I'm not an author, so, as a reader, ebooks are a blessing to me.
I'm a bibliophile living in a country where books have become obscenely expensive.
What can I do? the public library here in my city sucks so much I get depressed just thinking about going there. So that's a No.
When I found ebooks online... heaven's clouds opened to let sunshine cover me.
And Yes, I will tell you, I download pirated ebooks. Free ebooks. I can't buy them online because for various real life reasons that are beyond my fixing I just can't.
So, downloading ebooks has become a sort of addiction for me. But there's always a dark side to every happy story, reading too much on your computer screen is bad for eyes, your back, your social life, the lot.
I have 442 ebooks downloaded, of which I have read about half on my computer.
My body is getting too old for that.
So last month, Christmas time, I was trolling every store that sold electronics in Chile (I was vacationing there) looking for an e-reader. I wanted to get a Kobo, but apparently they only sell those in, like, select stores in Canada or something.
What I found, that was affordable, and had what I wanted was this one:
Viewsonic ereader Veb620.
(read this review, it says everything I have to say about this specific model).
I wish the screen would be bigger though, but with the same size of ereader, and I wish I could adjust the contrast, but all in all, I'm happy as a clam.
I can read my ebooks wherever, my eyes and back are grateful, and I don't have to worry about book storage anymore. Since our apartment is filled with books already...
All I can say to authors out there is this:
If I like your book, I will endeavour to buy it, even if I have to sell my left kidney. If I don't like your book enough to put my body in danger, I won't buy it. So there, I'm not "stealing" money from anyone, since for me money is very hard to come by to begin with, I have to be careful and selective on how I spend.
I also like thinking that I'm giving trees a respite.
