The era of e-reading is here, despite my efforts.
I like magazines – the kind made of paper, that I can flip through. I like books, too – the kind with pages bound between two covers, that you can carry to the beach or leave on a bedside table and never worry about batteries. I have a Kindle, but I’ve only ever read one book on it: I don’t like how I have to keep touching the screen to turn pages. And when I take it on vacation, the batteries die. I’m guessing that lots of the long-lived lesbians reading this also enjoy traditional forms of reading.
But the era of e-reading is here, despite my efforts to prevent it. At 55, I need to shuffle out of my comfort zone and get used to reading my favorite lesbian magazine online. Though I’ve had a digital subscription to Curve since they became available, I never look at it. About ten times a year, I get a cheery email telling me that the new issue is out, inviting me in, yet I’ve been afraid to go there.
As more and more magazines are going online, I feel less and less confident about ignoring them. So now, assisted by Curve’s Operations Manager, Jeannie Sotheran, I’m going in. Here are the steps I’m taking,
STEP ONE: TERMINOLOGY
According to Jeannie, “The online version of Curve is also called the digital version of Curve. The digital/online version of Curve is the same as the print version.” Curve’s website is also ‘online’. But the website contains a lot of blogs and extra articles, including some that might have been in the magazine.
STEP TWO: GETTING ACCESS
If you’re reading this article online, you already know how to get to Curve’s website. Here’s a link, though, just in case you don’t know it: http://www.Curvemag.com/ One click, and you’re on the homepage!
Now, from the website you can get easy, free access to the digital/online version of the magazine (remember? It’s different from the website). Here’s how:
Near the top right corner you’ll see a box called WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER. Inside that is a red rectangle labelled “Sign Up Now”. Click it, and fill in your email address in the box that appears. That’s it! You’ve just signed up for the current copy of the digital magazine.
A day or two after you do so, you’ll get an email from Curve that contains a link. Click on that link, enter your email address (the same one you used earlier) one more time, and – voila! – the digital magazine will open on your screen.
Note: This edition will be your complimentary issue, which you get when you subscribe to e-news . For ongoing access to the digital magazines, go to the subscription page and subscribe for just $10 a year.
STEP THREE: READING, EXPLORING, & ENJOYING YOUR BAD DIGITAL SELF
This is the fun part. Look at that Curve cover, and decide what you want to see next. Want to read one of the cover stories? Click on the headline, and you’ll be taken to the article! Want to leaf through it, just as you might with a print magazine? Click in the middle of the right side of the cover, and you’ll be “turning the page”; click on the left, and you’ll be “turning backwards” through the pages. This. Is. Not. Difficult.
If you don’t want to flip through every page, use the table of contents on the left – find something you want to look at, and click it. When you’re done reading that, click again on the table of contents.
Tip for fans of large print: Click anywhere on the page to make image larger. Click again, and it goes back to normal size. Or use the little magnifying-glass icons in the middle of the top bar, marked with a plus and minus sign, to control the zoom. Zoom in. Zoom out. Zoom in, Zoom out. In! Out! Hey, you’re good at this.