Lately I seem to have quite a few readers inquiring whether I'd ever write another Annie book or a fifth tattoo mystery and put them up on Kindle as e-books.
I admit that I find the phenomenon interesting. Many writers I know have been putting their unpublished manuscripts and/or backlist up on Kindle, and for a minimal cost, people can download them. Joe Konrath and Lee Goldberg claim they're making a mint on Kindle.
I'm not totally convinced this is the way to go. Honestly, it's really just self publishing. It would be taking a book I wrote, thinking that it's publishable even though maybe it was turned down by about a hundred agents—not even making it to an editor's desk—and deciding that people would want to pay money for it anyway. Granted, I wouldn't be out a lot of cash, like I would be if the book were to be printed, but still. It's the idea that whatever I write would be worthy of having people pay money for it without the validation of someone who's actually in the publishing business. Sure, I've wondered about some of those publishers' decisions on what to buy and what not to buy, but they are still the professionals here. I'm not confident enough to think that every word I write is gold and worth someone's hard-earned cash and time. (And this is not dissing those who do choose to publish on Kindle; it's a personal decision for personal reasons. These are merely my own thoughts on the matter and how I feel about it.)
That said, all of my books are available as e-books. Even all my out of print Annie books. You can get them on Kindle or the Nook or the iPad or whatever e-reader you might have.
This was a surprise to my friend Clair when I mentioned it to her. She had no idea. But the way publishing is working these days, when a book is published and printed, it's also put out there as an e-book. Why not?
Clair said I needed to let people know that my books are available as e-books, and when I thought about it, I realized she was right. I've had people email me and ask about the Annie books, where can they find a rare copy, and I do tell them that they can go on Amazon and eBay, but I never thought about saying that they're also available for download. Mostly everywhere.
So here it is. The announcement: All of my titles are available for download as e-books. So if you've got one of those Kindles or Nooks or iPads or another nifty gadget and you're dying to find out how Vinny and Annie meet up in SACRED COWS or you haven't been able to find a copy of SECONDHAND SMOKE anywhere, just download them. It's cheaper than a print book, too.
Are you an e-reader?
4 comments:
Karen,
I've been reading on some form of electronic device since the first PDAs appeared (seems like centuries ago).
Jerry
Hurray!
I read 'Sacred Cows' a couple years back after finding it in my college's bookstore in the discount books bin! I was hooked. Fortunately for me, the local library had 'Secondhand Smoke.'
I wasn't able to find 'Dead of the Day' anywhere, so that and 'Shot Girl' were left on my list of must reads. I recently downloaded all four to my Kindle, and just finished re-reading Cows and Smoke, and for the first time read 'Dead of the Day!'
Another brilliant work, Karen! I can't wait to click on 'Shot Girl' my next moment of free time!
I hope you see this; I just wanted to let you know how much I love Annie, her life, and all the people around her, especially Mr. Tom Behr. But, I've always had a thing for strong, blonde cops. (;
I would love to read your Annie Seymour Mysteries, but alas, when I checked out Amazon I discovered that these ebooks aren't available to readers in Australia. Looks like I'll be haunting my local secondhand bookshops.
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