Back to Business: Nook versus Kindle for the VERSE NOVEL reading experience

I'm going to be honest with you. AUDITION has not been a break-out success of a debut novel. Sales are, well, sufficiently weak that a paperback edition is more of a maybe than a sure-thing. My book cover is also very teen and romantic, leading adult YA readers to skew more to online reading. So, for me, e-book sales are important. Personally, I read on a Kindle. Why? Somebody gave me one. That's it, really. I'm not much of a technology buff and honestly have no strong opinion. However, given my sales situation, I though it might be interesting to answer this question:

HOW DO VERSE NOVELS LOOK IN E-BOOK FORMAT?

I took screenshots of online sample pages of Audition at both B&N and Amazon. Here are the results.



KINDLE PREVIEW



B&N NOOK PREVIEW

 

 



I find it a little bit difficult to read the verse as a two-page spread without the division of a binding-seam in the middle, as it appears in the Nook preview. So, for this, I think I prefer the Kindle version. What do you think? Have you compared e-reader experiences more generally and formed any opinions? Please do share!

Bookanistas: THE LIBERATION OF MAX McTRUE

Hey, Oregonians! COME SEE ME TOMORROW (April 13) at POWELL'S BOOKS at Cedar Hills Crossing (3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, OR (503/228-4651)) from 4:30-5:30 PM. Author Rosanne Parry, some talented young performers and I will discuss writing about the performing arts, sign books and all that jazz!

NOW, more importantly, the Bookanista business!

Kim Culbertson, the author of SONGS FOR A TEENAGE NOMAD and INSTRUCTIONS FOR A BROKEN HEART (don't you just love her titles?) has published a terrific e-book novella, THE LIBERATION OF MAX McTRUE. 

Recently, I've spoken to several authors who have chosen to make shorter, novella-length works available as e-books.  I'm getting increasingly excited by this concept because (1) it enables fans to read more without having to endure the sometimes very-long wait between traditionally published books and (2) it's a way for authors to share pieces that just don't fit easily into a full-length book model. Hence I found myself reading this e-charmer by Kim Culbertson..

MAX McTRUE is a boy you know--a seemingly ordinary boy who appears to be perfectly content with the course of his life.  Until one day: The day this story takes place.  Culbertson manages to be both achingly honest and brightly entertaining in her depiction of the enormity of the journey Max takes in merely hours.  You'll read the novella that quickly, too, and finish, maybe tearing up a bit, maybe smiling ruefully, but surely reflecting on what it means to be a teenager facing the challenge of "growing up."

Definitely at the top of my "downloads that stopped me from being an e-book skeptic" list. It'll be on yours, too.  Is there an e-book or two that got you excited about this mode of publication?  Lemme know!

And, for more Bookanista goodness, click along...

Christine Fonseca gives a shout out for REGRET

Carrie Harris swoons for STRUCK
Corrine Jackson cries heaps over STORY OF A GIRL
Katy Upperman delights in GRACELING
Tracy Banghart shares some CLARITY and PERCEPTION
Jessica Love cheers for THE SCORPIO RACES
Hilary Wagner hosts a Guest Post by Author Aaron Kato on YA Voice

Weighing in on the E-Book Situation

Just read in the Wall Street Journal that Hachette Book Group (Little Brown, Grand Central Publishing, etc.) has joined forces with Macmillan in pushing for an agency model for e-book sales.

Went onto Amazon and did some random, unsystematic research.  Did note that, while Randy Susan Meyers' new title, The Murderer's Daughters (St. Martin's--Holtzbrink/Macmillan family) and F. Paul Wilson's Jack: Secret Histories (Tor--Holtzbrink/Macmillan) have no buy buttons, Stephanie Meyer's Twilight (Little Brown--Hachette) is still for sale. So, I guess Amazon hasn't wrapped Hachette's knuckles quite as hard as Macmillan's. (As I meandered through Amazon, though, I actually think I spotted a couple Macmillan titles whose "buy" buttons have not been stripped--not telling which as I'd like those authors to be able to sell their books!)

I'm no lawyer and I don't know the statistics, but I do wonder about the legal issues surrounding a book/e-book seller with Amazon's market share linking its willingness to distribute traditional books to the pricing for ebooks.  Hmmm...

Oh, writers, writers.  Do not read the news today.  Go into that dark, scary place inside your head and write something wonderful.  Do not let the dark, scary places out in the world and cyber world interfere with your art, your craft, your heart!