Some 500 people have been given electronic-book readers, a gadget the size of a paperback with a screen like that of a laptop computer and a slot to take a memory card that can store three or four novels.
Drives shriveled down to desk size, then to desktop size, then the size of a fat dictionary, followed by a thin paperback, a deck of cards and now just a single card or chip.
Tellingly, it begins with the image of a sickly, tubercular child, rasping for breath in the night, and then the flare of a light as his older brother reaches for a dime-store paperback, a well-thumbed cowboy yarn he means to read before sleep.
Feed in a digital manuscript, and in a few minutes the machine produces a bound paperback, complete with a color cover.
Successful authors will see their manuscript go through the full Harper Voyager editing process and then released as an ebook, with the possibility of going into paperback if a particular book performs well.
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You can either while away an hour-long train journey getting lost in a paperback, or alternatively you could bury your head in some absorbing prose on a screen two inches (4cm) wide.
Gemstar sells a paperback-size device with an 11.5cm-by-7.5cm screen and a magazine-size tablet with a 15cm-by-20cm screen.
Slipping effortlessly into a bag or pocket, Reader Wi-Fi is no bigger than a paperback book. 8.9mm thin and weighing just 168 grams it's supremely comfortable to hold, with a gently curving profile that fits naturally in your hand.
Blogger Dan Nosowitz, tongue planted in cheek, declared the Mini's trade-paperback size will make it a more highbrow option for e-book lovers than the smaller Kindle Fire, which more resembles a mass-market paperback.
Aradigm's AERx device is the size of a paperback book and uses liquid insulin packets.
The most common tactic is to issue a paperback using movie imagery for the cover.
By contrast, the Rocket EBook is about the size of a paperback and weighs only 20 ounces.
You can get your copy of Copyright Unbalanced from Amazon as a paperback or an ebook.
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The Nexus 7 has all the portability of a paperback book, but is connected to the entire digital world of entertainment.
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Heavier than most hard-bound novels and not as malleable as a paperback.
As we prepare to land, my seatmate neatly tucks the little device away into his shoulder bag like it was a paperback book.
Tallarico, an actress, wants to use the photos in the paperback edition of a book about her life titled "Dream On, " said her lawyer, Jay Butterman.
Then a couple of years ago Topkis read a newspaper story about someone who had invented a machine that could print a paperback book in 17 minutes.
The first Kindle, now available only on eBay or other outlets where antique hardware languishes, is a sloping wedge that's wider on its left side, which allows readers to wrap their hands around the e-reader like a paperback book with its cover folded back around the spine.
The unit is said to be around the size "of a medium paperback, " checking in at 0.4-inches think and featuring a 6-inch 800 x 600 resolution display.
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Earlier this year, its paperback partner, Picador, rereleased the first four novels in a single volume paperback to coincide with the publication of the final book.
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It was a permanent paperback format that would be sold in bookstores, not like paperbacks sold in newsstands.
The paperback edition also got a nice ride, although not quite as dramatic.
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Next month they finally are releasing it in a trade paperback edition.
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In portrait mode, about 30-35 lines of text are visible, offering an experience similar to that of a printed paperback book, says the company.
Mr. Akst, a member of Newsday's editorial board, is the author of "Temptation: Finding Self-Control in an Age of Excess, " now a Penguin paperback.
The young man retreated to a portable booth tucked away at the end of the security line and fetched a dogeared paperback copy of my book.
At just over a third of an inch thin and weighing 7.5 ounces, Kindle Paperwhite is thinner than a magazine and weighs less than a typical paperback.
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