Netflix for Books?

In addition to being an ardent follower of Christ and an amateur foodie, I'm a major bibliophile. I'm an author, writer, avid reader, and general student of the publishing industry. So today I'm talking book stuff, and this bit of news could become a game changer for readers, authors and the publishing industry.

You're familiar with Netflix, right?  You pay a monthly fee and get movies mailed to you for free. You return them for free when you're done with them, and they send you another movie from the list of movies you want to see. You can also stream the movies right to your TV or computer.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon is planning to launch a similar lending service that would offer customers access to a large library of e-books. It would be like having access to the largest public library in the nation, on your Kindle, for an annual fee of $79. That annual fee also gets you into the Amazon Prime program, affording you free shipping on all your Amazon purchases.

For readers, this could be incredible. We now live in the information age. The number of new titles published grows each year.  In 2005, 172,000 new books were published. By 2009, that number grew to 288,000. 

Most readers find themselves with more titles they want to read than time to read them, space to store them, and money to buy them. This Amazon service could solve two of those three problems. At least for Kindle owners who currently spend more than $80 on books each year. I fall in that category.

The obvious worry, however, is that this kind of service would eat into the market that public libraries serve since they also lend out books. So lovers of local libraries like myself find themselves torn.

As anyone with publishing industry connections could imagine, many publishers aren’t thrilled with the idea. They fear the program would cut into their sales figures, devalue their books, and hurt their relationships with stores carrying the actual books at traditional prices.

Because publishers control what can be done with the electronic versions of their books, this is not a done deal yet. Publishers want the same kind of control they have over their printed books — and in the case of lending, they are trying to assert more control than they have with printed books. When you buy a physical book, you are free to sell it or lend it to whomever you wish, but e-books don’t carry those same rights.

Many bibliophiles still like to own books. They like to hold them, turn the pages, write in them, and share them with others.  So an Amazon e-book lending library isn't the end-all-be-all. Nonetheless, it's a attractive option.

The bottom line is that the nature of the book and the book industry is changing, just as virtually every other form of physical content is being affected by the move to digital formats. Amazon has been at the forefront of those changes with its Kindle and its current library-lending program. This rumored Netflix-for-books program is an indication that Amazon plans to continue pushing that transition forward.  

What do you think about this idea? Would you be likely to sign up for Amazon's "Netbookx"?

"Safe in His Arms," you are the winner of this week's giveaway. I cannot find your contact info so please email me your mailing address. Truth be told, when I couldn't find any contact info for you, I did the drawing again. Your comment came up the second time, so clearly you are meant to get this book. :) 

Making Enjoyment Meaningful

_{I have a devotion publishing today with Proverbs 31 Ministries called Why It’s Not Meaningless. In that piece I said that a driving force behind why I get out of bed each morning – besides to take care of my family of course – is to craft a life that is pleasing to both me and God. Towards that end, I try to enjoy my life.}

_{What gets you out of bed in the morning? If it’s nothing more than the delicious smell of fresh-brewed coffee, I think that’s fine reason to get up. Especially if you enjoy the brew in your cup – and thank God for it.}

_{I wrote today’s devotion from Ecclesiastes 2:24-25:}

“A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?”

_{As Christians, I think sometimes we can get so focused on pleasing God – on following the rules and sacrificing for the cause – that we forget or miss the fact that walking through this life with Christ should be a joy. Should be enjoyed.}  

_{Yes, difficult times will come, no doubt. (He can be trusted in those times!) And I know the periodic, necessary dying-to-self required is not exactly our favorite way to spend an afternoon. But still. Ever still, I fully believe God intends us to enjoy this life, this breath, this earth, this time we’ve been given. And to thank Him for the gift of it.}

_{So let me hear from you today: What will you do to intentionally enjoy your life today?  And can you see it as a gracious gift from God?}

_{Tell me your thoughts on this verse, the devotion, or your plans to enjoy today and you’ll be entered to win a copy of my book It’s No Secret: Revealing Divine Truths Every Woman Should Know. I'll also slip one of my favorite things into the package before mailing it. Have a really great day!}

What do you read on planes?

It's 10:47 PM Pacific Coast time. That would be 1:47 AM my time back home on the Atlantic Coast. I've already slept two-and-a half hours tonight. I couldn't help it. I was so tired I was stumbling around my hotel room as if I'd just spent the day north of here in the Napa Valley rather than South of here on the Monterrey Peninsula.

Monterrey Peninsula, California

The combination of a three hour time zone difference, leading a four session weekend retreat, and that large bowl of fettuccine pesto I had for lunch at the FishWife caught up with me. Big time.

My lunch was so filling, I didn't even eat dinner. Didn't want any. Which is good because now I'm in a hotel by the airport and food is scare. There's a free hotel breakfast tomorrow, but it starts at 6:00 and I leave for the airport at 5:10. I really hope there's something good for breakfast in the Oakland airport.

I need to go back to sleep, wake up at 4:30 AM and be on an eastbound plane by 6:30. I will spend all day flying and changing planes. I leave here at 6:30 AM and get home at 8:30 PM. But that's OK because I do some of my best reading on planes. I can read novels for hours completely guilt-free on a plane! Well, it's not like I could do much else during that time.

The problem is, I forgot to pack a novel this time. I only have non-fiction with me. So I hope the Oakland airport also has a good bookstore.

What do you read on planes? If you are a novel reader too, I'd love for you to do me a favor. Pop over to the She Reads site and answer as many of the questions as you can in the poll on the current post.

At the very least please comment there to say if you prefer "Parlor fiction" or  "Attic fiction." I kind of like those terms. Well, off to sleep my way through my last few hours here on the West Coast. I'll be back here on Tuesday with another post.

Dinner easy as ABC

Do you follow Ree Drummond over at her insanely popular blog The Pioneer Woman?

Well did you see her Food Network debut?  She now has her own TV show by the same name. So the other Saturday morning I had to tune in for her premiere. Once I watched it, I had to make one of the recipes that very night.

Of course, it required a trip to the liquor store.

What's that you say? ... Oh, for the food, silly, not for the cook.

You mean your meals don't require trips to an ABC store? 

my final product

I made Ree's Pasta Vodka Sauce. Follow the link for the recipe and I'll tell you my experience with it here in case you want to stop by the liquor store today and pick up dinner for tonight.

Having made quite a few tomato-based Italian style sauces from scratch, I was surprised at the short cooking time on hers. So I made mine that Saturday evening shortly before my husband, son and I had to be at the show my daughter was singing and dancing in.

Well, the short cooking times apparently weren't long enough to fully cook off the Vodka because it tasted Very Vodka-ie. Want to know how I know that taste? Read the RSVP chapter of my book here.

Tasting it before serving it, I was slightly nervous about feeding this to my 10 year-old. It was strong I tell ya, and I didn't even use the full cup of Vodka she said you could use. The onions I used were really strong too. That plus the red pepper flakes made for one zesty bowl of pasta! But I liked it and figured I could tweak it next go round.

I was relieved, however, that my daughter wasn't home for the dinner because I was certain she'd hate it. She doesn't do spicy and I knew she wouldn't like the idea of Vodka in her food, even with the alcohol cooked off. She'd take one bite of this and resist eating another.

On Monday I came downstairs and found her gobbling up the leftovers reheated in the microwave after school. "Mom, this pasta is awesome," she said while I stared at her in disbelief. "Give me a bite of that," I demanded as I wondered if she was destined for a life in an alley drinking Vodka from a paper bag - GOD FORBID.

It tasted so smooth. So creamy. So mellow. It was awesome. None of the sharp flavors from the first night remained after a day or two in the fridge.

So this is my kind of dish - tastes one way (but good) the first night, and tastes different (but good) as left-overs a few days later with no additional effort on my part.

I've since made Ree's Vodka sauce again - I have a whole bottle of Vodka to use after all. I cooked things longer the second time and decreased the Vodka by about a 1/4 a cup. It was much less zesty. It was good but I kinda missed some of the zestyiness.  So I'll go back to Ree's way next time.

Oh, and the only deviation I made from Ree's recipe (the first time) was to add a couple pinches of sugar to the sauce when I added the tomatoes. Sugar cuts the acidity of canned tomatoes. Then I covered the top with shredded Parmesan cheese before serving, Mmmm.

Let me or Ree know if you try it and like it.