Time to Read: 4 Minutes
How often do you read for pleasure? How about for work?
A recent study from Pew Research revealed that 24% of adults hadn’t read a book in whole or in part in the previous year. It’s not that surprising. Books aren’t exactly portable, and people are busy. But thanks to the portability of eBooks, it’s possible to read anywhere, whether it’s on your daily commute, during your lunch break or in the line at the DMV. Smartphones open up a world of opportunity when it comes to reading because you have access to literal libraries in the palm of your hand.
Want to start reading more books? Here are some good tips to get started.
Amazon’s Kindle App
This is probably the most user-friendly way to get started reading from you smartphone. Amazon’s Kindle app works on most smartphones, meaning you can purchase and download books anywhere. eBooks are often cheaper than their physical counterparts, and Amazon in particular tends to offer flash sales with deep discounts on titles all the time. Many classics of literature are often available for free through creative commons licensing, making it one of the easiest ways to build an eBook library.
What makes Amazon Kindle really great is being able to sync your reading progress between devices. Like reading on your iPad just before bed? As long as it’s connected to your home wireless network, Amazon will sync your progress and notify you the next time you open the app on another device. It’s really convenient. And of course, there’s no physical bookmark to keep track of or pages to dog-ear. You can also highlight passages and bookmark specific sections of a book if you want to share them with your friends, which is useful for book clubs and classes.
Using Your Local Library
For power users and avid readers on a budget, most local libraries now offer access to eBooks. The barrier to entry is a little higher than with the Kindle store, usually because libraries partner with specific providers. The biggest one, Overdrive and its companion app Libby, is one of the easiest to use when it comes to discovering books. It’s usually easiest to browse for and place books on hold through a desktop computer, then check them out with the app. Keep in mind that these libraries often require downloading another app to read what you’ve downloaded. Some of these apps are easier to use than others.
If you’re willing to read a wide variety of things and wait a little longer, using an eBook library can provide you with a lot of free material to read.
Audible/Audiobooks
You may not experience a book the same way when you listen to an audiobook, but they can still be a great way to find new literary inspiration. Audible is a audiobook marketplace from Amazon that offers a variety of subscription options but usually contains one audiobook download per month, with additional audiobooks available for purchase at a discounted rate. If you have a long commute or simply want to take a break from TV, this can be a great way to read a book. Audible also does a remarkable job of curating interesting books in a wide variety of genres, so you’re not limited to any particular type. Some of our favorites include memoirs and autobiographies read by the writers themselves.
Bonus: Many libraries will also include audiobooks in their eBook programs, so you can listen to them for free without having to tote home a bag filled with CDs or cassettes.
Goodreads
Goodreads isn’t a service to consume books, but rather a great way to find recommendations and keep track of what you’ve read in a given year. We use it to log what we’ve read and challenge ourselves to read more books than we did in the previous year. You can also review books, ranking them with a five-star system and telling others how you feel about what you’ve read. It’s a social network, but for book lovers.
Read more. You’ll like it.
Using your smartphone to read might seem strange, but you’d be surprised at how much more you read when you’re not busy scrolling through your Facebook news feed. Whether it’s buying books, borrowing books or listening to them with headphones, it’s never a bad thing to seek out new ways to broaden your horizons and find a new story to fall in love with.