The advantages of the eBook over the paper book

The paper book resists. There is no doubt about that. The reason why the electronic book has not finished eating the book on paper because the big publishers have not wanted, because the business is still in the publication of the book on paper. Publishers know that, after deducting expenses, paper beats electronic books because readers do not hesitate to pay fifteen or twenty dollars for a paper copy and would scream in the sky to pay more than seven dollars for the same book in digital format. Don't forget that this is a business and publishers are there to make money.
Having said that,

What are the advantages of the electronic book over paper?

Advantages from the reader's point of view:

More comfortable reading. You can enlarge the letter and change its typography whenever you want.

Dictionary. Most electronic reading devices have a built-in dictionary that makes it easier for us to know the immediate meaning of words we don't know or have doubts about.

Illumination. The latest generation electronic readers have built-in lighting (which can be adjusted) that allows you to read in low light or at night without disturbing anyone.

Notes. You can underline and make notes that you can manage later and share them with other readers on social networks.

Searches. You have the option to search for words, underscores or annotations and find them instantly.

Buy. The purchase, being digital, can be made at any time, from your home, without having to move to the bookstore. There are already eReaders, such as Amazon or Kobo, that you can purchase books from the same reading device.

Storage. Electronic books take up almost no physical space and you can have a few stored to read them whenever you want.

Price. The price of an ebook is cheaper than a paper book. Even after acquiring the electronic device to read them, the profitability is overwhelming.

Catalogue. Editions in digital format are not discontinued. You can find any book whenever you want.

Transport. The ebook you can take anywhere without problems, weighs little, the latest models do not weigh more than two hundred grams.

Advantages from the point of view of the editor:

Layout. The layout is less cumbersome because we save many elements such as page numbering, word division, headings, page justification, etc.. Therefore, digital layout is less expensive.

Graphic design of the cover. The graphic design is also simpler than for the paper edition, because we save the spine design, the calculation of the spine thickness and the back cover, therefore, the design is cheaper.

Storage. The electronic book only takes up space on a hard disk, so storage costs are almost non-existent.

Printing. The electronic book does not need to be printed, so it does not generate surpluses that have to be destroyed. A single original is worth to be sold millions of times with the same production cost, unlike the paper book that increases its cost with printing.

Distribution. Perhaps this is the strongest point of the electronic book because it can be distributed worldwide without much effort, it would only have to be uploaded to the digital portals of electronic book sales. On the other hand, distribution is one of the most serious problems of the paper book that increases its final price.

Dissemination and marketing. The diffusion of the electronic book is easier than the paper book because it allows reading extracts of the first chapters for free from the digital portals and being shared on social networks or by e-mail to thousands of people.

Collection of profits. Usually the collection of profits from sales of e-books are made per month, unlike the paper book which is usually made at ninety days and even a year.

Ecological footprint. This is also a point that must be taken into account since the ebook leaves a smaller ecological footprint than the paper book, especially in the aspects of printing and distribution.

For these reasons the electronic book (ebook) should replace the paper book, but it still does not. The answer to why publishers still see paper as the real business.

Image source: own

La vieja ventana

Cuando paseo por un pueblo, no puedo evitar mirar a las casas viejas porque tienen algo que me atraen.

Me detengo ante ellas a la espera de que me digan algo, quizás un susurro que traiga el viento o alguna palabra de sus antiguos moradores.

Sin embargo, es el silencio el que reina y la casa no dice nada. Solo permanece ahí hasta que el tiempo acabe con sus pilares en la tierra y se convierta en un solar lleno de escombros y grafitis de tres al cuarto.

A veces pienso que las casas son como los humanos que necesitamos cuidarnos para llegar a viejos con buena salud porque de otra manera terminaremos como esas casas viejas, con los líquenes que crecen en las tejas viejas de sus tejados.

Fuente de las imágenes: Fotografía sacada con un Acer Liquid Z630

Looking for better waves

I am an amateur photographer, always ready to capture that moment to freeze it in time, with a prepared look, but with a different look. That look that makes you see aspects of the world that others miss.
As in this case, a solitary surfer who walks north, in search of bigger waves, with his yellow board that is bigger than him.
Stop for a few seconds, take out the smartphone, look for the frame and take the picture.

Image source: photograph taken with Acer Liquid Z630

The aurora is coming

Here comes the aurora, stripped of its meaninglessness,
to give us the lights that are not those of yesterday,
another saving surrender,
to tell us that we are less,
although we believe ourselves more than yesterday,
to show us the steps of walking,
first one, then another, and then another,
without stopping, following the light,
until we surrender to the night and rest.

Yes, to rest, to reconcile with us,
with our beloved monsters,
that we always carry so inside,
and calm them with our sleep.

Then the aurora will knock on our door,
one step, always one step, then another,
until the dawn.

Living to find the meaning of the dawn,
of the new that is heard in the aurora,
until we find the way and lose it again.

Image source: own

Masks

You are absent and I don't see you, I don't even feel your breath.
Maybe you died without me noticing.
Like a petrified mummy you are next to me,
who no longer hears or feels,
just worried about what the mirrors say.

Maybe it all started with the game of masks.
That game we started,
when we began to dig the grave of our love.
Three hundred and fifty-five shovels,
shovels of disagreement and contempt.
Not one more nor one less.

The masks that we bought in installments,
in the markets of dissatisfaction and indolence.
The masks that allowed us to continue breathing,
living a life with exhausted credit,
as we picked up the dead skins of our encounters from the ground,
to go on until we get fed up, throw up and try to wake up.
of this tedium-induced comma.

It's time to end the game,
to break our masks,
to give us a chance to reach the chimera of happiness.
Recognize that we are dead,
that we died a long time ago,
bury us and rest.

Then will come the time of resurrection.

Image source: Pixabay

Ventajas del ebook frente al libro en papel

Después de leer el artículo Y el libro en papel no murió en 2018 que publicó El País el pasado 14 de octubre de 2018 me vienen a la cabeza una serie de reflexiones. La primera es que el libro electrónico no ha terminado de comerse al libro en papel porque las grandes editoriales no han querido, porque el negocio sigue estando en la publicación del libro en papel. Las editoriales saben que, después de restados los gastos, el papel gana al libro electrónico porque los lectores no dudan en pagar quince o veinte euros por un ejemplar en papel y pondrían el grito en el cielo por pagar más de cinco euros por el mismo libro en formato digital. No hay que olvidar que esto es un negocio y las editoriales están para ganar dinero.
Dicho esto,

¿Cuáles son las ventajas del libro electrónico sobre el papel?

Ventajas desde el punto de vista del lector:

Lectura más cómoda. Puedes ampliar la letra y cambiar su tipografía cuando quieras.

Diccionario. La mayoría de los dispositivos electrónicos de lectura tienen un diccionario incorporado que nos facilita saber el significado, inmediato, de las palabras que desconocemos o que tenemos dudas.

Iluminación. Los lectores electrónicos de última generación traen incorporada iluminación integrada (que se puede regular) que te permite leer con poca luz o en la noche sin molestar a nadie.

Anotaciones. Puedes subrayar y hacer anotaciones que las puedes gestionar con posterioridad y compartirlas con otros lectores en las redes sociales.

Búsquedas. Tienes la opción de buscar palabras, subrayados o anotaciones y encontrarlos al instante.

Compra. La compra, al ser digital, la puedes hacer en cualquier momento, desde tu casa, sin tener que desplazarte a la librería. Ya existen eReaders, como los de Amazon o Kobo, que puedes adquirir los libros desde el mismo dispositivo de lectura.

Almacenamiento. Los libros electrónicos casi no ocupan espacio físico y puedes tener unos cuantos almacenados para leerlos cuando quieras.

Precio. El precio del ebook es más barato que el libro en papel. Incluso, después de adquirir el dispositivo electrónico para leerlos, la rentabilidad es abrumadora.

Catálogo permanente. Las ediciones en formato digital no se descatalogan. Puedes encontrar cualquier libro cuando quieras.

Transporte. El ebook te lo puedes llevar a cualquier lado sin problemas, pesa poco, los últimos modelos no pesan más de doscientos gramos.

Ventajas desde el punto de vista del editor:

Maquetación. La maquetación es menos engorrosa porque nos ahorramos muchos elementos como la numeración de las páginas, la división de palabras, los encabezados, justificado de páginas, etc. Por tanto, la maquetación digital es menos costosa.

Diseño gráfico de la portada. El diseño gráfico es también más sencillo que para la edición en papel, porque nos ahorramos el diseño del lomo, el cálculo del grosor del lomo y de la contraportada, por tanto, el diseño es más barato.

Almacenamiento. El libro electrónico solo ocupa espacio en un disco duro, por tanto, los gastos de almacenaje son casi inexistentes.

Impresión. El libro electrónico no necesita ser impreso, por lo que no genera excedentes que luego hay que destruir. Un solo original vale para ser vendido millones de veces con el mismo coste de producción, a diferencia del libro en papel que aumenta su costo con la impresión.

Distribución. Quizás este es el punto más fuerte del libro electrónico porque puede ser distribuido a nivel mundial sin mucho esfuerzo, solo habría que subirlo a los portales digitales de ventas de libros electrónicos. En cambio, la distribución es uno de los problemas más graves del libro en papel que encarece su precio final.

Difusión y marketing. La difusión el libro electrónico es más fácil que el libro en papel porque permite leer extractos de los primeros capítulos de manera gratuita desde los portales digitales y ser compartidos en las redes sociales o por correo electrónico a miles de personas.

Cobro de ganancias. Por lo general el cobro de las ganancias por ventas de los libros electrónicos se realizan al mes, a diferencia con el libro en papel que suele hacerse a noventa días e, incluso, al año.

Huella ecológica. Este es un punto que también que hay que tener en cuenta ya que el ebook deja una huella ecológica menor que el libro en papel, sobre todo en los aspectos de impresión y distribución.

Por estas razones el libro electrónico (ebook) debería sustituir al libro en papel, pero sigue sin hacerlo. La respuesta del porqué la tienen las editoriales que siguen viendo en la edición en papel el verdadero negocio.

Fuente de las imágenes: Pixabay 

Savage

(A man and a woman are sitting on a brown leather sofa, he on the left and she on the right. They are in front of the audience. He dresses in black and wears a lion mask. She wears a green shirt and a blue skirt and wears a HARE mask. The back wall is decorated with record covers of several years.)

LION: Are you finally going to confess to her?

HARE: (She crosses her feet and hands.) I don't know.

LION: You'll have to tell her.

HARE: Don't make me dizzy about it. I'm sick . Everything has its time. It's like baking a cake, it needs its baking time. You can't take it out early because it will crumble. You have to wait for the right moment, no more and no less.

LION: There are times when it is necessary to take a step forward because the situation is screaming for it.

(HARE gets up and stays silent watching the album covers.)

HARE: Do you know what Patti Smith's first album was?

(Pause.)

HARE: There's the cover of that album. It's called Horses. An album that she recorded in 1975 and that marked an era. The queen of Punk. Now Patti is Mrs. Smith. A sweet seventy-one year old woman who reads the Bible and is only interested in her family and poetry.

LION: (Uncomfortable.) I don't know what you mean by that. I don't give a shit about Patti Smith and Mrs. Smith and Punk shit. I only care about today and a little bit about tomorrow.

(She sits to his left. Under the cover of Horses.)

HARE: I mean that the life we're living today will have nothing to do with the life we're going to live forty years from now. Many times we think that we are one way and one morning we wake up being another, without recognizing ourselves in the mirror.

LION: You don't need to be very smart for that. I just want to know when you are going to take the step. It's not very complicated to answer that question.

HARE: I will do it tonight.

LION: (Surprised.) Tonight?

HARE: Yes, tonight. She will come to the party. Although she doesn't know I'll be around. I told her I couldn't come, that I had a last-minute job complicated.

LION: Why didn't you tell me anything?

(HARE stands up and looks at the cover of Patti Smith's Horses.)

HARE: It's funny how your life changes. One day you're the queen of Punk and you live a wild and dissolute life and then, with time, you take off the studs, the ridges, the greñas and you become a completely different person. The Queen of the Holy Bible.

LION: Can you answer me?

HARE: Yes, life changes you. Yesterday a caterpillar, today a chrysalis and tomorrow a butterfly.

LION: (Angry.) Fuck, leave the fucking philosophy and answer my question! Why the hell didn't you tell me anything?

(HARE sits on Leon's right and crosses his legs. She puts his hand on her knee and gives her two touches.)

HARE: Calm down. I didn't tell you anything because I thought about it this afternoon. Then I went to buy the masks and called her. You know the rest.

LION: Why did you tell her you weren't coming?

HARE: I want to observe her for the last time. See how she acts without me in front of her. Maybe I'm looking for a reason, a justification. I don't know. She will come with a Cacatua mask. We bought ourselves two similar masks for this feast. One with a red beak and the other with a blue beak.

LION: How do you think she'll take it when you tell her?

HARE: I don't know. I would take it very badly. I'd grab her by the hair and slap her a few times. If it's hard to digest being left, it's even harder to be left for a person of the opposite sex. It's an explosive cocktail wherever you take it.

LION: It's that your transformation is not normal.

HARE: I recognize it, but you know: caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly. We can't fight against internal transformations. We have to accept them because if we don't, we go crazy and we would be hypocrites. (Pause.) I don't want to go crazy, let alone be a hypocrite. I respect her a lot to continue with this farce.

LION: It's going to be a good one. You know that, don't you?

HARE: Yes, I know, but I'm ready. I've been training since I slept with you. That's when I knew my story with her was over.

Image source: Pixabay