Lori Devoti, paranormal romance and urban fantasy author

With Christmas coming, I thought it would be fun to post some reviews of book-related gear. So, when Barbara Clark posted on the Broad Universe loop that she had bought a Kindle, and some thoughts on the reader, I hit her up for a review to post here. And she agreed to help me out. :)

Here’s a bit about Barbara:

Barbara Clark’s accomplishments as an author prove the saying, “Life begins at 60,” or–in her case–62.

In June 1993, after thirty-four years of teaching in elementary schools–including a year in Nome, Alaska, she retired and began writing her first full length novel. Four years and six unpublished books later, she made her first sale to Kensington-Zebra Publishers. Her next sale was in 1999 to the new phenomenon in publishing–an online e-publisher. Since then, she has continued to sell new books, available in download and print.

Currently writing for two epublishers, she has sold a total of eleven books, two novellas, and one short story. Her books have received numerous awards, and she has new contracts through 2008.

Her websites are:
www.barbaraclarkbooks.com
www.april-reid.com
www.barbarastark.com

Now for the Review:

I’ve had my Kindle for approximately two week. It’s easy to use and amazingly quick in downloading books I’ve purchased from the Kindle store–usually less than a minute.

The e-ink screen is clear and easy on my (aging) eyes. Also, it takes only moments to adjust the size of the letters on the screen

Of course, as a published author, I was interested in having my books available in the Kindle store. Some of them are. Writing as Barbara Clark, I have two of my paranormal romance series, Sons of Earth and Wind available there. One is Tears of the Hawk and the other is A Touch of Fire. I also found several of books written as April Reid. These are my hotter stories—all fantasy erotic romances.

I’m published with amberquillpress.com and their romantic erotica line, amber heat.

The books in the kindle store are in the mobi pocket (PRC) format.
You can buy ebooks in PRC, as long as it’s unprotected (I think that’s the term) from any site, download them to your computer, and add them to your Kindle by connecting the reader to your computer through the USB port. The cable comes with the device. It’s very easy. I have already purchased several from AmberQuill / AmberHeat. The ebooks went into the Kindle nicely, including the covers which show up as shades of gray.

This is my second ereader and found it much easier to use.

Also, if you have files in another format, such as html, pdf, or others, amazon offers a service where you send the file to them, they convert it for the kindle, and send it back–free if they send it to your computer for you to download to the reader, and ten cents if they send it directly to your Kindle. I haven’t tried this yet.

Shopping for books on your kindle is a snap. Just turn on the wireless switch, access the Kindle store, and type in the title or the author. I found an old EE Doc Smith book, Galaxy Primes, and downloaded that. My daughter stopped by after work, did a search on Mercedes Lackey, and the Kindle store had her latest book. My daughter downloaded an excerpt (no cost) to read.
I have downloaded books while seated at the dining table at home, sitting on a couch, and in an examination chair at the doctor’s office.

Amazon says the battery lasts for approximately 20 hours before you need to recharge—even longer if you turn off the reader when you’re not using it. I haven’t used it that long before recharging.

You can look up word meanings, and it’s easy to bookmark your place. You can also load audio books and music into the device. There are other features–such as browsing the internet–I haven’t yet explored.

The Kindle costs approximately $400.