Last March, A HUSBAND’S WATCH was released as an e-book from Harlequin. My first. And that puppy was everywhere. I swear, I must have seen it listed on twenty e-bookstores, as well as eHar and Amazon.

Today, I got my royalty statement.

14 bucks, folks. Yep, that’s it (the print version didn’t exactly set the world on fire, either, but that’s another, very sad, story).

My very unscientific conclusion? If the book’s in print, precious few people are going to choose to buy the e-book version instead.

But apropos of that, over on AAR, some brave (and generous) soul who recently bought the new Sony e-reader gave the lowdown on the gadget’s specs, all the things it would and wouldn’t do, how he had to fiddle with it to get the font to the right size, what it could and couldn’t handle, etc. By the end of the fourth (long) paragraph, my eyes were crossing, and I was thinking, Hmm. . .with a book, you buy it, sit butt on chair, open it and read. Bada-bing, bada-boom. Nice.

Now, I do understand how an e-reader might be useful if you’re going somewhere and would rather tote a single paperback-sized reader with a whole bunch of book sdownloaded on it, rather than the whole bunch of books. But I’ve reached the stage of my life where I’m looking to simplify, not complicate, things. And when technology reaches the point of diminishing returns — where whatever added convenience it may offer (at least in theory) is more than offset by the hassle involved in a) learning it and/or b) using it — sorry, but I’m not terribly motivated to get on board.

I think microwaves are brilliant. Ditto cell phones, DVD players and the Internet. But all of those make my life easier. And more fun. Books, however. . .well, it seems to me they’re okay the way they are, thank you. My (eventual) grandchildren may feel differently, of course, but this old broad will stick with what’s worked just fine for her since she started reading at three or four or whatever precocious age it was.

Especially since, given my royalty statement, apparently I’m not the only one who feels this way.