eBooks -- Now Local and Independent

Useful info from the Star Tribune: Those who buy ebooks don't have to get them from amazon.com and other large ecommerce sites any more.

Independent bookstores have joined with the American Booksellers Association and Google to make it possible to buy ebooks through your local indie bookstore.

Well, maybe. Some of my favorite bookstores aren't quite with the program, since they don't use the ABA's ecommerce engine, but a few others are included, particularly Red Balloon Bookshop and Wild Rumpus. (Just because those are both kids' bookstores doesn't mean you're limited to kids books when buying ebooks, remember.)

Your favorite store may be part of it, so it's worth a check. It's pretty easy to do. For instance, on Red Balloon's site, you enter the name of the book or author you're looking for into the site's search engine. After you get a result, pick either the tab that's labeled Google eBooks or Other eBooks to see what's available at what price.

I'm not sure if or when I will move to reading ebooks, although I did just read my first ebook on my phone (Arthur Conan Doyle's Study in Scarlet), and found it slightly disorienting but mostly agreeable.

If you're like Ed Kohler over at The Deets, who tries to buy everything he can online because it's both easier and environmentally better, why not do your ebook shopping through a local store?