Archive for the ‘E-books’ Category

20% Off Avon Books and a Cool Advanced Read Giveway (Contest Closed)

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Avon20.150.2We’re very excited to announce a special new benefit exclusively for AAR readers, thanks to the generosity of Avon Books.

From now until December 12th,  when you shop at Harper Collins online, you’ll save 20% from your total order when you enter the code AARAvon20 at checkout.

And, to keep the good news coming, we’re also excited to announce a giveaway of an exciting package of Avon advanced reading copies for one lucky winner packed in a cute (really, really cute) handmade tote bag. To enter for your chance to win, just post in the comments section of this post by Thursday,  November 19th at 12 midnight, eastern time. A winner will be randomly selected and announced here on Friday.

The prize consists of three e-galleys and six print galleys.  The actual release date of all upcoming books is included in parentheses, but the prize will be shipped shortly after the contest concludes. Here’s what the winner will receive:

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Posted in All About Romance, Authors, Books, Contests, E-books, Sandy AAR | 299 Comments »

Libraries in the Digital Age

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

reviewcoffee This confession will probably give some of you a heart attack, but I haven’t read any of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I know, I know. It’s like I’ve been living under a rock buried 3 miles below the surface of the Earth. But lately I’ve been thinking about giving the first book a try. So I sent out a half-joking tweet on the subject. To my surprise, I received a personal response from my local library letting me know that Outlander is available for checkout, should I so desire. Now granted, I’m kind of a dork, but I thought this was really cool. So cool, in fact, that I decided to explore more of the digital/virtual features my local library offers, and get the perspective of the Sacramento Public Library’s Digital Services Librarian Megan Wong on the subject of libraries in the digital age.

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Posted in Books, E-books, Katie AAR, Online, Reading, Techno News, Uncategorized | 16 Comments »

My Kindle and Me: A Year Down the Line

Friday, October 16th, 2009

kindle-2Let’s start with my first disclaimer:  I paid for my Kindle.

Here’s the second:  I am in this whole ebook thing for the convenience – not to mention a desperate desire to be free of the careless shelving habits of brick and mortar stores that drove me crazy for years.

I’m not a techie (Mac person, so don’t have to be) and, while I don’t like DRM, I’m not worked up about it either.  My blog – and my perspective – is one of a reader who lives in an area with 3G coverage and who simply wanted an easy way to read ebooks.  For me, Kindle is it.

Since I’ve been Kindle-ized for about a year now, what do I love?

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Posted in E-books, Sandy AAR | 29 Comments »

Digital ARCs: Yes, Please!

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

Galleycat at Media Bistro is hot on the e-ARC thing. Or in hashtags-speak #digitalarcs. 

And, considering that we are hearing from multiple sources these days that publishers are cutting back on ARCs, the timing couldn’t be better.

And now there’s the entry of NetGalley into the mix. 

Here’s how it works. Reviewers simply sign up for the site and request copies of digital ARCs in which they are interested. The content will then, presumably, be delivered to the reviewer upon approval by the publisher.  Hey, and since the company prez also tells Galleycat that the digital ARCs will work for Kindle, the Sony Reader, PCs, and other devices within a few months, this is looking good.

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Posted in Books, E-books | 5 Comments »

Kindle 2: iCool

Friday, March 6th, 2009

I was already in love with the original Kindle. Now with Kindle 2 and the new iPhone app my love affair is now epic.

For my money, Kindle 2 is the Don Draper of eReaders. The Sawyer. The Eric the Vampire.  In short, it is sexy, cool, and incredibly functional.

Like many readers these days, I dwell somewhere in that happy land between tech geek and Luddite. But it’s also fair to say that I come at this from the perspective of a spoiled 20+ year Mac-head in that I expect electronic stuff to work in a user-friendly way. No complicated programs. No work-arounds. 

So, with that said, I’m not  approaching my unofficial Kindle 2 review by talking about DRM—a big, big topic, indeed—since there are others out there far more educated (and, okay, interested, too) in the issues surrounding it than I am. I’m going to write about Kindle 2 from the perspective of someone who doesn’t want to deal with the technical stuff and expects to turn on an eReader and have it work—comfortably and as advertised.

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Posted in Book news, E-books, Techno News | 19 Comments »

Sometimes I Feel Like I’m Playing Calvinball

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

So, do we have any Calvin and Hobbes fans here? Remember Calvinball? You never play it the same way twice, and the rules are whatever Calvin says they are. These rules sometimes change midstream and often make no sense.

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Posted in Books, E-books, RWA | 7 Comments »

Amazon and Barnes and Noble Online Pricing: What’s Up With That?

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

If you haven’t heard by now, there was much outrage in Romanceland in the days before and during the Thanksgiving Day weekend. The issue? The Kindle price for Eloisa James’ When the Duke Returns was reported by AAR Alert Readers to be an incredibly inflated $14.99.  

Much sputtering later (and, okay, so I was one of the sputterers), it turns out that the price was a mistake (I have no idea whose) and a correct price was later posted. Only there’s a problem: It’s $7.99. The exact same price as the paperback edition. And, gee, isn’t the cost to produce an ebook a mere fraction of the cost to produce an actual paper book? Well, good luck with that, Avon.

Being the sleuth that I am, however, I noticed something equally outrageous: The paperback price is listed on Amazon as $7.99. Not the $6.49 or the like to which we’ve all grown accustomed. What the heck happened to the Amazon discount?

But it’s not just Avon. To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt is priced at $6.99 (Forever), Catherine Mulvany’s Wicked is the Night (Pocket) is $6.99, Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts (Jove) is $7.99, and Robin Kaye’s Romeo, Romeo (Sourcebooks) is also $6.99. Berkley Sensation seems to be pretty much alone in holding the discount line with Erin McCarthy’s trade paperback Flat Out Sexy priced at $10.78, down from $14.00.

As for the prices at Barnes and Noble online: Ditto. On all of the above.

And guess what? Of the books that I checked, the prices on the backlists of the authors above are list prices, too. So, in effect, any discounts seem to have been retroactively removed.

The good news is that Avon seems to be standing alone in that Kindle pricing thing. All of the books above – except Avon new releases – have discounted Kindle prices. Which is as it should be.

Since I’m a fan of vast conspiracies, I wonder if there was some sort of meeting in a smoke-filled room amongst various publishers to abandon online discounts? As Amazon repeats over and over, publishers set prices for books.

So, what do you think? In a time when almost everybody is feeling the squeeze, will the price increase affect the number of books you buy? Are you outraged? Or, on the other hand, do you accept the higher prices as a manifestation of the grim reality that many publishers (as discussed here last week) are facing the same economic pressures as consumers? Are higher prices…well, just the price we have to pay?

-Sandy AAR

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Posted in E-books, Publishing, Romancelandia | 28 Comments »

Kindle: Oh, I Believe!

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

 

 

It all started as a result of getting regularly dissed by my local Borders.

 Let me count the ways:  Their complete lack of interest in shelving romance anywhere even remotely close to the lay down date, the whiff of condescension coming from employees (hello, Red Suspenders guy!), and the rolling eyes and sighs if you dared to ask them to search the infamous “back room” for books that weren’t on the shelf even though their own computer system said they were in store.

So, why did I rely on such an unreliable bookstore?  Color me naïve, but I live in a major city and I don’t think I should have to pay shipping and handling for mass market books.  And Amazon Prime?  That’s still paying.

I’ve thought about e-readers before, but…well, it just seemed like too much of a project to try to figure out which one was best – not to even mention the whole Mac compatibility issue.  So, I shoved the whole thing aside and continued to get pissed off every time I went to Borders.

Then came Kindle.  I waited.  Then I started reading the buzz on AAR’s message boards and getting great reports from happy readers, not the least of whom was my sister.  It sounded ridiculously easy to use.  And, best of all, no Borders!

To make a long story short, Kindle works exactly as advertised:  It’s fast, you can get most books, and it’s lightweight and easy to use.  (I particularly love hands-free reading.  Who knew you could pet the cat while catching up on the latest Elizabeth Hoyt?) 

Getting manuscripts on Kindle is also a breeze – and, for someone who’s always found it difficult (if not impossible) to read on a computer, that’s a big bonus.  I’m told by a published author friend that editors and agents love Kindle and that makes complete sense to me.   I dream of a world – believe me, I dream – in which ARCs would be delivered wirelessly to Kindle.

The downside?  There are surprising – and annoying – gaps in available books, though Amazon seems to be doing a good job of working through that.  A Kindle is far from cheap.  And, on a larger scale, who wants Amazon controlling the whole ebook thing?   (That just can’t be good.)

Still, the good news is that as technology advances, devices get even easier to use.  I’m sure that somebody somewhere somehow will improve on Kindle (maybe Amazon, who knows?) but for now, they’ve cracked it. And I am one passionate convert.

And, geez, no Borders.  Believe me, I’m not going to miss Red Suspenders guy.

-Sandy AAR

 

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Posted in E-books, Publishing | 12 Comments »