Digital books

When it comes to my personal tastes and tendencies, I’m not always on the cutting edge. I like Country music from Waylin and Willie, and blues from The King. I wear lace-up work boots, no tennis shoes for me. My jeans are blue and my motorcycle jacket is brown, made from the skin of a dead cow.

Having said all that, you’d think I like my books printed on paper – and I do. But. But except for the fact that ebooks make too much sense to ignore.

We started converting some of our books to ebooks last year, and it’s taken a somewhat long time to actually see the fruits or our labor. Today, you can find about 30% of the Wolfgang catalog at Apple iBooks, with Barnes & Noble digital and others to come on line later this year. I ignored the trend for a long time, but finally our web guru convinced me to give it a try. The books are identical to our standard books, no missing pages, no additions or deletions. The prices are less than the printed editions, the actual amount varies by title. The available books include most of the Tattoo books, including the Bible books written by Superior Tattoo. Also the Pin-Ups on 2 Wheels book by Hairbraine.

Only recently have we tried converting how-to motorhead titles like Cheap Chopper and Old Skool Bobber into ebooks. It remains to be seen if enthusiasts will download books that are essentially manuals, or if they would rather have books of that type in a format that can be set on the workbench, with an adjustable wrench laid across the pages to keep it open.

Ultimately our goal is to provide you with information that educates and entertains. Hard for a guy who’s stuck on leather jackets and blue jeans to admit, but it really doesn’t matter one bit how that information is delivered. If converting some of the books to ebooks makes that information available to more people, then maybe that’s a good thing. And though the gross sale might be smaller, there are no issues with returns, or shipping books, or damaged books. Who knows, maybe I’ll be shopping for tennis shoes next, a nice silver pair with neon green graphics and cute little coil springs in the heels.

Like it or not, ebooks are here to stay. Roughly 30% of the Wolfgang catalog is now available on Apple iBooks; with more books, and more ebook vendors to follow.

Sunday Sunday
The floodwaters have finally receded and left behind a bit of a mess, but minimal property damage. The nearby photo shows my trip to Trenton Island last week, when the road was blocked off and only fools drove the island highway. I’m pleased to say that this Sunday the temperature actually got above 60 degrees, which made it a good day to make a trip back to the Island, on the motorcycle for a change.

The news reports on flooding always say, “DON’T DRIVE TROUGH MOVING WATER!” But what the hell, it’s only a few inches deep – oops.

What a great day. I started in Hudson, Wisconsin and ran down Highway 35 past farms and fields to Prescott, where some of us had Turkey from the big open pot at the No Name bar for Easter dinner. Next it was back on the river road, headed south to my favorite Island. This week the Road Closed signs were gone, replaced by an Open sign at the Woodshed bar. While I was there, a couple of additional scooters showed up, and you could hear the bikes going past on Highway 63. Which means that the Woodshed isn’t the only thing that’s open, Motorcycle season is officially open in The Great White North.

The No Name bar, Prescott, Wisconsin, a fine place for an exceptional Easter Dinner.