We're going to need some books.
There's no limit to the things that you can do digitally these days. Everything seems to be changing as people strive to go green, or save money. Not that there's a reason to complain about the desire to do either of these things.
What's wonderful though for those of us that enjoy books are all of the pdf and e-book readers that are becoming available. True they're initially an expensive investment. But they open you up to thousands of new books you might not otherwise read. Most of which will only cost you the amount of time it takes to collect them.
Now, That may sound silly to you now. But think about how much money you spend on books each year. Let's say you buy one book each month, you can easily spend upwards of $84.00 a year, figuring an average book cost of $6.99 a piece. Honestly that's a very low balled price since I myself have been known to purchase books that cost more that tewnty bucks a piece.
Anyway, what's really nice these days are all the websites that grant access to books in various digital formats, free of charge. True, not all the books available in this manner are by authors you can automatically recognize. But there are a huge number of the worlds classic literature pieces available for anyone to download and enjoy. One site that provides classics in various digital formats is Project Gutenberg. ( http://www.gutenberg.org )
Now I know some of you likely have read your fill of classic pieces, and may have no interest in reading them. You're probably asking what kind of places are there available for you to get books at? Me, I've located two sites that have worked well on satiating my desire for new books. Both of the following sites I'll be writing about provide both free and reasonably priced books.
WOWIO ( http://www.wowio.com/ ) has everything from history bites to romance novels. And depending on who is sponsoring the site at any given time there is a huge variety of different books available free to their site members. What they do, is the sponsor pays for the book, and you receive the book of your choice with an advertisement for the sponsor included in the file. This leads to a reader being able to create a diverse library for free.
Smashwords ( http://www.smashwords.com/ )is different than WOWIO in that it offers books by independent authors. Indie writing can be very enjoyable to read. Some authors offer pieces for free in order to get people interested in their writing. Other authors list their books at low almost non committal prices. This is nice for those of us who are uncertain about what kind of book we are getting, allowing for a comfortable creation of a mild fandom.
Of course these are only a small number of the sites available to readers. So... why is this important anyway? I'm going to be writing here about the books I read. Hard copy books as well as digital editions. If you have any book recommendations, or a site to recommend, feel free to let me know!
CHEERS!
