buy the new Stephen King book at a bookstore for $20, which is discounted 20% off the publisher's price (assuming a $25 list price). A used bookstore will pay you about six dollars (at most) for a brand-new bestseller. That means you spent a net of $14. If you sell it on the internet at its highest price, you might net about $8-$10. You still spent a net of $10-$12. So even in the best case scenario, you break even with the Kindle. And with the Kindle, you don't have to go through the hassle of selling a book on the internet or at a used book store. 

Why would I buy a Kindle book when I can't store it anywhere? I might even have to delete it to make room for new books.

Another valid claim. It is unfortunate that Amazon doesn't have a way to "save" purchased books on your computer, and maybe they will come up with something in the future that will also keep people from making copies for everyone they know.

The Kindle can hold 40-50 books. I don't know about anyone else, but the majority of books I read I either sell on the internet or at a used book store. I take notes on the most interesting points of a book and save those notes in a Word document. Then I ditch the book. I only keep a book if it's a favorite author or if it's a book I know I'll want to read again. I live in a small apartment, and I have hundreds of books. I have to sell the ones I've read to make room for new ones. The Kindle saves me at least two or three bookshelves of space. And it will probably take a while before I get to the point that I need to delete a book. I read more than most people I know, but even at my proficient rate, I only read about 40 books a year. It's going to take a while before I fill that much space on the Kindle. By the time I need to delete a book, I'll already have taken notes on it that I've saved on my computer. It'll be time for it to go. Books that I know ahead of time that I'll want to stay on my shelf, I'll buy in book form.

Author Royalties - Another cool feature, not so much of the Kindle, but of the Kindle books. Authors get 35% royalties on Kindle books, more than through traditional publishing. And since Amazon is a universal "bookstore", they don't have to leave their house to purchase a copy.

Make Way for New Authors - This is another interesting by-product of the Kindle: a new place for self-published authors to sell their books. Amazon charges you nothing to upload a book to sell on the Kindle website, and you get 35% royalties for what you sell. And right now, people are looking for new stuff to buy for their Kindle, so it is a great opportunity for self-published/unpublished authors to get their work out in the public while side-stepping the seemingly impossible road to being accepted by a respectable publisher. I'm really excited to see how this affects self-publishing success.

The downside right now is that Amazon seems to be having problems uploading material to the site. The "normal" time from creation to the content appearing "live" is about "12 to 72 hours." I've been trying for two weeks to upload a collection of my short stories, and it is still not available. The content is fairly easy to upload to the Kindle site, and a little more difficult to format right (it might take a few times). If you know HTML it might be easier, because it does let you format the content in HTML. But I don't know HTML, so I didn't try it. When (if...) my content goes live, I'll post it on the front page.

Summary:

I think I've covered most bases here. If I think of something else I'll add it on. Here's my basic summary for the Amazon Kindle: Great new device for readers, lots of interesting possibilities for new authors and publishers, but it won't replace books any time soon. Sometimes you just have to revel in that "new book" smell and gaze at a book's cover art. But for anybody that can afford it, the Kindle will save you space, time, and give the act of reading a whole new experience.