In the meantime, it's still surprisingly hard to imagine what life with an e-reader would be like. I look forward to three major benefits: one, being able to check out books from the library via e-reader; two, the ability to consolidate a back-breaking load of textbooks into one small device; and three, since I have independently published two books, the possibility of doing so electronically is this small publisher's idea of a killer app. It's not only paper and production costs that eat into my already-slim profit margins, but the transportation costs of shipping books from the printer, to my warehouse, and then to customers. With gasoline and postage costs at all-time highs, I can't afford to compete with Amazon's free two-day shipping, even for my own books. While big-time authors and publishers may still have the luxury of scoffing at e-readers, the smaller outfits may want to get on board to promote digital delivery. If Kindle can connect me to my readers through online, wireless communication, I am all for it.