Fifteen Cerridwen Press Authors have banded together to fight the winter doldrums by having a giant spring ebook giveaway.
Ebooks are becoming more popular for many reasons, and it's not just because the quality of e-books are, according to reviewers, excellent.
Some readers like the fact that e-books allow authors to push the boundaries of prescribed genres. You like romance with your mystery, or mystery with your romance? Maybe you like ghosts or shape shifter's but you'd love to see them in a hard-boiled mystery. It may be hard to find such novels in a traditional bookstore because, since they don't fit neatly into a specific section of a bookstore, traditional publishers aren't willing to take the risk that an audience will find them.
Publishers who support e-books don't have those barriers-- getting e-book readers access to a wealth of exciting, new books. It's a little like how cable television has been a fertile ground for new types of television shows.
Other readers like that they can feel good about supporting a paperless medium. Some readers like the fact that they don't have to wait for a bookstore or library to open before they can get something to read. How many times have you been stuck in an airport with nothing to read but the same ten bestsellers you saw at the last airport? These days, all you have to do is click a button for access to thousands of wonderful books.
I understand that part of what some people love about reading is the book itself. The smell of paper, the feel of holding it. Personally, I love paper books and never want to give them up. I would never give someone what my mother calls "the hairy eyeball" for reading paperback or hardback book.
However, I also enjoy reading e-books, for all the reasons I've described. I’ve had lots of e-mails from people who purchased their first e-book just so they could read Underdead -- and thanked me for turning them on to a whole new way of getting their sticky fingers on good books.
That's nice, you say. But maybe you don't want to risk it. Maybe you spend too much time on the computer already, you don't have a handheld book reader, you're still not buying that e-books are any good, certainly not risking your hard earned money on.
Well, here's your chance to win some e-books-- e-books that have won awards, garnered rave reviews, straddled genres and/or stayed in beloved ones publishers have left behind. And, the grand prize winner gets not just seven e-books, but a gently used Rocket 1200 Ebook reader (go green—reduce, reuse, recycle!) to read them on. To participate in the contest, channel your inner Easter egg Hunter and look on the author’s websites and blogs for trees (go green! Yes, that is the theme) and words to a phrase. It's not that hard -- my website, for one isn't complicated enough to really bury anything-- and it's a nice way to learn about new books. Aren't we all looking for a new good book to read?
For details, please visit the contest page on my website:
http://www.lizjasper.com/contest.html
Happy reading!
--Liz Jasper, whose 2008 EPPIE Award nominated cozy vampire caper, UNDERDEAD, is now available as an e-book or in paperback at major booksellers (Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Target (hey, they sell books!), www.cerridwenpress.com) and look for it at your local independent bookstore.
www.lizjasper.com
www.myspace.com/underdeadauthor
Great post, Liz, I'll be blogging about ebooks the day after tomorrow on my new blog. I completely agree with you. We need to educate the readers about ebooks.
Loved your post, Liz! Very succinctly worded, and heaven knows, I'm all for E-books. Especially as I shall soon be published in that medium. This contest sounds like great fun!
The future for Ebooks is getting ever brighter. When I can afford a Kindle, I plan to buy one.
I think Kindle's will come down in price as time goes by. Meanwhile, is it too early to ask Santa for one?