Print Version? Yes! Please!

As a reviewer, books are offered to me in a variety of formats.  I think most reviewers and readers these days are opting towards electronic versions.  I think most authors prefer that as well.  As an author, it takes more time and money to send a print version than it does to send an e-version.  I'm aware of this.  The nice thing to do would be to happily accept an electronic copy of any book I want to review.  I don't!  Does that make me a 'not nice' person?  Perhaps!

For me, reading is an old friend.  I started at such a young age that I can't remember I time I didn't have a book in my hand.  The feeling, the smell, become comforting.  I suppose books are my security blanket.  Now, yes, I can just as easily read a copy on my Kindle.  It just isn't the same.  For me, it's the difference between holding my daddy's hand and seeing a picture of us holding hands.  Sure, it elicits a reaction, but a huge chunk of the experience is missing.

Now, if a print version isn't available, I opt for a pdf version.  Why?  Well, it's quite simple.  I like my computer chair.  I find it comforting to sit in my computer chair and stare at my computer screen for hours on end.  There's nothing fancy about it, but it's mine, and that makes it special.  It's brown and leather and you can twirl for hours in it!  There are most likely some Dorito crumbs nestled in the seams.

Print version preferred!  Pdf version is backup!

Perhaps I'm still living in a bygone era.  I know a lot of people prefer to keep a handy spandy library they can tote around on their e-reader.  I own a Kindle.  It probably has a hundred books or more on it.  I think it's currently in my son's room crammed beneath a pile of Legos.  He uses it for great things like train apps where he can practice his engineering skills.  I use it for...nothing.  It's an amazing invention.  It just isn't for me.  It smells like plastic.  It feels like plastic.  It's a cold machine.  A book is a living thing.

I'd like to apologize to those authors out there who would much rather send me an electronic version and end up spending more time and money than they'd like to send me a print version.  The fact is, I'll review your book before I will an e-copy that I have.  It may not seem worth your time to you, but it's a great deal to me.  I appreciate every single stamp you've licked and every penny you've spent on that copy.  Thank you to each of you who enables my book-sniffing and loving habit.