Top 5 Reasons to Read a Short eBook

I love to read. I was the sort of kid who read the back of the cereal box if that was all that was available while I was eating my breakfast, and I haven’t really changed. I love to read novels and long non-fiction books, and always have both physical and electronic stacks of books waiting to be read. Sometimes, though, circumstances call for something shorter. Here are my top five reasons for turning to a short ebook rather than something longer:

1. One of my kids is not sleeping well, or work is more hectic than usual, or some other thing is going on that makes it impossible to have long enough periods of time to read a long book. As I mentioned in my first blog post, sometimes I can’t read often enough or for long enough to follow a plot line through a long book.

2. I want to not just pass but enjoy the time while waiting for my four year old to go to sleep. My four year old daughter no longer insists on being snuggled to sleep, but she goes to sleep faster if one of us sits in her room with her.These days, I sit next to her bed and read on my tablet. It is the perfect length of time in which to read a short story, and I find myself looking forward to the nights when it is my turn to keep her company while she falls asleep.

3. I’m not in the mood for the long book I’m reading, and don’t want to start something else long. I’ve never been the type to have a lot of books going at once, but sometimes I’m just not in the mood for the book I’m reading- and then a short ebook is just the thing I need.

4. I want to try a new author. I particularly like this approach for independent authors. There are some great indie authors out there, but I’ve come across some appallingly bad ones, too. It is hard to know how good a new author is. With short ebooks, it only costs a dollar or two to give a new author a try. More importantly, it only takes a small investment of time.

5. I need a palate cleanser after finishing a long book, before starting another. Sometimes when I finish a book, I’m not ready to commit to another book right away, but I still want something to read. A short ebook is perfect. Before I had an eReader, I kept collections of short stories around for these sorts of situations. The great thing about the eReader is that I can browse for and select the short work at the time I want to read it. Also, I can read in the dark next to my daughter's bed!