How do I read my eBook?

Images show Mobipocket Reader on laptop screen

This is a great way to read!

With the increasing number of eBooks, the question is: how do we read our eBooks? Many people are buying a Kindle®, or a Nook®, or other similar e-readers. Many people are reading on their PDA, or smart-phone. Still others are starting to use their iPad®, and Apple is introducing their new iBookstore (including 5 of my books - thanks to Smashwords) to promote that. Those are all good ways to read eBooks, but there is still another option that is overlooked.

A great way to read eBooks is a way that has been in use for some time: a laptop (or desktop) computer. The really good news that there are really good software alternatives for using a laptop to read eBooks. Barnes & Noble® and Sony® have their own software to use with ‘ePub’ files. There are many other ways to get software to read ePub files.

If you’re still reading your books as PDF or similar files, there is a much better way.

From my perspective, after spending a lot of time looking for something I liked to use, one of the best choices for reading eBooks is software called “Mobipocket Reader®.” This turns your laptop into a really nice, big-screen e-reader. The price is right, too; it’s FREE. You can set the software to display full-screen, or part-screen. Any eBook can be displayed in many different fonts and sizes.

Both of the images above are from the Mobipocket reader.

This Mobipocket Reader requires ‘Mobi’ files, and the choice of eBooks titles in that format is huge and growing by the day. The Kindle® also uses Mobi files.

Most books on Smashwords, for instance, are available in multi-formats, and can therefore be read on a laptop with Mobipocket Reader software. Mobi files can be downloaded from many eBook retailers, including a store that comes with the software, but this Mobipocket Reader® will also convert PDF, Doc, and a number of other text file types into Mobi files so that the books can be read more easily.

So, what is my recommendation? Go get your FREE Mobipocket Reader software, get it set up on your laptop, and then look for eBook retailers that sell books in the Mobi format. As a start, I would recommend Smashwords, as they have almost 10,000 titles available, and many of them are Free. It’s a really good way to get started reading eBooks.

If you want a really good book to get started with, I further recommend one of my books at Smashwords that has made it to #2 on the general adult fiction Best Seller list, and to #1 on the YA Best Seller list. That book is SONS and BROTHERS in SEATTLE. The eBook retails for $4.99, but if you use coupon code GV22M at the Smashwords checkout, it will be FREE for a limited time.

Try the software, and then try this book to see how it all works, and I think you’ll be pleased and impressed. I was, and I still am.

Good luck with your reading, and

Enjoy,

Wil

Newest e-Book is "ROBERT'S RIDE"

After adding a number of new chapters to the original ROBERT'S RIDE published on Lulu many months ago, I've now published it on SMASHWORDS. As with my others on Smashwords, it is available in multiple formats, including 'Mobi' for Kindle®.

ROBERT'S RIDE

Born in a small town in rural south-west Georgia and placed in a foster home after being orphaned at five. Those were the bare bones words to describe Robert’s first years.

He is big for his age and hard to place, but after too many years, he is finally one of the lucky ones to be picked as a potential adoptee. He struggles to make sure his new adoptive mother likes him and wants to keep him, in spite of the fact that she really has no idea what to do with a child. She is well meaning, but rather emotionless. Robert desperately tries to figure out to read her and please her. Join Robert as he experiences the adventure of a new home, a new school, and new friends, along with some more dramatic events.

Will it all work? Will Robert really find the home he needs and wants?

Find out if Robert’s life takes a turn for the better, in ROBERT’S RIDE.

Happy reading,

Wil

Featured Book and Earthquakes

Featured Book is Playing the 'Son' Card: (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7193)

I have been quite pleased with the response to the publishing of the e-books I’ve done on Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/WilsonJames). It has been only one month since I published my first books on Smashwords, and hundreds of new readers have downloaded my books in that time. I’ve now managed to complete four books to the necessary standard, including Playing the ‘Son’ Card (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7193). It is, however, not as easy as I had though initially, as there are very specific guidelines for setting up the books so that they can be published as multi-format e-books. This is important, as the many formats available for my books on Smashwords mean that my e-books can be read virtually any e-book reader, such as the Kindle®.

I am working on getting the Robert’s Ride and the second in that series (Robert’s Rise), completed and ready for Smashwords. Currently, Robert’s Ride is only available on Lulu.com (http://stores.lulu.com/wilsonjames). I have some other books still only available on Lulu for the moment, but I’ll be working to get all of my books available on Smashwords. In addition, I am working on a sequel to Sons and Brothers in Seattle, and a new book, tentatively titled “Aiden’s Arrival.”

And just to make life interesting, on Saturday afternoon around 4:30 local time, there was a 6.5 earthquake in my part of the world. Didn’t feel it, as we were on the road at the time and not that close to Eureka, but it is certainly big news in these parts. Here’s a link to the local news coverage:

http://www.triplicate.com/20100109107909/News/Local-News/Update-No-tsunami-warning-after-65-earthquake-27-miles-from-Eureka

Also, here’s a link to the USGS “Shake Map” that quite visually shows the affected area:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/shakemap/nc/shake/71338066/download/intensity.jpg

Happy reading,

Wil James