Following on Tommy Thomas’ post of a few days ago, I thought you might be interested in what authors think of eBooks - whether on laptops, iPhones, or any handy digital device.

First, in my official capacity as former President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (1998-2001), I can tell you that authors - not only of science fiction, but mystery, romance, and mainstream - have been bitterly divided about the prospect of eBooks.  Some authors see them as salvation - finally allowing authors to get their words out to readers without having to put them on paper, which usually means getting a contract from a publisher.  Others see eBooks as Satan’s temptation - rendering works, however encrypted, into a domain in which they can easily be copied, stolen, and otherwise read without much if any compensation to authors.  Still other authors are somewhere in the middle - finding value to their careers in eBooks, but urging caution in how quickly eBooks become the norm.

And my views?  I’m somewhere between the middle and seeing eBooks as the best thing that has happened to authors since the printing press.  Most of my novels have been available in eBook editions of one sort or another for the past 5 or more years.  I have received royalties, and my impression, if anything, is the eBooks have helped sales of my paper books.

Indeed, one of the reasons I’m so happy about the advent of iPhones is that I think they will be a great boon to authors.  A device that we carry with us at almost all times, on which we can read any book?  If the iPhone continues to move in that direction, I won’t worry a bit.