When “Read an E-Book Week” was started in 2004, it made sense to try to expose more readers to the convenience of ebooks. The Kindle didn’t exist, the readers that did were expensive, and ebook editions were priced like hardcovers if they were made available at all.
Now the marketplace is far more competitive, and prices have gone down for both hardware and reading material. Probably every consumer in North America with a TV or Internet access has now heard of the Kindle or Nook. In other words, I probably don’t need to encourage you to give an ebook a try this week.
So is “Read an E-Book Week” still useful? Sure! It’s a good time for readers to look for special promotions from indie authors and publishers, for example. The site has a list of participating publishers, authors and retailers who are sponsoring the event in some way.
The retailers and publishers aren’t making it easy enough to find this week’s special deals, but if you know you like a certain company, try its Twitter feed or Facebook page. (I noticed Samhain Publishing, for example, is promoting a free novel via Twitter today.)
The authors section is a little clearer about what’s on sale or free this week. Here are three examples, but be sure to check that official list for more.
- Harvey Tate is offering his novel “Death Takes a Number” for $2 with coupon code DTAN345rae
- Sci-fi author Jeffrey A. Carver is offering “Neptune’s Crossing” and “Battlestar Galactica” for free on his website
- Marsha Canham is offering her swashbuckling historical romance “Swept Away” for free on her website (see upper right corner)
The “Read an E-Book Week” website is also giving away free Kobo readers and a free Nook this week, if you’re feeling lucky.
Update: I forgot to mention that I also have a freebie available this week! It’s an 11,000 word novelette — I dislike that term, but it’s what you’re called when you’re too long for a short story but too short for a novella — about the Rapture. Oh, but it’s a horror story, and I can’t emphasize enough that it’s not pro-Rapture or even biblically accurate on any level, so consider yourself warned.
Via Chris Walters’ Book Sprung blog
Prices have *not* gone down for most ebooks, only for indy published ones. In general, prices have gone up substantially for all Agency books.
I wish people would stop saying prices have gone down.
Chris – Like becca, I am afraid I find this an surprising statement considering the expansion of Agency Pricing and the stubbornly high prices of eBooks on the sites of the big sellers … perhaps it is just an attempt to talk up eBooks for hype purposes …
“Now the marketplace is far more competitive, and prices have gone down for both hardware and reading material.”
As there are, as becca noted, plenty of indy ebooks with lower prices–not to mention a lot of FREE content out there–I’d say the comment stands with the caveat of “some reading material.”
Other than criticizing the prices of some ebooks (you’re obviously not alone there), I’d say Read an E-Book Week is a great way of introducing ebooks to people that haven’t tried them yet… sometimes, all it takes is an encouraging word from a friend, or a promotion that draws them into finally checking out ebooks. And what better way than to get people to check out something other than the content of the big publishing houses?
I’m also offering a deal: A giveaway of two E Ink watches… see my site for details. And while you’re there… you might even want to buy a book…
We’re running Read an E-Book Week here in Poland and it gets much better coverage than a year or two years ago – mainly thanks to the engagement of Polish e-book bloggers and e-bookstores. The infographic about the history of e-books also works. I think this has something to do with the European attitude to heritage. If somehing doesn’t have it, it’s not worth trying. Now we’ve got 40 years working to make first-timers eager to reach for an e-book.
I wrote a post, with a focus on first-timers, on how to take part in REBW: http://www.passwordincorrect.com/2011/03/06/why-its-good-to-take-part-in-read-an-e-book-week-2011-and-how-to-do-it/