Preordering eBooks, One of My Favorite Things

I read a lot. It's not uncommon for me to read two books during the week and another two books over the weekend. That leads to owning more books than a sane person with access to a library needs to have.

I started buying ebooks instead.

This was surprisingly a very difficult decision. Print books smell so good. New, old. The smell of books is wonderful. There is something about surrounding yourself with books you've read that's comforting. Like being surrounding by old friends. Printed books also take up a lot of room. Electronic books don't smell. You can't surround yourself with them. There's also the publishing industry issues surrounding ebooks. There have been multiple issues with authors not getting the same royalties from their ebooks as they do their printed versions. Amazon was dropping prices on their ebooks so much that other retailers and the publishers took actions against Amazon. Publishers, and brick and mortor stores have experienced a drop in sales of printed books. Some brick and mortor stores have closed their doors since the ebook has taken hold. As a lover of books, I wanted to support my local businesses but at the same time ebooks take up no room at all.

I learned that I could borrow ebooks from my library system. My hubby found out that I could order ebooks through my local stores too, giving them the sale instead of some other chain retailer. Then I discovered the Gutenburg Project. The project takes out of print books in the public domain and converts them into ebooks. For a former English major who's favorite drug is reading, this was an amazing find. If you've not explored the Gutenburg Project, go explore.

I bought a nook. I started reading ebooks nearly exclusively. I joined Earlybird and found new authors. I bought the hubby a nook. I started reading on my smart phone using a nook app. My nook got old, I bought a new nook. I love ebooks.

But what I love the most, pre-ordering.

Do you have a favorite author? Favorite book series? You can pre-order those books you just cannot wait to read. On the release date, they just appear in your library. And if you're like me, you sometimes forget you pre-ordered. Then it's a surprise when you find them waiting for you to read. Pre-ordering print books is always an option, but then you have shipping time to consider. Why wait for the shipping to arrive when you can have the ebook in your library at 12:01am on the release date?

Preordering. Do it. Death Wish by Angela Roquet is my next pre-order. Come on October 6! Until then, I'm taking advantage of Net Galley, staring with The Determined Heart: The Tale of Mary Shelley and Her Frankenstein by Antoinette May.