Self-Published eBooks Are a Realistic (and Profitable) Option

A friend of mine told me about some crazy author, Barry Eisler, who turned down $500,000 from a big name publisher so he could self-publish his work as an eBook for sale on Kindle, B&N, etc.  Let me repeat that: he turned down half a million dollars so he could sell his own book on his own online!  That's some serious freaking coin to turn down!

Another self-published author, J.A. Konrath, has a blog on which he posted an interview he had with Barry Eisler about his decision, the current state of the publishing industry, and the future of self-publishing.  It's a great read, albeit a VERY long read, but you should definitely read it.  I've been checking out J.A. Konrath's blog regularly since I read that interview, and he has some good stuff on there.  I even picked up one of his books for $0.99, which I hope to read after I take USMLE Step 1 in June.

I've been wondering why some of my favorite authors, like Orson Scott Card, don't just drop their corporate publishers and do their own thing online.  Seeing as most authors only get 14.9% of online book sales, they can make MORE money per sale (70%) if they self-publish and lower the price to $2.99 instead of the publisher's standard $9.99-$14.99 price.  And if they're a big name author, they could still get away with $9.99 and pocket a LOT more money than they would if their publisher offered the ebook instead.  I've always despised the fact that when I purchase a book, so little of my money goes to the actual content creator, but I had no idea it was only a paltry 14.9%.

It's an interesting development, and I hope more authors go that route in the future.  It bothers me to no end when publishers gouge customers on ebook prices, sometimes even making them MORE EXPENSIVE than the hardcover or paperback version!  I don't mind paying $10 for a book -- the author deserves it! -- but I'd feel much better about it if I knew the author was actually getting more of that money.  The corporate publishing model is outdated and unnecessary, and the sooner authors, publishers, and readers realize this, the better off everyone will be.

Let's try not to have a repeat of the music industry resisting digital sales and trying to force customers to purchase their music the way the music industry wanted them to.  That's what the publishers are trying to do by delaying ebook releases and/or raising the price, and it's very off-putting to customers like me who just want to enjoy the latest from their favorite authors while making sure those authors receive proper compensation for all their hard work!

Organic Manifesto

[Update:  I've done some research on rBGH and some of the concerns about hormone/antibiotics exposure in dairy products in a more recent post.  Refer to that if you're looking for more information about some of the topics mentioned here.]

No, I haven't "gone organic."  Over the holidays, I found out that my sister-in-law had read Organic Manifesto by Maria Rodale, and now she's been buying organic milk and other food products (peanut butter, fruits and vegetables, etc.).  She's an intelligent person, but she doesn't have a science or medical background.  She works as an accountant, but I'm not sure how well she knows statistics.  This can make it difficult to find, sort through, and understand the wealth of research on a topic such as organic food.

I thought it might be helpful to try to understand what specifically led her to make the switch. A lot of this is familiar to what I've read and heard elsewhere, but I'll list some of her main reasons here anyway:

• Preservatives.  She doesn't like all the preservatives in many foods today.  I told her that while we do use a lot of preservatives, many organic foods use them too (they're just "organic preservatives" that have a chemical formula observed in nature).  I also reminded her that preservatives are somewhat necessary if we want to avoid food-borne illnesses and live in societies like we do (food shipped across the country, available year-round, not have to grow your own food, etc.).
• Pesticides.  She doesn't like the idea of pesticides being used on her produce.  I told her that organic produce are grown using pesticides too, but that they are "organic" pesticides.  These are newer pesticides, and thus have a smaller body of evidence in support of their safety and efficacy.  Also, just because you ingest trace amounts of any pesticide does not mean you'll actually experience any health consequences from it.  Lastly, the best thing she can do is to wash her produce before she cooks/eats it if she wants to reduce pesticide exposure/ingestion.
• Antibiotics and hormones.  Cows are "pumped full" of antibiotics and hormones, and she doesn't want milk from these cows.  I told her I'd seen some research showing reduced rates of eczema in infants from pregnant mothers who consumed organic dairy products, but that I wasn't sure how large that decrease actually was -- i.e. if it's a 50% reduction, but only from .02% of infants to .01% of infants, it's really not that huge of an effect.
• Nutrition.  She didn't list this as a specific reason, but I reminded her that nutritionally speaking, organic and conventional foods are essentially identical.  One isn't healthier or richer in vitamins/antioxidants/joojoo than the other.
• "The Dirty Dozen."  These are 12 fruits and vegetables that supposedly have the highest rates of contamination by pesticides.  She said she specifically tries to buy these as organic products.

Overall, I got the sense that most of her complaints had come from this book and what others (I remember her mentioning Jillian Michaels specifically) had said about eating a healthier, more natural diet.  Let me be clear, there is a lot to be said about the benefits of eating a healthy diet that includes more fruits and vegetables than most Americans eat.  But "organic" does not mean "healthier" and "synthetic chemicals" do not automatically equal "toxic."  I wouldn't rely on Jillian Michaels to give me advice on medical science, and I wouldn't trust an organic farmer or salesperson to tell me why organic food is the greatest thing since sliced [organic] bread.  In the same way, don't come looking to me for advice on sculpting, playing in the NBA, or starting a KISS tribute band.

A Game of Thrones

I finally finished A Game of Thrones.  Despite some of the annoyances I discussed earlier about the eBook being an OCR'd copy of the print version, it was one of the most compelling pieces of fiction I've read in a while!  If you haven't read this book yet, you need to start now.  That way you can finish before they start the HBO series in Spring 2011!  The book was recommended to me by one of my preceptors from last year, and ironically enough, it was probably the best advice he's ever given me!  Now when the HBO series starts, I can be one of those elitist pricks who constantly complains that "it was never like that in the books," or "they totally screwed up that character," and "the books were WAY better."  Though I actually have a good bit of confidence that HBO will do right by this series.  We'll find out.

A few friends have warned me that I'll be extremely pissed after the first 4 books because it's been 5 years since George R.R. Martin released the 4th book and there's no release date in sight for #5.  Unfortunately, I'm already addicted so I can't stop now.

I usually find enough nonfiction to satiate my palate between Orson Scott Card's books that come out a couple times a year, but I'm glad I tried something new.  Of course, I've already pre-ordered Pathfinder, but I'm going to try to get through as much of A Song of Ice and Fire (the name of the series) until then!  Next up is A Clash of Kings.

So, if haven't already, give A Game of Thrones a shot.  It's not exactly a quick read at ~850 pages, but it's worth it!

Review: Kindle 3G + WiFi vs. Kindle for Android vs. Hardcover Book

I've had my Kindle for a week now, and I don't know that I've read this much in a while.  It's just so much more convenient to be able to read with my Kindle rather than having to carry around a big hardcover wherever I go.  But when I shelled out $249 for this thing ($189 Kindle + $60 cover), I wondered how it would compare to having Kindle for Android on my HTC Evo, or just reading out of a good old-fashioned hardcover.  It better be a wonderful experience, considering how much I spent on the device just so I could spend more money on books in the Kindle Store!

I purchased the 3rd generation Kindle with 3G.  At first, I was tempted to get the WiFi-only version and save $50, but I figured if I'm going to have this thing for a few years, I'd rather not worry about always being in WiFi range to download/purchase new books or sync my place in a current book should I decide to read on my phone instead.  I had money from working over the summer, so the $50 extra wasn't the end of the world to me.  If you're on a tighter budget, you would probably be just fine with the WiFi-only version.  Personally, I haven't used the Kindle anywhere outside of my apartment yet, but I could envision myself reading in the park or by the canal downtown.  I'm of the mind that if you're going to be making any purchase that will last for more than a couple years, you better make sure you're happy with it so that 1 or 2 years down the line, you don't regret the fact that you cheaped out that extra $50 or whatever.

In addition to the Kindle itself, I spent $60 on the lighted black leather cover.  The leather is alright and it feels plenty sturdy to protect the Kindle.  The light is bright enough and covers the screen adequately.  Some of the reviews on Amazon complain about it being an uneven light due to its position, which is true, but I still have no problems reading the last few lines.  The convenience of having the light as part of the cover and having it powered by the Kindle is worth it, even if the light is uneven.  I'd prefer that to having to carry around a clip-on light.  As I've said previously, the case adds quite a bit of heft to the Kindle.  I've mostly gotten used to it now, though if you don't plan on needing the light, you might better off with a lightweight protective skin instead.  I've been reading in bed at night quite a bit, and I prefer to have the light with the cover rather than having to situate myself specifically to read by desklight.  So I'm plenty happy with my purchase, although $60 is pretty steep.  I think $30-40 would be more reasonable.

So, $249 later, I have a brand new Kindle.  But how does it compare to Kindle for Android or a hardcover book?

Kindle Has Arrived

As I mentioned on Sunday, I pre-ordered a 3rd generation Kindle about a month ago.  It was delivered yesterday -- ahead of schedule!  I've had some time to play around with it, and so far I'm very pleased.  I'll post more about it over the weekend after I've had time to really put it through its paces (and when I don't have a quiz and an exam the following morning), but I wanted to take a few minutes to post my initial thoughts.

The device itself is incredibly light and very comfortable to hold.  If I'm holding just the Kindle (more about the cover below), I could probably read for hours without tiring.  Most hardcovers I read tend to be around 350 pages, and I can't say the same when I'm reading those.  I'm reading A Game of Thrones now (a whopping 704 pages for the hardcover, 831 for the paperback), and I can't imagine lugging around such a massive book in my bag all day.  It's also nice to be able to set the Kindle down for a moment and not worry about losing my place.  The size and feel of the Kindle are both excellent, and the text display is perfect.  It's VERY clear and easy on the eyes.  The E-ink display is perfect for text, although the display does occasionally look a little wonky when changing all screen elements.  That's a product of the technology, however, and given the quality of the text display and the battery life, I'm more than OK with the trade-off.

Review: No One Would Listen

I realize I'm way behind on reviewing this book, seeing as it was released way back in March.  But I figure I'll post some thoughts about it anyway, just in case anyone out there is still debating whether or not to pick this one up.  Nevertheless, No One Would Listen, by Harry Markopolos, tells the story of Harry's nearly decade-long investigation of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

Kindle for Android

I first heard about the book when Harry appeared on The Daily Show on March 8, 2010.  His passion and frustration regarding the entire debacle was enticing, and I purchased the Kindle version as soon as I saw the show.  I figured it would be an opportunity to try to reformat Amazon's eBook to something I could read on my Palm Pre.  After futzing around with it for a week, unfortunately, I couldn't get the page breaks to transfer right and I just got one GIANT block of text on my phone.  But when I switched to the Evo, Kindle for Android (use a barcode scanner on your phone to scan the QR code at right to find it on the Android Market) was available so I began reading NOWL shortly thereafter.  This was my first experience reading a book on Kindle for my phone, and it was a very pleasant experience.  I'll write more about my experiences using the Kindle for Android software versus the latest generation Kindle device versus reading an old-fashioned hardcover after I receive my Kindle at the end of the week.

But I digress -- back to NOWL.  After the first few chapters you get a real feel for the type of person Harry Markopolos is.  He's a stand-up guy, ready to fight the good fight, which is nice to see after seeing so much of the ugliness that Wall Street has shown us in recent years.  Harry is also a quant -- a math geek.  I'm by no means a quant, but I've always excelled in math and science and I appreciate what we have to learn from such disciplines.  I sometimes wonder if I'd have ended up in the financial industry if I hadn't pursued engineering and then gone to medical school.  Either way, as a fellow nerd, I sympathize with a lot of what Harry went through.

Kindle on the way (I hope)

I ordered one of the new Kindles a few weeks ago when the new design was announced (unfortunately, not early enough, as I didn't get in on the first shipment) and I should be receiving it some time this week or next week.  After having just finished No One Would Listen using the Kindle for Android software on my new HTC Evo 4G, I'm looking forward to trying out the actual Kindle device. 

Amazon seems to have finally made a useful eBook device that's actually attractive to look at.  I've been interested in the Kindle since the first generation was originally launched, but the price point and aesthetics never agreed with me.  I'd been anxiously waiting for them to bring the Kindle software to WebOS, but when I made the switch to Android, I figured I'd give the software a shot on my phone.  The convenience is incredible, and it's nice to save $5+ on each book you order without having to kill any trees (we do, after all, only have one Earth).  I'm in the process of reading A Game of Thrones right now, and I'm hooked.

I'll post an update when I receive my Kindle (I'm hoping by this Friday, but we'll see).  I strongly recommend you check out No One Would Listen in the meantime.  It's absolutely mind-boggling how much Harry Markopolos went through while trying to expose Bernie Madoff. You know how it ends, but it's still a very addicting read.  I'll try to post more about it another time.

Revisited: Kobo Books

A while back, I expressed my dissatisfaction with Kobo Books on the Palm Pre.  One thing I will say is that Kobo has done an excellent job in responding to my bug reports.  Compared to many companies that will just leave such problems unnoticed, I really have to commend Kobo for the effort.  Here's the current status on my previous concerns:

1. Downloading books and adding bookmarks:  This was solved with an update to the Kobo Books app on March 9.  The problems appeared to be due to changes made in a WebOS update.  So it took them a little over a week to fix the problem.  Not as fast as I'd like, but not bad.
2. Cutting off text at end of chapter:  They are aware of the problem, and they have been very good about keeping in contact with me about it.  They had difficulty reproducing it at first, so it seems to be pretty isolated based on the text display settings and just how it happens to paginate each chapter.  From the sound of it, it doesn't seem to be a widespread problem.  Still, this is an extremely annoying bug.  Although they did offer me a refund if it can't be resolved, which was comforting.
3. Wasted space in UI: They passed the idea along to the development team.  Whether anything actually happens about that... who knows.

They are far from fixing the problems, but I do appreciate it when a company takes the time to respond to user issues and requests.  I'm still not on board with buying any more eBooks from them until they address issues #2 and #3 above, but I haven't written them completely off.

Another thing I will say is that their price for one of the books I'm interested in reading, No One Would Listen, was down to $9.99 before Amazon's Kindle price was.  They're the same now, but Kobo was cheaper by about $6 for a week or so that I noticed.  I'd still suggest Kindle for your eBooks, but it wouldn't hurt to check Kobo as well to see if they're cheaper.  If you can save yourself some money, it might be worth giving Kobo a shot.  Perhaps the software is better on other phones/devices.  If it is, let me know!

Initial Thoughts: Kobo Books

I'm almost half-way through my 2nd eBook I've purchased via the Kobo Books app on my Palm Pre.  So far, I've been really disappointed and I don't think I'll buy any more books from them.  My biggest complaint is that the text display is horribly wasteful.  With the narrowest margins and the smallest text (which are the defaults), it still only displays 17 lines of text.  That might sound like a lot, but it skips a line of text for each new paragraph and the screen isn't very wide either.  There would be room for at least 4-5 more lines if the display was actually fullscreen and didn't leave so much empty space for when the UI buttons appear (but they disappear while reading unless you bring them back up manually).  The buttons are almost never there, and yet it just leaves the space empty instead of using it for displaying text.  I'd even argue that the buttons are useless and everything they do can be accomplished via swiping gestures and/or just tap-holding the display to bring up a menu for bookmarks, book information, etc.  It also does not support landscape viewing.

On a few occasions it's even dropped text at the end of a chapter!  I noticed this on a couple chapters in the 2nd book I've read (Darkly Dreaming Dexter), but now it has me wondering if I missed text in the 1st book I read on it too (Checklist Manifesto)!  To add icing on the cake, I also haven't been able to use the bookmark feature the last few nights and it hasn't allowed me to download Darkly Dreaming Dexter to my phone so I can read it without having a data connection present.  This is especially disappointing because the whole motto of WebOS is to automatically save your data whenever you exit/close an application.  With all of the other phone applications, such as the memo pad or the task list, it automatically saves my data when I close the application so I don't need to manually press "save" to preserve my changes.  And yet with Kobo, I have to bring up the UI buttons and then save a bookmark (assuming I have a current data connection and the feature is working).  When opening Kobo back up, I have to navigate to my library and then select the book, when it seems much more practical to take me back to wherever I left off in my current book instead of me having to waste time getting back to it.  The "home screen" when opening up the application is actually a list of books that you can spend more money on.  How convenient.  It'd be nice if they tried to make it easier for me to actually read my eBooks instead of just making it easy to spend money on them.

As I've stated before, I was very excited about Kobo Books, but the software has really failed to deliver.  I'll post more information about the software (with some screenshots to show what I mean about the UI) as well as the books I've read after I get through my histology exam this week.

Why is buying an eBook such a pain?

As much as I've enjoyed free shipping with Amazon Prime lately, I'd enjoy buying eBooks that I could read on my Palm Pre even more.  The problem with eBooks right now is that you're throwing all of this money at a specific format/company, but if that company goes under or doesn't support your current or next mobile device, you're pretty much screwed.  To be fair, eReader does support a lot of other devices, but their lack of Pre support is a deal breaker for me.  I love my Palm Pre, but unfortunately it doesn't have the same market penetration that the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android smartphones are enjoying (but hopefully its recent Verizon launch will change that).  Maybe the Kindle software will come out for the Pre soon too, but we'll see.

Right now, I think I'll give Kobo Books a try with my next purchase.  It's available on my Palm pre and other devices and I'm pretty sure it even syncs your bookmarks with the cloud so you can log in from a different device or in a browser and continue reading there.  I like the idea of always having my books with me on my phone without also having my library (and bookmarks) limited to just my phone.  After I finish with Hidden Empire, I'll probably read Checklist Manifesto.  Kobo Books' prices even seem to be pretty reasonable ($10-$15 for most books), unlike eReader and Fictionwise that charge $20+ for books that have been out for years.  If anyone has any experience with Kobo Books, or if you would like to suggest another eBook solution, please let me know.  Otherwise I'll see how it goes when I get around to trying it out.

Hidden Empire

I'm in the process of reading Hidden Empire, the sequel to Orson Scott Card's Empire. I can't always force myself to read my histology or physiology textbooks, but for some reason I always find time to read Orson Scott Card's newest books.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't read the 1st book, Empire was set in the near future and basically takes a look at what would happen if disagreements between liberals and conservatives were to escalate towards an actual civil war. Granted this is a hyperbolic sci-fi-ish look at the situation, but if you take the story as a whole, it can be a bit disturbing when you see so many similarities to what's going on in America today. I think Empire is one of Card's best books, and he does an excellent job of merging modern, relevant political topics with engaging science fiction. Hidden Empire has been great so far, and I'm looking forward to finishing it within the next week or so. I'll be sure to post a review then. In the meantime, check out Empire if you haven't already. It's only $8 on Amazon.

The Greatest Show on Earth

I finally finished the new book by Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. It was a good, interesting read, and made me want to finally get around to finishing The God Delusion. His anecdotes are usually very amusing, and he does well with finding metaphors that can be used with most people regardless of whether or not they have a science background. My main complaint is that he occasionally drones on about silly details, some of which are amusing, and some of which force me to scan through a few paragraphs until he gets back to the topic at hand. Either way, he is a very intelligent man and I appreciate how he tries to get information to those who haven't the time, energy, or background to go through the mountains of scientific journals about the subject of evolution. I'm a first year medical student with a degree in Bioengineering, and he still managed to surprise me a couple times with new information or by clarifying details that previously had not made complete sense to me.

(More after the jump)