How come I can get anything in ebook format — except reference books?
Wouldn’t it make sense to have something you’re not reading for pleasure, which would benefit from being searchable, which might cost a bomb to print and can benefit from revisions… in ebook format?
I’m talking about synonym books, thesauri, dictionaries, lists like A-Z of whatever, Name books… stuff like that.
Why is it that the ones I want, never seem to be sold as an electronic edition? Why not include a PDF version (after all, the dang thing is being submitted as a file, in the first place!) on a CD with the print version?
Pisses me off, it does…
Tags: ebooks, reference
I’m a sucker for Reference Books.
Well, okay. Show me a writer who isn’t.
Since a couple people ask me what I read / use for research, I’ve compiled a Reference Book List and put it with the other booklists.
Figured it might help out some people. 
Tags: Books, Lists, reference, Research, The Written Word
I am a writer.
I can’t help myself.
Therefore I like the written word. A book. Any writing. If it contains words I can decipher - I will read it. The back of cornflakes packets, the bottle of shampoo in the shower, I’ll read it all. It increases my vocabulary exponentially, improves my spelling, sentence structure and everything that goes along with it.
It doesn’t make me a good writer, it just means I can read really well.
This also means I am a book addict. My keeper shelf is vast, rarely does any book leave it and that shelf - or should I say wall of books - behind me is the bone of contention in our house. My better half (he cooks and cleans, so yeah, he’s the better part of me) argues that I might never read them again. (Lies!) He points at outdated computer books and says things like “You don’t even use the software anymore.”.
Blasphemy!
Then he says “What about e-books?”
Okay. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against e-books and I own some. But… I grew up curling up in bed with a good book and it’s a habit that’s hard to break. Besides, I don’t want to break it. I see his point though. Any voracious reader will accumulate a lot of books and they have to go somewhere.
Like the shelf behind me.
Which is full.
Seriously.
But… you won’t get my books, because…
Anyway… the debate of E-Book vs Print will probably go on longer than I’ll be around.
I’ll say this, though. As a writer, there are some books I really, really, want as ebooks.
Reference books.
Dictionaries.
Encyclopedias.
Lists.
Thesauri.
You name it. Anything that isn’t for reading, but for reference. If it can be searched - I want it electronic. Those I would actually pay good money for, because the electronic part is what makes them ten times more useful to me as a writer.
Tags: bookshelf, ebooks, printed, reference
