Today I launched my first Kindle Ebook. It seems odd to be a publishing a book version that will never touch paper; but given the ever increasing presence of our virtual world, I decided to take the leap. Not that I’d ever personally condone completely replacing the good old fashioned paperback of course; it’s just a case of catering for everyone’s personal choices.
As I navigated my previously unchartered waters of digital book publishing, it struck me that joining the ebook revolution means content creation very quickly becomes more than the What, Where, How, Why and When and now needs to consider the design, layout and importability of content too. How will the content look on the page? Will it be accessed on an ereader? A tablet? A phone? And will the formatting change for each device? Hmm. Definitely lots to consider. Then there’s font style and size, which seemingly are now left to a readers’ customisable choosing. A small part of me can’t help but feel that somehow an author’s message might get a little lost in translation somewhere along the way. That said, on balance letting readers choose what works for them has got to be a good thing, making texts as accessible as possible to all. The idea of reading is, after all, about losing yourself in a text, allowing your mind to emphathise with the author and reflect upon what you read. No two people will ever take quite the same from a book and so it seems fitting in some way that an ebook, with it’s customisable experience allows the same accessibility choices too.
If you’d like to read In Our Shoes, the ebook version, please visit the link below