There is a fellow named Dale Darling who has written several Kindle books on various fly tying patterns. The books run 200 to 300 pages and sell for $3.99 each. Has anyone bought any of them, and if so, what is your opinion. I just came across them on Amazon.
No, but I find Kindle fly tying books to be quite unsatisfying in general. Even if you have a Fire or a phone with color, they are just not as detailed, nor easy to peruse as a good old fashion printed text. The other caution I would add is because the entry cost is so low on Amazon, the production value and the editing on books that are only ebook format, is usually quite low. I know it may be unfair to some struggling writers, but I’ve gotten to the point where if there is no print copy version, I shy away from getting the ebook version because I know from experience the text will be filled with typos and more often then not the content is lacking. I have purchased several fly tying ebooks, but only of books I already have a printed copy of, so the ebook is merely for convenience when travelling.
Reading through the samples, I’m not too impressed with the writing nor the presentation, and while the price may seem OK, you have to buy two books to get the entire story it seems, which is a bit annoying (i.e. there is a “tying” book and a “fishing” book). Looking through the table of contents, surprisingly few patterns are covered in 200 pages, which is troubling. Personally I’d recommend just getting one of the numerous other printed texts on the same topic. Yes, they are a bit more money, but the content is generally worth the price. YMMV.
Phone photos (or any photo for that matter) of a computer screen don’t turn out really well, but, having said that, below is a picture of a page from “Founding Flies” on my 20 some inch desktop computer. Pretty easy to read, and very clear (in person).
The thing I like about ebooks on “Kindle” is that it goes across platforms.
I have my books on my phone, my iPad, and my desktop. The convenience is hard to beat.
I do the same Byron. I have an iphone,ipad,desk top and laptop and have the Kindle books crossed synched on all of them. I don’t read much on the phone, but the others are fairly easy to read on although I still prefer the regular book. Ironically, I was on my Kindle just a few minutes ago and realized that I have that guy’s book on tying midges already. It’s not great but not bad. I think it was free sometime back.