For a book-lover, having one book is never as good as having two. Bibliophiles the world over know the conundrum of how to feed their addiction without having to move into a house of epic proportions or rent an environmentally controlled storage space for their ever expanding collection of filled bookshelves. If space and money are on a careful budget, as is the case for so many people today, the dreams of having a personal print library might have to go on a proverbial shelf, but the eBook revolution is making it more possible every day to own just one more title without sacrificing another 1.5 inches on the bookshelf.
Where To Start
So the idea of a library, any kind of library, is appealing and you’d like to know where to get started. Today the internet makes it easier than ever to begin a digital library. There are many booksellers online that have cashed in on the eBook craze and offer nearly as many digital copies as they do printed version of the same material, and as with print books, the number of titles available in electronic format is always expanding.
The best place to start would be your favorite bookstore’s online presence, or if you’re one of the many people who have invested in an eReader, you can check their stores either via device or the web for an idea of what genres, authors and titles they’re offering for your consumption.
To download eBooks, you may have to have an account on a seller’s site and it usually costs a few dollars to purchase the title you’re interested in. On your eReaders, you can download NOOK eBooks and expect not to wait after you make your purchase, however, because delivery is done instantly over any wireless, internet or 3G connection, right to your device.
You’ll find tutorials all over the internet for specific devices so make sure you check with your device manufacturer or your favorite seller’s site. Apps for phones, programs for computers and instructions for specific eReaders can usually be found in those places.
Filling Your Library
Then it’s time to fill your library and this is by far the most frustrating aspect of switching from print to digital. If you’re late-comer to the eBook movement and you like a lot of modern work, chances are you’ll have little trouble finding your favorites electronically and with a little scouting, you’ll often find deals, promotions and even giveaways that make it easy to pick up a digital copy to carry on your device while you pack up your paperbacks to free up space at home.
If you signed on to the eBook revolution early, however, you might have found a frustrating lack of media to replace your print copies. As eBooks gained in popularity, more publishers chose to make digital copies of their popular print books available, but in the beginning, the electronic doppelgangers of your favorite books were hard or impossible to find.
Take Advantage of the Freebies
Unless you have a lot of money to spend on purchasing digital duplicates of all your paperbacks, chances are you won’t be converting fully to digital overnight. It will take some time to find the right deals and cash in on the right opportunities to turn your whole library over so it fits into an eReader the size of one of your paperbacks, rather than having shelves and shelves that might really need reorganized by this point.
Take advantage of the out-of-copyright classics and Creative Commons released books as often as possible.
First, getting an entire shelf of the classics can’t be bad for your bookworm reputation and second, they won’t actually take up a physical shelf at all. EBook readers are designed to hold lots of books and eBooks take up very little space, together; popular eReaders can hold thousands of books at one time. Think of that library!
There are literally thousands of freely distributed or creative commons books on the market and if you’re a true book-lover, you won’t sneer at the chance to flip through some titles you’ve never heard of before in the off chance you’ll find a diamond in the rough. Just make sure you go through legitimate distributors to avoid copyright infringement. The internet is rife with offerings of books for free that should have a price tag.
Saving Space with Electronic Shelves
It doesn’t matter if you’re using a dedicated eReader with the electronic paper technology and space specifically engineered to hold your eBook titles, a smartphone or even a program on your computer. Choosing to download eBooks brings you one step closer to that dream of a personal library and with the ever increasing space of devices designed to carry digital content, the size of your eventual library might even come as a surprise.
