I have made the novel I released last fall, The Lost Generation, available for Kindle.
I have already mentioned this, but I will say it again: a physical copy of a book is still the best way to engage with it. There is something special about reading something that doesn’t come with any distractions. Especially for a work of fiction: that kind of deep, sustained concentration is necessary for the act. It’s integral to the experience of taking in a good novel. If you’re reading a collection of essays or some other non-fiction type of thing, it arguably doesn’t really matter as much how you read it, but fiction requires you engage with the story/characters more.
I am a staunch “physical paper books” person, but there are obviously pros and cons to the whole thing as well. By not making things available for Kindle users I’m doing a big disservice for people that can’t afford to buy the book but still want to read it: ebooks are cheaper because there are no shipping or production costs. Buying books for the Kindle is very efficient if you want to read something right away.
Even though I still think something is lost when you don’t make the effort to engage with whatever it is you’re reading properly, I can’t deny that the Kindle is pretty cool if you use it the right way. I particularly enjoy the highlighting feature; if there’s something memorable in the book you’re reading, you can highlight it, and when you get to the end of your book you can e-mail yourself a list of all your notes. This is obviously something you can do the “old school” way with pen and paper, but there is something nice about having it done for you sometimes.
Anyway, I’m mentioning all this just in case someone calls me a hypocrite for going against what I initially stated. The truth is: I still believe what I said, but this is a democratic way of getting the book out there for people who care. It is $9.99 on the Amazon store, and the physical copy remains $19.99 (a reference to the year the book begins in).